This Is Our Path
by LucasA
Summary: Their lives were never the same after the incident at the Clocktower. Together, they've found comfort in each other's hearts, and their bond remains strong despite the countless attempts to wipe everything they ever had. A tale of the most important stages in their life, from the moments of calamity and happiness, to the difficult moments of sadness and reflection.
1. England

**January 18th - 2017**

Peter slightely woke up and stretched languidly under the bed covers while his eyes fluttered open. He yawned lazily and felt a pleasant warmth and weight pressed over and against his toned chest. He looked down and saw Gwen peacefully sleeping with an arm across his torso and resting her head close to his neck.

No matter what time was, she always looked beautiful with that shining and golden hair of hers. He thought.

With his fingertips, Peter trailed circles over the soft and creamy skin of her back as he caressed the top of her head. Gwen always have been light sleeper so he had to be careful to not interrupt such peaceful moment.

He just couldn't think of anyone else that he wanted spend the rest of his life with besides his perfect girlfriend. She's the one for him, always was. He only hoped she felt the same. Still, even being in such advanced phase of her relationship, Peter didn't wish to rush things at all.

It has been two years since the couple had moved to England, shortly after he fought one robot of some sort, kinda. They were living in an apartament that Gwen's mother was helping by paying the rent for the two of them, in the city of Oxford. A beautiful place.

There wasn't a single night where Peter doesn't revive the night where he almost lost Gwen because of Harry, who for his relief, was locked inside a reinforced cell at Ravencroft, and he would never ever touch her again. Peter won't let anyone put Gwen's life in danger again because of some bloodthirsty revenge. She doesn't deserve such life of constant danger.

_It won't happen again, ever._ He told himself as he brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.

Peter cleared his mind of such toughts and looked to the alarm clock in the stand besides their bed, seeing it was already 7:00 AM. He wanted to stay a few more hours with Gwen at his side in bed, but they needed to get up since he had a meeting with the editor of a local newspaper. Gwen herself would be at Oxford University, studying molecular medicine. His little blonde genius.

He decided it was time to get up and went to wake Gwen by trailing soft kisses on her throat, making Gwen release a light moan in response and bringing a content smile to his face. He kissed her lips gently as she lazily reciprocated.

"Good Morning, sunshine." Peter said, giving her an eskimo kiss.

"Hey." Gwen replied, still sleepy. She teased weakly, "I see someone's in a good mood..."

Peter chuckled briefly. "Slept well?" He kissed her forehead and moved his hand down to her waistline, feeling the soft material of her panties, before slipping the same hand under the large shirt she stole from him as he began stroking her bare belly.

"Good." She snaked both arms around his neck and brought him closer.

He playfully narrowed his eyes at her. "You do know you took the blankets off me thorough the night, you know?"

"I did? I don't recall doing that." Gwen replied, playfully as ever, something that was always present on their relationship. "Maybe I had the goal of making you want more of me."

"Of course, you did." Peter knew she was playing with him and leaned down, engaging into a passionate kiss and consequently fighting her skilled tongue. He gently bit her lower lip, before releasing it. "We...should get up," He continued, "I'm still getting used to not being late."

"You definetely need to, honey." Gwen nodded in agreement. "I'm going to prepare something for us to eat, alright?"

Peter nodded back. The couple kissed one last time before reluctantly getting out of their bed, something they're both skeptical about it. Mostly due to the laziness.

Since Gwen was the first to stand up, Peter sat in the bed and stretched his arms once again. His eyes caught up with Gwen once he saw her bending down and pulling her shorts up to her waist in front of the wardrobe.

"Dog..." Gwen muttered to herself, she knew he was staring.

Peter laughed. "I can't help with it." She briefly turned around and disapprovingly shook her head at him as she walked off the bedroom and towards the kitchen.

He grinned to himself and went to their wardrobe to wear a shirt since he was losing his natural heat. The last two days was constantly snowing for hours, without a single merciful break. He opened the first drawner and saw his red and blue Spider-Man suit stashed behind his normal casual clothes. He hadn't used it since defeating Rhino, two years ago, before taking the plane to England.

The last day the world saw Spider-Man, the real one.

_It isn't the right rime.._

Some people like his Aunt or even Gwen's mother could place the pieces together and realize who Spider-Man is. It would be too much coincidence if Spider-Man appeared in England just when he and Gwen had moved to the country. He wanted to dedicate more of his time with Gwen.

They were urgently needing a break from themselves when they arrived. It paid off, thankfully.

Peter grabbed a white T-shirt, close the drawer and wore the clothing he desperately needed and headed towards the living room to check on his girl.

The bulding basically had four floors and they were living on the last one, it was surprisingly tall for the standards. The apartment had one bedroom and a single bathroom. The living room was connected to the kitchen and the small dinner area.

It was a very comfortable place for both of them. They're very happy by living together. Nothing else was needed, at all.

Peter entered the kitchen and saw Gwen cutting a apple in small pieces, over the sink. He approached her from behind, and wrapped both arms around her waist, leaning on her cheek and making her giggle by the sudden and lovely movement.

"Wanna a bite, Mister Bugboy?" She offered as he kissed the smooth of her cheek.

He played along, "Does it come with some Stacy on it?"

Gwen smirked. "Well, Sir, you're getting no Stacy as for now." She took the apple and placed close Peter's lips who managed to bite a big chunk off, surprising her. "I said a bite! Not half of the apple!" Gwen exclaimed, with a mock glare- face.

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "I'm kinda hungry." He replied as he ate the fruit.

"I _can_ see that." She said a bit snarky, and playfull at the same time.

Peter kissed her cheek, earning a little smile in return. "I talked with Aunt May, yesterday."

"How is she?" Gwen resumed her original task of cutting some more slices of the apple.

"She misses us a lot." He answered. "Like - really, really a lot; I bet she misses more you then me."

"And you even wonder why?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it's not like your fixed your bed, had your bedroom in order, and any other essential tasks."

Peter deadpanned. "Sympathy, Gwen, sympathy."

Gwen chuckled. "But yeah, no doubt; mom often says that as well."

He moved a hand inside her shorts and began caressing her thigh. "She wanted to give us some money, but I talked her out of it. She needs it more than us."

"It's for the best." Gwen agreed. "And talking about money, I got a job in bookstore." She revealed.

"Really? That's awesome!" Peter smiled happily. She's fantastic, always have been. "I too have something to say, babe; today, I will sign that contract I told you about, being a photograper at the local newspaper."

"It suits you," Gwen affirmed. "I know that you take some photos of me when I'm sleeping, though." She remarked, rather annoyed at it.

He tilted his head to the side, trying to meet her eyes. _"Why not...?"_

"Because I look horrible when I'm sleeping." Gwen snarled. She didn't enjoyed getting caught in surprise, or in this case, asleep.

"You never look horrible, you are always beautiful no matter what time is... and I don't mind seeing you in your underwear too." He flirted with cocky smile. "Those pictures are to remind myself I'm the luckiest man alive."

Gwen's cheeks heated. He always said the nicest things. _"Flatterer..."_

"You do love some self adoration, don't you?" He gently bit her left ear.

"Hum...maybe I do, " Gwen turned on her back and gave him a tiny peck on the lips. "Now, Mr Lovely, let's have our breakfast and then you will drop me at Oxford."

Peter replied through a country accent he recently mastered on porpuse, "Ma'am I won't disappoint you."

* * *

**A/N : Hey everyone, I hope you had a good time reading this short chapter. It's just one in a series that is being written with the objective of telling the many phase of Gwen and Peter's lives. Any requests or questions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you :)**


	2. Sorry I'm Still Late

**February 9th - 2019**

_Perfect_!

Peter cheered by his accomplishment. He took a perfect picture in the exact time of a plane that had just passed by. He was assigned to take pictures of the event Abingdon Air &amp; Country Show that was happening at Abingdon. The show features a flying display containing a wide variety of historic and modern aircraft which got him really interested to cover the event. The airfield was full of planes and helicopters.

Peter looked to the watch on his right pulse, the one his father used to wear, a special gift his mother gave to him when they're still alive. He saw that was time to get moving since Gwen would be finishing at her University very soon. He moved through the huge crowd and catched a bus that headed towards Gwen's location. He couldn't wait to meet his beautiful girlfriend, and for the first time, things were going as planned.

Years ago if someone asked him how he imagined his future he wouldn't answer what he was currently living, not until he met Gwen, a person that changed him in many ways. Someone who made him happy even on the hardest moments.

* * *

Gwen was in the bathroom washing her hands after getting out of class sooner than expected. She was thinking about how things were going good so far. Peter and her were living together and has a job that he loves it, she is doing well at the University. The couple were having a really good time together, if this was the life that she would have with Peter, she was already loving it. She closed the faucet and looked up only to see Harry's monstrous reflection standing besides her through the mirror. She turned terrified, but he wasn't there anymore.

_My god..._ She thought, while recovering her lost lost breath at the same time.

Gwen carefully stepped out of the bathroom and looked around her surroundings, searching for something out of normal. People were already getting out of their classes and heading to theirs bus and she couldn't see Harry anymore. She breathed relived and made her way towards the exit to meet her handsome boyfriend.

_Where is he?_ She wondered, trying to find him somewhere on the University's campus.

After some minutes, Gwen felt strong arms moving around her waist. "Miss me?" She turned on her back just to see her bugboy with a huge smile formed on his warm lips. She almost jumped if he hadn't kept her firm.

"Peter, don't do that! You scared me to death!" She exclaimed.

He was now rather confused. What could've happened to make Gwen stay that alert?

"Sorry. I didn't want to scare you. Is everything alright?" He moved a hand down her back, massaging her.

"It's just...nothing. Everything is okay." She affirmed.

Gwen smiled and kissed Peter on the lips, trying to light the situation, but he wasn't totally believing her. Something was off and he would ask her about what happened when they arrive at their apartment.

"Let me guess, you had a traffic jam?" Gwen asked, after breaking the loving kiss.

"What? No, no," Peter laughed at Gwen's question and replied," I stopped at the Times to give them the photos of the event, but no jam... at least not today."

"Still...you are late" Gwen teased, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him closer.

"What can I do to please you?" He leaned closer, just to brush his lips against hers.

"Well...you can start by walking me towards home," Gwen smiled and closed her eyes, before whispering, "The rest we can figure it out later." She pulled back and winked.

"As you wish Miss Stacy." Peter gave his blonde girlfriend a tiny peck on the lips. He put an arm around her shoulders, holding her tightely, while Gwen leaned on his shoulder and slipped an arm around his back as the couple made their way towards home, wrapped in each other arms in the cozy and calm streets of Oxfordshire.

**One hour later..**

_"Today completes two years since the masked vigilante knows as Spider-Man swung through the city of New York. People are asking themselves where he could possible be. The masked hero hasn't been seen by a long time now since he arrested the Russian know as Aleksei Sytsevich, who's now locked in one of the most secures prison on the world, Ravencroft Institute."_ The TV on the living room announced through the speakers.

Peter, hearing the word 'Spider-Man', stepped out of the balcony where he was patiently waiting for Gwen to finish her long shower. He sat on the couch to watch what was all of this about.

_"We contacted the last person that apparentely Spider-Man had talked with for the last time, and he told us what he knows about the vigilante."_

The image changed to a little kid sat in the couch with his mother besides him. It was the kid that Peter had saved from the bullies and that later faced Rhino when he wasn't there, taking care of Gwen after the Clocktower's aftermath.

_"Spider-Man will come back. He told me and he's just sorting some things about his life, but I won't tell anything more. He's my friend"_

The camera went back to the new's host._ "So what do you think? Will Spider-Man ever get back? I'm Paul White and you just've watched World News."_

Watching the kid talking about Spider-Man as his friend, made Peter smile. It was something that he wanted everyone to feel, that they could count with him no matter how bad things looked, inspire people to continue fighting and never give up, there's always hope.

"So, my Spider-Man...should we go to sleep?" Gwen said from behind him as she snaked her arms around his neck and rested her chin on Peter's hair. He could smell her soft and delicate scent of her shampoo on that beautiful blonde hair.

"I wanted to talk about something with you." Peter looked up, meeting her green eyes.

"What about?" She asked, softly.

Peter got up of the couch and took her hand gently and leaded Gwen to their bed. He sat in the edge of their bed with his girlfriend next to him as he placed an arm around her waist.

"Back at Oxford, I felt that something was off. Do you want to tell me something?" He inquired and gently squeezed her hand.

"Nothing happened, " Gwen reassuringly placed a hand on his cheek. "You just caught me off guard." She doesn't wanted to worry him. It was just her mind playing tricks over her, and Harry wasn't such an easy topic to talk about it.

"You can tell me anything, I'm always here if you need anything." He caressed the soft and pale skin of her back.

"I know." She gave him a warm smile.

Gwen leaned closer to meet Peter's lips, engaging into a passionate kiss and making him lose himself to the love making and passion, since the first kiss, that was always present between the couple.

"Don't worry." She said between the kisses.

With one hand, Gwen pushed him down into the bed. When they broke the kiss to recover their breath, she took his shirt off, appreciating the view of Peter's toned chest as she ran a hand over it, stopping on his cheek, gently cupping the skin.

Gwen stood over his chest and teased, "So.. you wanted to please me?"

Now exhausted, Peter was looking to the ceiling and was in deep thoughts. Gwen was already sleeping and used his chest as pillow. She had just touched his chest and instantly fell sleep after they physically expressed what they felt towards each other.

_She must be really tired.._

Peter was thinking about everything that happened on his life. His parents death by Oscorp hands, Uncle Ben's death, Captain Stacy's death and how he almost lose Gwen.

_What would I do without you, Gwen?_ He asked himself while trailing circles with his finger on the smooth skin of her back. _After all that I had been through, you are the best thing that ever happened to me._

He gently kissed her forehead and closed his eyes. After some minutes, he fell sleep for the rest of the night with the woman of his life.

* * *

**A/N: For those wondering if this fic is going to take place forever in England, no, it won't be. I wanted to explore this and it's kinda hard, but I'm having a great time with it. I think that one or two chapters will be enough.**

**Anyway enjoy it! Any suggestions just PM me :)**

**07/09/15 : Final revision. Sentences were rewritten and detailed description was added into the chapter.**


	3. New Surroundings

**March 26th - 2019**

"Do you like this one ?" Peter pointed with his hand to the laptop screen which was on their dinner table. The couple were looking for a apartment to live in New York since Gwen had already finished at college. They decided that getting back to NYC would be the best option because their family live there and Peter could also finish his own college's course at Empire State University.

"Hmm..nope." Gwen replied from behind the chair where her shirtless Peter was sat. She gently caressed his cheeks with her fingers as he searched for any apartment's that they both would like and one that they could afford as well.

"What about this one?" Peter scrolled down the page, showing pictures of the apartment. It had one bedroom, kitchen, living room and one bathroom.

Gwen frowned, before speaking, "Too small."

"And this?" He again scrolled down.

"That's too bigger Peter!" She stated.

"Honey... we won't find a chocolate apartment, if that's the one that you're looking for." He joked.

"Really? That's..a shame..." She looked down with a sad expression.

"This face that you are doing right now is really heartbreaking, you know?"

"That's the goal." She quickly looked back to her boyfriend, with a cocky smile.

Peter sighed. "Such an actress you are." He paused. "If you want to continue living here, I won't mind it, my place is with you, no matter the location, you know that." He didn't want Gwen to think that he's pressing her. If she choosed to live on Mars, he would follow her without a second thought.

"These years with you, I will never forget...I miss my family and you certanly miss Aunt May, our place is there." She affirmed reassuringly.

"I just...well.. I'm not entirely comforted with Harry being close to you." He confessed, revealing his fears.

"He's locked, and we must live our life while appreciating every single today that we have together." Gwen kissed his cheek. "Don't let possibilities ruin your dreams, our dreams, we'll do just fine."

"Yeah..you're right" He nodded, convinced.

"I'm always right." Gwen cocked her head at him.

"Of course you are," Peter raised her ego even more. "So...do you like this? Two bedrooms, one is a suite, kitchen, dinner area and a balcony which faces Central Park and it's a rather cheap." He informed.

"Actually.. Yep!" Gwen smiled happily.

"Can I make the call? You are not gonna change your mind, right?"

"I don't think so, but there is always a slightly chance..." She teased.

"My god woman..." Peter moved a hand to his face and sighed.

Gwen chuckled at his silliness. "I'm kidding! I loved it."

_**Weeks later**_

Peter was on the living room, checking their bags to see if they hadn't missed anything, mostly clothes and objects, since the apartment is already furnished. They were coming back to New York. Gwen had already graduated in Molecular Medicine at Oxford and he would certainly continue his college there while selling photos to the Bugle. He doesn't regret anything, having breakfast every morning with Gwen, catching her everynight at Oxford and sharing the same bed, these are memories that he would never forget.

There was just one thing that wasn't there, his Spider-Man suit. So he went to their bedroom and opened their wardrobe before unlocking the hidden drawer, there it was. His famous, or infamous for some, blue and red super tight spandex.

_Hmm.. could I still be in shape?_ He wondered.

Peter took his casual clothes off and wore the suit just to remember the past years. He kept staring himself through the wardrobe mirror, seeing how he looked after such long time without actually wearing it.

_Damn it's still pretty tight.. Gwen should be back anytime soon, I'm gonna surprise her._

He wore the mask and headed towards the living room before firing a web line on the ceiling, hanging upside down in the web. He was facing the door where Gwen would enter at any second. After some minutes, he heard a sound of keys on the other side.

The door opened with Gwen announcing her arrival, "Peter, I'm home, where are you..."

"Hello, my dear lady." Spider-Man formally greeted.

"Peter? Why are you wearing your Spider-Man suit?" She questioned, confused. It wasn't Halloween, and he couldn't swing around because there wasn't any tall building in Oxfordshire.

He continued, "I'm Spider-Man, this guy Peter, is someone that I should be worried about?"

"Oh, definetely, he's always after me" She replied, placing her purse over the dinner table, before slowly heading towards his direction.

"Shoud I have a talk with him?" Spider-Man offered his intervention.

Gwen shook her head. "Nah, I quite like him...just tiny little bit." She teased the man under that iconic mask.

She was now just a few inches from his masked face. She lifted Peter's mask just to expose his mouth, feeling his warm breath against hers. Gwen leaned closer, connecting her lips with his, enjoying the intimate passion. Moment like this, she would forever want to live with Peter.

"I got something to eat." Gwen stated after breaking the kiss "And I think you should change yourself before we catch the train, imagine the stir that you would cause. Your legions of fans would go crazy."

"You have a point" He laughed and captured her lips with his for one last time before changing to his usual clothes. Spider-Man using the metro would be something to see.

* * *

**Heathrow Airport**

Gwen and Peter were snuggling on the airport waiting seats, facing a big window where they could see the parked airplanes that were just waiting for it's passengers. It was a very cold night. The couple still weren't used to England's cold winter, but that never actually stopped them from enjoying the season.

Suddenly, Peter's phone fired, playing his usual ringtone that made Gwen giggle. He smiled when he saw who was calling, Aunt May.

"Hey Aunt May, Gwen and I are here in the airport and we should be arriving at NY in a few couple of hours." He revealed with a bright smile.

_"Peter, I'm so happy, you have no idea how much I miss you and Gwen. Would you guys like to come here for dinner, tomorrow?"_ May offered.

"Yeah, sounds good." He accepted her invite, not willing to miss his Aunt's food for anything on the world.

"Alright! I'm waiting for you two, love you!"

"Thanks, Aunt May, and we love you too!" Peter turned down the call and looked to Gwen who was sat besides him. "My Aunt invited us for dinner tomorrow, she's really missing us."

"I miss her too," Gwen affirmed, before kissing his warm cheek. "Now that we're getting back...are you going to suit up again?" She was feeling a little bit uncomfortable for asking that, and somewhat guilty.

Gwen could remember every single day that Peter appeared on her window, with his face all bruised and requiring medical assistance. She continued, "I'm going to support you with whatever you choose, I just fear that someday you don't get back at home.." Gwen continued, worried. She looked away to the window and avoided his gaze.

"Hey..." Peter placed a hand on Gwen's chin, gently making her to look at him "I didn't have decided that yet , but your support means a lot to me, whatever I choose, I'm never leaving you or Aunt May, I can promise this."

"You can?"

"Yes, I can" Peter replied making his girlfriend stay more comfortable. He leaned closer and slowly captured her lips, engaging into a kiss full of passion, enjoying the taste of her lips on his.

_"Airplane AIR-121 with destiny to New York just arrived. Please go to the marked gate for loading procedures. Thank you for the patience and we wish a great travel."_

The announcement interrupted the moment between the couple "Our call." Peter stated bit annoyed.

"Yep." She kissed him one last time and rose from the seat. "Let's get going?" Gwen grabbed one of their bags and place it around her shoulder.

"Let me carry that for you, will ya?" Peter replied, his usual New York accent surpringly coming back. He hold the cart and reached for the bag around his girlfriend's shoulder.

"You don't need to be a gentleman all the time, you know." Gwen joked.

"What? I just like to please my lady." He raised an eyebrow and smiled cheekily.

"Uhum...ok...there you go" She handed him the bag.

The couple headed towards the marked gate of their flight while holding each other's hands. In the plane, they found their respective seats and snuggled close to each other. Gwen leaned on his shoulder and fell sleep there for the rest of the rather long travel.

Hours later, after arriving back to the city and taking a cab, they stepped out of the elevator and walked through the silent corridor. Peter opened the door of their new furnished apartment and placed the bags on the carpeted floor.

"What do you think?" He asked, scanning the place with his brown eyes.

"It's even more beautiful than in the pictures." Gwen replied, amused, while standing on the center of the living room.

A kitchen that is connected with the dinner room, a balcony where it's possible to see the entire Central Park, a suite and one common bedroom among with one bathroom on the hallway, and finally, the living room.

Peter snaked his arm around her waist, caressing her stomach while kissing the soft pale skin of her neck. "Let's see how our bedroom is? I'm really tired."

"Yeah, me too." Gwen turned her head on Peter's direction and gave him a tiny peck on the lips.

They entered the suite and made their new bed. She changed to her pajamas while Peter was now only with his boxers. Gwen rested her head over Peter's chest and with an arm across his stomach as he nuzzled her golden blond hair, with an arm around her waist, brining his beautiful girlfriend closer.

And after such tiring travel, they procedeed to the first night in their new home. A new stage on their life was soon about to begin.

_**Meanwhile at Oscorp...**_

"Is it ready ?" Fiers asked, facing the pod which contained a black goo that was nervously stirring itself around it. It was desperate to come out and find a host.

"With the little data that Richard left us with, I can't say precisely if it's ready for use. It's active but we hadn't tested yet, so side effects could exist. We only know about the self heal." The doctor standing besides him replied

"I know what it can do." Fiers stated, staring the black goo inside of the pod "Prepare it."

He hesitate. "It needs a host to properly work."

"I have that figured out, warn me when it's finished." He ordered.

"Alright" The Doctor leaved the room as Fiers kept staring to for a few couple of minutes. Richard's work wouldn't be wasted.

_You will enjoy it ...for a certain time._

"Incoming call." The VI broke the deadly silence and announced.

"Patch it through."

A Holo Image appeared in front of him, revealing a dark figure sat on a comfy chair.

"Long time no see, Fiers." His weak voice complimented.

"Indeed." Fiers nodded professionaly.

"How thing are at Oscorp?"

"The same as when you leaved it."

"Good...and Harry?"

"At RavenCroft. He's still recovering from the side effects of the serum. Like he said, It comes and goes." Fiers replied coldly.

"Hm...do you achieved what you are supposed to?" The figure asked rather impatiently.

"Kinda of...we just need a sample from the boy's DNA, and then I can proceed with my own plan."

"He's back. That will not be a problem anymore."

"It won't." Fiers agreed.

"Ok then Fiers-" The dark figure started to cough, interrupting what he was about to say. He took a heavy breath and finally managed to continue his speech, "Take care, I'm counting on you to complete our deal."

The Holo Image dissapeared leaving Fiers alone on the room, just with the material inside the pod, stirring nervously. The future would be arriving more quickly than he had thought.

* * *

**A/N: I received a PM of reader asking why I never wrote my take on the clocktower fight. Well, there is a lot of stories that already did that and I felt that it wasn't my priority when I was planning the story, but if you guys want to see it, I could write it in some type of flashback. We'll see.**

**07/09/15: Fixed encountered grammar mistakes and rewritten lines. More details were added to the chapter.**


	4. Out Of The Normal, Back Into The Amazing

**March 18th - 2019**

Gwen slowly stirred under the red bed blankets as the sun warm rays of the morning passed through the window's curtains, and illuminated their new resting room. She wanted to do basically nothing at all, and just relax on their so comfortable bed, but that's probably due the past tiresome travel.

_"Peter..." _She murmured, without opening her eyes. She could smell his natural mainly scent, but at the same time, her natural pillow was missing.

With her eyes still closed, she groped around the bed, hoping to touch Peter's toned chest, but she felt nothing besides cold air. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she looked around. Panic was slowly setting in.

"Peter...?" She again called her boyfriend, who - for some reason - wasn't snuggling with her on their new and larger bed.

Gwen slipped away from the covers and wore her blue small slippers before checking their bathroom for any signal of Peter, but it was empty as well. She headed towards the living room but no signal of him. He didn't warn her that he would be out in the morning.

After minutes of search, Gwen didn't have a clue of where he could possibly be, the only thing worth of notice was that the window of their bedroom was open. "I swear that if this is one your pranks..."

Gwen sighed. She reached for her phone besides their bed tapped Peter's number to know where _her_ bugboy could possibly be. "This is what you get when you date a spider..." She groaned.

* * *

**One Chase Manhattan Plaza - Manhattan**

Peter was currently located in the empty rooftop, working out. He kept pushing up for quite some hours. It was something that he wanted to experience again, feeling the cold wind brush against his clothes while looking over the beautiful and busy city. He wasn't using his Spider-Man suit but just usual clothes, he wasn't ready to just suddenly wear such important spandex again.

The experience was liberating and also exciting for him. He felt as if he was meant to practice such things.

"465...466...467...just a bit more..." Peter gasped, almost physically exhausted, before continuing further, "468...469..."

Next to his backpack which was lying in the ground, his phone suddenly fired by playing his usual ringtone that could make any old woman to have a heart attack after hearing it.

He stopped to exercise himself and grabbed the phone which was showing a picture of Gwen peacefully sleeping with the blankets covering the midsection of her back at their new home.

"Good Morning-" Peter was interrupted before he could even finish his sentence.

_"Where are you, Peter?!"_ The now aggressive feminine voice asked.

"Huh? I'm...I'm working out." He rubbed the back of his neck, rather awkwardly.

_"What?! Wait...don't tell me that you're in some rooftop."_ Gwen could hear the sound of the strong wind colliding against his phone sound's entrance.

"Yeah..erm...One chase plaza." He replied, expecting Gwen's anger.

She didn't said anything for a few seconds and that was starting to worry him quite a bit. His girlfriend could sometimes be unpredictable.

"Gwen? Honey...?"

Gwen finally answered, _"Next time, at least warn me. I was already freaking out because of you."_ She ordered. _"You just don't leave like this."_

"I didn't want to wake you. You're just so cute when you're sleeping." Peter smiled as faced the city's skyscrapers.

_"No excuses. My pillow wasn't in bed and that's not nice."_ She replied, trying to sound serious which was something she rarely managed to, at least when her boyfriend was around.

Peter approached the rooftop's edge and looked down to the streets that where already filled with cars and citizens. "Sorry ma'am. It won't happen again." He assured.

_"Good."_

"Since you're awake and mad, I'm getting back to home, anything from the bakery store?"

_"You could bring one of those nice chocolate donuts you used to bring me during our first months." _She answered.

"My bad, had to win you over; just one?" He now faked a mock-hurt tone.

_"I'm gonna share it with you."_ Gwen affirmed, well aware that he was just teasing her.

He chuckled. "Alright then. I'm coming in a few minutes."

* * *

**Daily Bugle - Manhattan**

**Two hours later in the morning...**

The doors from the elevator opened and revealed lots of people running towards their others co-workers' tables with phones that were constantly firing. It was hell on Earth. Same old same old.

Peter stepped out of the elevator and made his way towards Betty's desk who after all these years, still owned the secretary table. Betty was concentrated in reading some folders over her desk that she didn't even notice Peter standing right in front of her for a few couple of seconds.

"Betty?" Peter called, smiling for seeing an old friend again after all these years away from the city.

She looked up and saw Peter in front of her desk "Oh my god...Pete!" Betty raised from her chair and hugged the ex-colleague firmly as he reciprocated the warm and welcoming home.

"It's good to see you too." He patted her back gently.

"When did you came back?" The brunette questioned, before releasing Peter and leaning her butt against the edge of her rather large and organized desk.

"Gwen and I just arrived during the past night." He replied.

"How is she?" She never had talked to Gwen, but Peter used to mention her a lot during his time as freelancer.

"She's alright, went to see her new job at Empire State and to visit her mother." He explained.

"Hmm...so - when are you two love birds...going to marry?" She asked with a huge smile, trying to have him for a moment.

"Erm..um...we didn't..talk about that, yet." Peter rubbed the back of his neck, blushing because of Betty's unexpected question.

She laughed by Peter's reaction. He still is the same person after these four years that quickly passed in a blink of an eye.

"So, what brings you here?"

Peter got back to his normal condition and explained, "I need to get the job back, is that even possible?" He needed a new job since he's getting back to college and Gwen was going to work on Empire State in the Molecular Medicine area.

"Well, about that...you'll need to talk with Jameson first. I can't just assign you without his permission or knowledge." She informed.

Peter groaned, frustrated. "Is Jameson here?"

"Yup." Betty turned back to her desk and pressed a button in the telephone. "Mr Jameson?"

_"Yes?!"_ Jameson replied rather impatiently, like always.

"Peter Parker is here. He wants to talk with you about being assigned again."

_"Parker? What Parker?"_ He asked confused.

Betty rolled her eyes. "Peter, he worked for you a few years ago." Betty rolled her eyes.

_I can't believe he doesn't remember me. I might go mad and hate him_ _too_. He thought, sarcastically.

_"Parker...Peter..Oh! That kid who took pictures of that masked menace? What does he want now?!"_

"Like I said before, he wishes to get assigned back as photographer." Betty insisted.

_"Argh, fine, let me talk to him."_

Betty nodded to Peter and mouthed "Good luck" to him. Peter smiled rather nervously and headed towards Jameson's office door. He stopped right in front of it and took one last heavy breath.

"Here we go..." Peter turned the door's knob, seeing Jameson furiously typing on his computer. He approached his table and just stood there waiting for Jameson to say something and to stop ignoring him once on his life. "Hey-"

"Wait!" Jameson interrupted him without even looking to him as he continued to write something, probably raving mad at some poor soul.

Peter raised an eyebrow by Jameson's reaction. He wasn't even paying a little attention to him, but that wasn't any news for the once masked hero.

"What can I help you Parker?" He finally said something before leaning his back against the chair to adjust his tie.

"Erm..I was thinking of taking pictures for the Bugle again, if there's a possibility, I want to get the role." He explained himself. There was hope since his old boss was actually listening him.

"And what do you have to offer?"

"I-I...can take pictures of...people?" He gulped.

"People?" He asked with a serious expression as Peter nodded.

After some awkward seconds, Jameson bursted in to fits of maniacal laughters and leaved Peter wondering what was that funny, with a surprised expression. He quickly stopped laughing and changed himself to a more serious condition. "You must be joking."

"Well, there isn't just that option-"

"You know what I need, Parker?" Jameson raised from his chair and looked to the streets through the huge window behind his desk and with crossed arms. "I never imagined the day I would say this but...that menace needs to come back,we're selling fewer papers since he disappeared and the numbers keeps decreasing, people are losing interest on the Bugle. I need breaking news and adapt the Bugle to this modern age." He explained his intentions.

"I'm sure he will get back, he's a human being too...I think, it's not like I know who he is, ha." He chuckled desperately.

"It's been already four years." He turned to Peter. "You were the first one to take a picture of him. You need to talk to that masked menace."

"You don't think you was a little unfair with him? Always blaming Spider-Man for everything bad that happened on this city?" He challenged.

"I always say the truth kid. You're young and you still have a lot to learn." Jameson approached Peter and placed a hand on his right shoulder. " I like you Porker-"

Peter corrected him, "Parker."

"Yes, that's what I meant; you're dedicated and I know that you always do the right thing."

Peter tilted his head to the side. "What-"

"I'm hiring you, but if you achieve to make Spider-Man return, you will get a good paycheck in return."

"I... I will think about it. Thanks." He nodded gratefully.

"Good!" Jameson removed his hand of Peter's shoulder and sat back in his desk chair, firing cigar as he looked up, seeing that Peter was still on his office.

"What are you still doing here? Go out there and take some pictures! I didn't hire you to act like a tree!" He ordered, mostly shouting.

"I'm going, I'm going." Peter opened the door and headed towards Betty to confirm the assignment.

_My goodness..._

* * *

**Ravencroft Institute**

_I'm here for you._

Harry was sat in a secured and closed room, only with a table and two seats in each side of the table. His hands were cuffed and were also currently lying over the table's cold and metallic surface.

_I can't help you. Not right now._

He could see green marks on his left arm's skin. It never goes away. Some nights he could even feel his whole body burning in agony, like if something was wanting to get out him, emerge.

_You wanna fight? Fight me!_

Harry's psychologist, outside the room, slipped her access card on the verifier, causing a sound that interrupted Harry's deep thoughts. She entered the room, holding a folder on her left hand as she sat on the chair in front of him. She had a pale skin and a dark raven hair, almost the same height as him.

They had been meeting for quite some time, but the results were hardly good.

"Sorry for being late. Kassady wasn't helping today." Sally apologized, seeing the file's contents. "So, how are you today?" She asked, changing her glance towards him.

After some seconds, Harry finally replied rather emotionless, "I'm fine, Doctor."

"Feeling anything today?"

"Nothing at all." He continued, still don't expressing any kind of emotions.

"Okay then...I've read yours recent exams and...you're still going to live with some sort of pain,the serum you injected in yourself is still in contact with your DNA, this means that you can...turn back to-"

"Good." Harry cut her off.

"How is that any good?" Sally couldn't believe her patient's words. One of the most unique persons she had ever met, not in a good way.

"None of your concern." He replied, staring the doctor with his blue and cold eyes.

"I'm trying to help you, Harry." She said reassuringly.

"Like everyone else? Sure" Harry stated sarcastically.

Sally sighed. "Will you ever tell me what happened between you and Peter Parker?" She asked sofly.

"How can I put this...it's complicated." Harry joked, remembering Peter's words about the state of his relationship with his girlfriend.

"So...?"

"So, are we done?

Sally wanted to help Harry to get out of some personal vendetta she thinks he has, but he doesn't want to be helped and that got her disappointed since she don't usuall fail a patient, no matter how crazy or dangerous they are. It's what she does for living.

"Okay, Harry. We are going to continue this in some other day when you want to be helped." She said, getting off the chair and leaving Harry alone on the silent room only with the folder she had arrived with.

His hands reached the folder and brought it close to him. He opened the contents to check his most recent diagnostic.

_Patient: Harry Osborn_

_After months of deep research, we came to the conclusion that the patient is still being affected by the goblum serum. The unknown genetic decease is half cured which means the patient doesn't have any risk of death because of it. Though, his DNA suffered alterations meaning that the previous transformation may happen again without the need of the serum to work. What could probably cause it are anxiety and rage, since it actives the hormones responsible for the changing._

_Otto Octavious - Tech and Gene researcher._

Harry closed the folder, thinking about the recent news.

_Thank you, Peter._

* * *

**Helen's Apartment**

Gwen and Helen were sat in the living room couch, drinking some tea that Gwen's mother had just prepared. She was asking tons of questions about England since it's a country she always looked forward to visit, someday. Now her daughter could describe the place for her while she doesn't go there.

"How was it?" Helen asked, smiling, before taking a sip from her tea.

"I loved it. It's a beautiful place and very calm too, there was this nice chocolate store, spent months on it. " Gwen said, more like remembering the best store she had ever entered during her short life.

"And Peter?"

"He's just...great. He supported me every single day, he didn't even had to be there with me, you know?" Gwen smiled, he was always there for her if whenever she needed. "I love him very much, yeah."

Helen could see the bright in her eyes whenever her boyfriend gets mentioned. There wasn't anyone else that could take care of her daughter and she trusts him. "So, with all this love going in the air...I presume you two are being safe?" She questioned rather seriously, but holding herself to not crack a cheeky smile.

"What- mom!" She stated, already blushing, her eyes widened in shock.

Helen chuckled. "I just want to know if my daughter is taking care of herself!"

Gwen shook her head in disapproval. "Mom! I'm not a kid anymore, _oh my god!_"

"And...?"

Gwen exhaled deeply and answered, "And what? Yes! We're being safe!" She replied, embarrassed.

"That's what I wanted to hear... an unexpected pregnancy wouldn't help you guys right now, I would love to be a grandma in the future, though."

"Oh my - Yeah, yeah, I'm very well aware about _that_...can we please stop talking about my sex life?!"

"What's the problem about it? I'm your mother!" Helen replied, smiling.

"I'm not interested in talking with my own mother about that." She snarled.

Gwen knows that her mother only wishes the best for her, but she wasn't comfortable in talking about such intimate topic with her mother. Not now.

"Alright, alright." Helen calmed herself and continued, "...your brothers talks a lot about you." She changed the subject. "You're their big sister after all."

"I'm going to come here again when they are not on school. I miss Howard's teases, despite how annoying they used to be." Gwen brought the cup closer to her lips and took a sip of her tea.

Helen chuckled. She could remember every time that Howard annoyed his sister ,but he always was very protective over her. She never forget the day when George was going to work and a kid Howard said he could take of her before hugging him as a form of goodbye.

Gwen could see that her mother was far away from there. "What's up, mom?"

"Oh...I was just remembering one day when Howard said to your dad that he was gonna take care of you...I miss him, a lot." Helen replied with a weak smile.

"We all do." She placed the cup on the coffee table, in front of her, and approached her mother, giving her a comfortable hug.

"Let's not talk about the past." Helen said " I missed my little girl's hug. I'm so glad you're back, dear."

"We're staying here now" She nodded.

"Is Peter coming? I want to see him as well."

"Not today, we're going to meet on Aunt May house for dinner. He is very anxious to meet her as well, but don't worry, we'll plan something." Gwen answered.

"I can imagine that." Helen stated, "So any cool stories about England that you can tell me?"

"You have no idea." Gwen replied, giggling.

* * *

**Unknown Apartment**

Fiers was looking over the city through the apartment's large window and was also emerged in deep thoughts. Everything was dark with almost zero of any source of light. He was reflecting by what had happened through the years. Deals with military organizations, paybacks, deaths and lastly...Spider-Man. His greatest target. The world's savior.

A sound came from the living room, getting Fiers attention. He stopped his reflections and headed towards the source. His Bluetooth earphone blue light was flashing on the table. "Yes?"

_"Sorry to disturb sir, but we found him...Max Dillon."_

Fiers turned on his back and towards the window. "Where?"

_"Colorado's Power Plant."_

"Go after him and bring him here." He ordered.

_"Understood."_

Fiers ended the call and placed the earphone back to it's previous position at the table. So far, everything was going as planned. Nothing could stop him to accomplish his goals and to create the ultimate weapon. He would battle for that.

* * *

**Aunt May's House.**

Peter gently knocked the door and patiently waited for Aunt May to open the door, with a huge smile spread across his face. He was going to finally see the other most important woman on his life. The one that raised him after his parents passed away.

_"I'm coming!"_ May said, urgently.

After some more seconds of waiting, she finally opened the door, seeing a much more mature Peter standing on her porch. May covered her mouth with her hand since she was almost crying of happiness.

"Peter...I miss-"

He interrupted his Aunt by hugging her and lifting her from the ground, holding her light weigh on his powerful arms. "Careful with this old woman!" She affirmed, laughing.

Peter laughed happily and lowered her back into firm ground so that she could stand on her feet.

"My god, you grew..." May said, cupping his cheek. "You look...so much like your father." He smiled. "Where's your beautiful girlfriend?"

"Gwen went to see her mother, but she should be here very soon." He replied.

She adjusted his jacket. "Let's get inside and prepare dinner while she isn't here then; we need to catch up!"

Peter nodded, following her inside before closing the door. He removed his jacket and carefully placed it on the rack besides the door. The house was pretty much the same thing that he could remember after he left to England with his girlfriend. Some paintings were different among with some furniture's. He noticed an old photo of the Parker's standing over the stand on the hallway between the kitchen and the living room. He wondered how things would've been if his entire family was alive.

Later on, He found himself in the kitchen and sat besides the table on the center as he cut slices of some tomatoes while May took care of the spaghetti she was preparing, in the stove. Peter missed those little moments with his Aunt. Every since he was a little boy, he always was willing to help her with something no matter how difficult it could be for his age. Her perfect meals except for the meatballs of course. Not that Gwen is a bad cooker - she's still learning from him after all, but his Aunt always had something very special on the meals that she prepared for him.

"Aunt May, can I ask you something..?" Peter cut slices of the small tomato.

"Of course." May replied, still focused in cooking. "Anything you want."

"You think...that I should ask Gwen? You know...marry her, one day? When it's possible?" What Betty said today left him wondering that.

Aunt May stopped what she was doing and turned on her back, surprised by Peter's question. She knows that Peter is a responsible man and that he would take care of Gwen for as long as he could, but she wanted to hear him saying that first.

"Do you think that you're ready for the responsibility of having a wife?" She questioned, rather seriously. Gwen is a very special person, one that could take care of her boy while she isn't close or with them anymore. She wanted to make sure that Peter was committed to such responsibility.

"Yeah...I love her and we're together for some years; I'm not saying that I'm gonna ask her right now. I just wanted to hear your opinion about that." Peter replied, looking into her eyes.

"If you think that you two are ready for this commitment, why not? You just need to make sure you can sustain her, emotionally and financially." She gave her advice.

"You think she would accept it?"

"I don't have any doubts about that. She knows how much you care about her and she loves you." There wasn't anyone else that May was sure that Peter should spend the rest of his life with besides Gwen. She's the one for him since day one.

"I guess...you are right." Peter smiled, her advice's meant the world for him. "I appreciate it."

"No problem. You can always count on me for anything." May assured, now turning to the stove and smiling because of the man Peter became. Ben would certainly be proud of him, he's like Ben's younger version.

After some minutes, the doorbell announced what could possible be Gwen's arrival. Peter instantly smiled to himself in anticipation."I go!" He warned, quickly raising from his chair and heading towards the main door in a fast pace.

He opened the front door and saw Gwen standing right in front of him. She was using the same clothes when they met at Times Square a few months after they broke up for the second time. Peter's mouth almost fell in the floor by seeing one of his favorites looks that Gwen managed to create.

"You're just...gorgeous." Peter affirmed, eying her entire figure.

"And you're running out of praises." She teased, smiling by his cuteness.

"I think I can come up with some new ones." Peter leaned closer, and gently captured Gwen's lips with his which was something that he hadn't done all the day besides the morning.

"I'm sorry for being late, too much traffic." She revealed before releasing Peter lips from hers, making him groan in discontentment.

"You? Stuck on traffic?" He asked totally surprised. "My god, the world can end now."

"Yeah - I'm getting your habits, you're a bad influence." She giggled, giving her boyfriend a tiny peck on the lips before entering the house, holding hands with Peter who helped Gwen to take her coat off and placing on the rack, next to his jacket.

He led her to the kitchen, still holding her delicate hand on his. "Aunt May?"

May turned and saw Gwen in front of Peter, smiling happily. It's been a really long time since the last time they had seen each other. Gwen always thought that Peter's Aunt was one of the best persons she had the luck of encountering, a passionate, strong and caring woman.

"Gwen!" May approached and hugged her. "You're even more beautiful than the last time I saw you!"

"Thanks." Gwen blushed by the compliment as she hugged her back.

"I just told her that." Peter interjected. "You guys catch up, I'm going to check my room, alright?" Peter smiled by seeing the two most important person on his life together.

"Don't make a mess of it." May ordered as released Gwen.

"For sure." He left them in the kitchen, talking about something that he couldn't even imagine. Peter calmly climbed the stairs for his room. Everything still was pretty much the same thing after all those years. He opened the door of his old bedroom and saw everything on place. It was like he never had lived in there.

He then opened his old wardrobe which was almost empty besides some boxes full of junk and old clothes. A device inside in one of the many boxes caught his attention. It was his police scanner which he used as Spider-Man before moving to England. He turned it on, but it wasn't transmitting any local signals.

That's what he was looking for.

Maybe it's broken? Peter wondered, trying to make it work once again.

"Peter?" Someone called as he quickly hid the scanner on his jeans pocket when May appeared. "It's finished. Gwen is just preparing the table." She informed, standing besides the door of his old bedroom.

"I'm coming." He nodded, relieved.

* * *

**P&amp;G's Apartment - Elevator**

Gwen leaned her back against Peter's chest while he hold her tightly, with his arms around her waist, while caressing her stomach with his hand underneath her coat and blouse.

"Did you like it?"" Peter softly whispered close to Gwen's ear.

"Loved it. I didn't know that your Aunt really cared a LOT about me."

"She does," He kissed her cheek and flirted, "I missed this...closeness." He started to kiss Gwen's neck, making her release a low moan due to his gestures. She slowly turned and gently pressed Peter's back into the metal wall as she deeply kissed his lips.

Peter lost track of the time as he fought against Gwen's lips, his hands running all along her back and down to her rear. Gwen was paying a bit more attention, and she heard the lift and pulled him out of it and towards the suite. They stumbled up the steps, still entwined with one another, and slammed into the door, Gwen attempting to use one hand to open the door behind her. Eventually she succeeded, the pair tumbling into the their bedroom.

Gwen had just removed Peter's shirt while kissing when suddenly_. "Attention, all units direct to 7th Avenue, Manhattan, Residential Building on fire."_ was heard from his jeans' pocket.

They just kept looking at each other, touching foreheads in the dark space of their bedroom, without saying a word for some couple of seconds.

"Peter...I... .maybe you should go." Gwen silently said. He couldn't deny what he's born to do and she knew that.

"Are you sure, Gwen?" Peter questioned gently. "I can stay-"

"People need you... lives are depending on you." Gwen replied, is always worried about him when he suits up, but it's his duty and biggest responsibility, she understands that.

Peter knew that she was right, but he could see how difficult it was for her to live always fearing his health. "Okay." He kissed her forehead, before releasing his arms around her and heading to their wardrobe.

She just kept looking to him while he changed. She knew that one day Peter would wear Spider-Man spandex again. It's inevitable, and that means that he would go back at home most of the time with injuries that could kill him if not treated properly, but she is gonna be always at his side.

It's what Gwen wants, her choice, no one could change that.

He was about to pull his mask down his face, but Gwen touched his back to gain his attention as he turned just to get kissed by her, a kiss of concern. "Be careful kiss, okay?" She whispered, parting the kiss with a weak smile, one assuring that everything would be okay. She pulled his mask down for him, changing Peter Parker into Spider-Man. His other persona.

"I will." He nodded and went to their window. He stood there checking his surroundings. He turned his head back to Gwen and received a nod. He jumped off the window and fired a biocable that attached in one of the closest buildings, getting used to swing with his webs and leaving his girlfriend alone at home for some couple of hours.

After observing his swinging until the last second possible, Gwen went to the living room and turned the television on. She chose a news channel where a reporter in a helicopter was transmitting the event.

_"As you can see, the fire is spreading quickly around the building, the police said that there is people inside - probably in the last floors. The fire department is unable to reach it because of the density of the fire in the first floors- wait a minute...we're getting reports of-"_

With a quick and determined swinging, Spider-Man appeared on the opposite direction of the building as he released his right hand from the web-line he was holding and entered the building by crashing towards one of the windows with closed arms to protect his face.

_"That was..Spider-Man...?"_

Spider-Man jumped out of the building with a young girl on his back who was holding herself tightly on his neck. He left him with the officers on the ground just to face the flames again as he jumped towards one of the windows.

_"Spider-Man is back..."_ The report said, excited. _"He is back!"_

Gwen just kept sat on the couch, worried about her heroic and unique boyfriend. It's a type of life that she will need to get used to because that's what Peter will do until his last breath. He sacrifices his time and body health for people he has never meet, for the greater good, and that is one of the many reasons why she...loves him.

* * *

**A/N: I wanted to clarify that Peter isn't Spider-Man again because of the money he was offered by Jameson. He was worried because that would put his beloved ones in danger again. Just when his life is going perfectly, but then again "Not choice, responsibility".**

**Please review.**


	5. Just My Imagination

**March 28th - 2019**

The door from Harry's cell opened with Fiers quickly stepping inside, while holding a bag on his right hand to not waste anymore time. "Parker suited up again." Fiers stated without actually expressing any concern about it.

"And what are you gonna do about it?" Harry asked, still lying on his bed, not giving a damn about it.

"I already figured that out, but you're coming with me, today." Fiers placed the bag containing Harry's belongings on the floor.

"Just like that?" He questioned, grinning.

"RavenCroft isn't the most correct institute as you already know." Fiers confirmed Harry's suspicious about the installation.

"What about that damn Doctor? Is she gonna be any trouble?" Harry now sat on the bed, getting more interested.

"She doesn't know. In fact, nobody knows besides some people that I talked with to free you, when she knows, it will already be late." He informed.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Harry rose from his bed, smiling like never before.

"Hmm..let's see what people are saying about me." Peter said to himself as he opened the news pages on his phone. He was sat on the edge of a building, waiting for something to do and already wearing his Spider-Man suit which was something he surprisingly missed doing it.

_Spider-Man reappears after being missed for three years._ One headline announced.

"This one is cool." Peter changed between the open tabs, on his smartphone.

_New York's vigilante is back, rescuing victims from a fire accident._

"Niiiiceee" He said enthusiastic, scrolling down the pages.

_Masked menace returns and again, terrorizes the people from New York City._

"Whaaat? Bugle of course..." Peter sighed. "Oh well, let'see what Gwen is doing." He opened a chat box with Gwen and started to text her a message.

_PP: Hey Gwen xD._

A few minutes passed and Gwen hadn't replied so far.

_PP: Gweenn? Are you there ? :0_

_GS: I'm working,Peter!_

_PP: Ohhh sorry xxxx_

_GS: Alright,what's it?_

_PP: Nothing, just wanted to know how you are. Where is my kisses? xxxxx_

_GS: Really? Kissing on messages is ridiculous._

_PP: They show that you love me xxxx_

_GS: Your messaging is bad, worse than Howard's, and what's the point of the kisses?_

_PP: Gwen! xxx_

_GS: FINE! X HAPPY?_

_PP: Now that's better :D I'm sending you some links of the recents news about your amazing partner ;) xxx_

_GS: Yes, my amazing partner, I have to go now, see you later._

_PP: I love you xxx_

_GS: Love you too._

_PP: Gwen?_

_GS: X!_

Peter smiled because of his girlfriend's reaction towards his virtual kisses. _"Assault on a grocery store in progress. Near available units please direct to 8th Avenue." _his scanner announced through the earphones inside of Peter's mask.

He stood up and placed his phone back to the suit pocket before zipping it. "Here we go!" He stated energetic, jumping off the rooftop as he kept falling down for a few couple of seconds. Spider-Man fired a web to the closest building, boosting himself towards the crime location.

After some minutes, Spider-Man arrived close to the location. He landed on the edge of a building and searched for any signs of the thief. Suddenly, one man opened the described grocery store doors, back on the streets, and ran towards an alley. He followed the thief by jumping from rooftop to rooftop, noticing that he hadn't gotten through the other side of the alley, yet.

_Hmm...genious.._

Spider-Man spotted the thief hidind behind a green metal trashcan, waiting for things to calm down.

"Okay, nobody is here yet...yeah, yeah I'm good." The thief muttered to himself, silently.

He stood up just to check if everything was okay from the direction he had come from. He didn't even noticed Spider-Man standing behind him, holding himself on a web, upside down.

_Why can't thief's feel someone behind them? This is so cliché._ Peter thought rather annoyed by the blindness.

After some minutes Spider-Man finally "BUUU!" scared him.

"Who-" The thief turned and feel on the floor, shocked because of who he had just discovered behind him. "SPIDER-MAN!"

"YES! It's me!" Spider-Man joked. "Miss me?"

The thief raised his gun and aimed towards Spider-Man's chest "I have a gun! I can shoot you!"

_It isn't even loaded..._

"Really?My girlfriend is in those bad feminine days and you threat me with a gun?" He snarled.

"Go back!lLet me walk away and I don't shoot you!" He ordered, terrified, before standing on his feet again.

"Okay, you have five seconds to run!"

_He can't be that dumb._. Spider-Man thought.

The thief quickly started to run towards the opposite direction from where Spider-Man was, hoping that he would succeed with his escape. "FIVE!" Spider-Man shouted before firing a web onto the thief's feet, making him fell on the floor and passing out.

"Hey!Yo!" Spider-Man knocked the store's door, trying to talk with the owner.

After some minutes, a short old man slowly half opened the door, scared of who might be calling him. "Are you Spider-Man? For Real?" he asked, amused.

"Yep, and here is your money." Spider-Man handed him the bag that the thief was carrying to hide the money he stole from the owner. "Also,the cops should be here in some seconds, tell them that the thief is..." He turned on his back, checking if he was still in there. "...webbed in the pole would be the better description"

"Thank you, Spider-Man." The old man extended his hand.

"Always a pleasure to clean the trash" He continued, greeting the owner before firing a web and disappearing into the buildings. Helping the ones who needs his help, was something he knew he had to do. It's his eternal responsibility, one that he couldn't neglect even if he wanted.

* * *

**Colorado's Power Plant**

Three males wearing dark suits, stepped out the car that had just arrived at the Power Plant. They were walking between a huge structure that had lots of alleys in the sides, looking for any sign of Max Dillon. One of them noticed someone sat on the ground and with a black hood hiding his face from any of unwanted visitor.

"He's right there." He pointed towards the location.

They headed towards the figure with one of them holding a gun behind his back, hiding it just for precaution. They approached who was supposed to be Max as the lights coming from the poles started to blink in a creepy way.

"Max Dillon?" one of them asked, standing in front him

"Maybe..." The hooded figure said with a weak voice, without looking up at them.

"We're looking for you. Fiers to be more precise" He continued.

"Fiers...Fiers? Who is this Fiers?" Max was on the place for weeks, recovering his energy after he finally managed materialize himself.

"I can tell you that we need you for a...team."

"Team? For what porpuse?" Max remembered what happened in the last time that he teamed up with someone.

"Basically...kill Spider-Man, appealing right?" the man responded, confident with his orders.

Max quickly looked up as soon he heard the name Spider-Man, revealing his weak dark blue face. The man who had humiliated and defeated him more than once. Someone who was supposed to be at his side but then again, everything was just lies. He wouldn't ever trust anyone again, his best friend and mother never actually cared about him, and he wouldn't ever care for anyone again. His seek of revenge wasn't over, it was just starting.

"How can I trust you?" He said with an angry voice.

"We don't come all this way just to mess around with you. Fiers will provide you everything that you want, are you in or out?" He asked.

Max got up and examined the three mans to check if it wasn't a prank or anything else close to that, making the group get alert by the menacing eyes.

"Yes... I'm in." His burned voice replied.

"Good,follow us" The man smiled, relieved. They headed back to the car with Max behind them. A sinister plan was getting back on track.

* * *

**Empire State University**

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon.. " Peter constantly said to himself as he hurried towards his class that already had started without him. He was wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans. "Finally!" He gently knocked his class room and slowly opened the door, interrupting his teacher's explanation "Erm...Sorry" Peter apologized rather awkwardly.

"Late again,Parker" His biochemistry teacher stated with a disappointed expression.

"Sorry I...I had to catch a bus since my girlfriend took the car..and..um..the traffic was very intense..." He faked an excuse.

His teacher looked at him with a "Are you really serious?" expression which was making Peter feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Alright Peter, I will not be that forgiving anymore." Casey affirmed before turning his attention back to the students sat in their respective tables. He was tall man with already white hair and he took his job very seriously.

"Thanks." He breathed relieved for his teacher forgiveness.

Peter silently climbed the stairwell and towards his seat, being careful to not interrupt the explanation again. He sat on his seat and grabbed the books from his backpack, while not letting anyone to accidentally see his suit inside of his suit.

_Gwen should be leaving her work anytime soon_. He thought, glancing the clock that was right above the class door. He couldn't stop thinking about his blondie. The soft scent of her golden hair. Hours away from her and it seemed like centuries for him. Gwen had Peter crossed around her finger, that's for sure. He remembered what Aunt May had said for him, about marrying Gwen. He would ask her sooner or later, sooner if he could.

She's the one. He smiled to himself. thinking about the future with Gwen at his side.

"Peter? Are you still with us?" Casey questioned, noticing that his student was flying around the moon with his mind.

"Huh? Yes, yes, of course." He replied before opening his science books.

"Great."

* * *

**Oscorp**

"How are we so far?" Harry questioned Fiers as he sat close to the huge holographic table, lazily laying his legs over it.

The room was locked away from Oscorp employees. Nobody knows about it besides Fiers. Harry couldn't be seen walking freely there since he murdered some works when he took the serum and most people still think that he still is locked at Ravencroft.

"Aleksei,Quentin,Max Dillon and you." Fliers replied, before changing the candidate's images by slipping his finger over one part of the table that was sensible to the touch.

"Max?He survived?" Harry asked rather surprised. He thought the guy had died on the Power Plant, leaving Harry to finish things and to get his bloodthirsty revenge.

"Yes,we were tracing sudden electricity charges around the country. He materialized himself some months ago after he was defeated by Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy."

_Gwen Stacy.._

"Who is this Quentin?" Harry eyed the screen, focused on the plan.

"Ex illusionist who joined the criminal career after killing the owner of an Illusion House for revenge...a mercenary, he knows how to mess people mind by using fear toxins,if money is involved, he does whatever you want." He explained.

"Good," Harry smiled. "When is he gonna be around here?"

"Quentin couldn't wait so he decided to...let's say, warn Peter of his presence before getting here."

"Hm...I'm starting to like him," He grinned. "How is that project you mentioned some time ago? V-"

"Project Venom, don't worry about it, Quentin is gonna deliver it."

Harry nodded. Everything was now finally getting back on track "I want him to feel a very slow death and when he hasn't any strength left, I'm gonna break his soul,...or finish what I started." Harry said determined as he leaved the room and headed towards the Special Project elevator, leaving Fiers alone who was observing his ruthlessly behavior.

Harry arrived on the special area and stepped out of the elevator, seeing all the tech in the chambers. Aleksei's armor just waiting for him when the time finally arrives. Flings and robot tentacles were inside of their own chamber and just waiting for someone to use it. He approached the green Power Armor chamber with a green light illuminating the now finished armor and glider. His second persona, one that wouldn't stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Things weren't personal anymore, this is what the destiny had been setting up to happen, two friends that were now death enemies, the fight of their lives.

_You better be damn ready for your fall._

* * *

**Empire State University**

Gwen calmly walked through the corridors with her purse on her left shoulder. She was holding some folders from her new work that she would take a look back at home. Gwen was wearing a white blouse and dark skinny jeans with her usual light makeup. She was searching for Peter so that they could finally go home since his class should be already over, and she was hungry.

She entered the mess hall and there he was, sat on a table, eating a sandwich while watching the news and listening to some music with his white earphones. Just few people was in the rather large area, most of them were already having dinner or waiting for someone close to pick them up.

Gwen approached Peter from behind and slipped her arms across his neck , leaning down to kiss his warm cheek.

"Hey."

"Hey you." Peter replied, kissing her the delicate skin of her pulse.

Gwen sat besides him and leaned her head on his shoulder as he snaked an arm around her waist, resting his hand on her stomach.

"Want it?" He offered his sandwich.

"Sure, I'm hungry." Gwen replied, taking a bite from Peter's sandwich "Hmm..it tastes very good."

"It must taste since you got almost half of it." He joked.

"You didn't established a limit."

"True," He smiled, feeling defeated by Gwen, like always. "Did you see my call?"

"I did, but I just got out now."

"Oh, okay." He gave his girlfriend the last part of the sandwich which she happily ate it.

"Do you want to know what my mom questioned me when I visited her?"

"What?" Peter asked, curious.

"If we're being safe, avoid an unexpected child."

Peter almost fell off the chair. "She asked if...we...no, no...you're kidding, aren't you?"

"I'm totally serious." Gwen deadpanned.

"Oh god..." Peter buried his face on his left hand, blushing. "This is so awkward.."

"You're cute when you're blushing" Gwen giggled.

"I'm not cute." He firmly stated.

"Yes, you're." She insisted.

"Spider-Man can't be cute or else they won't fear him or me."

"But you two are, you know that I'm right." Gwen smiled.

"Tsc, whatever."

Gwen laughed, before changing subjects. "Huh...would you...would you ever want to?"

Peter was surprised by her question. They never had really talked about that, about having a family together.

"Y-you mean..have a baby?"

Gwen nodded, she dreamed of what her future with Peter would've been like.

"Y-yes Gwen, of course. I would love to have children with you, one day." His words made Gwen's heart melt. It was relaxing to know that he dreamed about the same things she did when it comes to the future of their relationship.

He leaned to kiss her, closing eyes and stopping a few inches from her lips, just brushing his lips against hers. He could feel her warm breath on his cheek.

Gwen spoke, before kissing him. "When the time is right."

* * *

Gwen had fallen asleep on the couch, in Peter arms while they watched a movie about a girl named Olive who lied to gain popularity at school.

Noticing that she was already sleeping, Peter gently carried Gwen to their bedroom before placing her on the bed. He covered Gwen with the covers and kissed her forehead. As inviting the bed looked to be, Peter decided to do a night patrol so he opened the wardrobe and suited up, just leaving his face uncovered. He kept looking to his reflection through the wardrobe mirror.

_Peter Parker or Spider-Man? Both?_

Peter shook his head, forgetting such thoughts and finally wore his mask. He moved to their window before turning to check one last time on his girlfriend. Gwen wasn't moving, she was hugging his pillow that he used to fake his chest when he needed to go out for awhile.

_Alright Parker, you will be back soon._ He thought as he jumped out of the window, free falling for a few seconds before quickly firing a biocable to the nearest building, making him flying to high heights, enjoying the web slinging.

_This never gets old.._

Peter landed in a flag pole, on top of a building, and surveyed the city. Searching for something that needed his intervention but so far, everything was quiet. He was even starting to regret leaving Gwen alone since there wasn't much to do on this rather calm night.

_Man...I could be in bed and with Gwen wrapped around my arms._ Peter sighed

He was ready to go back home when he saw a suspicious man, wearing a black leather jacket following a woman on the street. He didn't even tried to hide his intentions. It was obvious for someone experienced as Peter Parker, or Spider-Man.

_Bad guys should have better acting.._

He followed the suspicious man by crawling the buildings walls while waiting him to do the move. The woman entered a dark alley with the man right behind her. Spider-Man joined them, but there wasn't anyone there. Only darkness and some gas coming from the manholes. He landed on ground and searched for any clues of where those two individuals could have been.

_What is this?_ Spider-Man grabbed two breathers on the ground.

Suddenly the entire alley was covered with some green smoke that was getting out of the manholes as cogs started to appear through the smoke and replacing the buildings, a shattered ceiling could now be seen on top of him.

_What is happening?!_

Spider-Man kept turning around to see what was going on. Seconds ago, he was in an alley and now he was back at the Clock tower? He stopped terrified because of what he just saw. A lifeless Gwen was laying on the floor and with a web close to her waist.

"Gwen!" Peter yelled as he hurried towards her "Hey! Gwen?" He called desperately. He raised Gwen from the cold floor and sat with her head resting over his lap, with both of his arms around her, holding his girlfriend closely. His worst fear was currently happening.

"Gwen?! No, this can't be happening!" He rejected what he was living, already starting to sob desperately.

"Not so complicated anymore HAHAHA" Harry manically laughed, standing on his glider and flying around the tower's shattered ceiling.

_Harry? What.._

The sound of door opening interrupted him. George Stacy was now inside of the clocktower. He stood besides the open door, just staring at his daughter's boyfriend that broke a important promise, causing his daughter to die because of his actions.

"No, no." He panicked.

He covered his face with his free hand, trying to wake from this nightmare. Suddenly, Peter felt something sticky sliding over the suit. He removed his hand that was covering his face, noticing that the suit webbing was gone and replaced it with a total black pattern.

"STOP IT!" He screamed, closing his eyes.

Peter heard a gunshot from behind him, so he turned his head just to see Uncle Ben slowly falling to the ground with blood all over his shirt and jacket. Everything that happened during his short life was being repeated, but some of them with different outcomes. And that was slowly killing his mind.

"STOP!" He started to cry before leaning his face close to Gwen's cheek, full of pain.

Without a warning, someone touched his left shoulder. "Hey dude, are you okay?"

Peter instinctively grabbed the person hand and violently pressed him against the closest wall, preparing his hand for the punch that contained his monumental rage. He was now back to the alley.

"Woah-Spider-Man?!" The man wearing a hoddie said, surprised. "I-I haven't done anything wrong! I swear!" He begged.

"What JUST happened?!" Spider-Man questioned, furiously and confused.

"I don't know!I was on my apartment and then someone screamed. I just came to check it out...why do you changed your costume?"

"What-" He saw his hand covered with a black color. The red and blue were gone. He looked down, seeing that his chest had a big white spider around it.

"Look, just let me go... I swear that I have not done anything wrong"

Spider-Man looked up to the man, he was still trying to sort out what just happened with him.

"A-Alright.." He replied before releasing the man from his grip who ran back to his house, leaving the confused hero alone. Peter was following a guy and then out of nowhere, everything changed, it was a hallucination? It felt so real for him.

_It happened..the suit...oh no..Gwen.._

Spider-Man was ready to leave, to check on Gwen but he started to feel dizzy. His head was ready to explode after such experience, breathing was starting to get hard after each second that passed. He raised his mask, exposing his mouth so that he could breath more easily. His heart raced,he was having an anxiety attack. His mind was still trying to process everything that had happened as he got even more worried about Gwen's security.

"Home..Gwen.." He gasped before firing a biocable to the nearest building and hurrying towards home, struggling to not fall.

* * *

Peter slowly climbed the wall for their bedroom. He could feel his body failing him and he wouldn't forgive himself if something had happened to Gwen. Not again.

He reached the window and took a peek, seeing Gwen peacefully sleeping without making any noises and thinking that he was still there because of the pillow.

"Gwen...thank..god" Peter gasped as he fell right on the floor, making a loud noise. Gwen instantly opened her eyes, getting terrified because of what she was seeing. Her boyfriend was lying on the floor and desperate for air.

"Peter!" She said shocked as she hurried towards him, noticing the suit's sudden color change.

She slowly helped Peter to lay on their bed and removed the dark mask. His face was covered in red and he was breathing raged, fighting to not close his eyes, to make sure that it wasn't a hallucination anymore

"You're okay." Peter said with a weak voice, touching Gwen's cheek with his gloved hand.

"Yes Peter, I'm okay...but stay with me," She replied worried because of his current condition. "What happened?"

"I..." He tried to explain but his fast breathing wasn't allowing it.

Gwen hurried to the kitchen and later to their bathroom, holding a glass filled with water in her right hand. She carried a pill to calm Peter down. She sat besides him. "Here, drink this. It will make you feel better."

"I..l-love..you so much..." His vision now started blacking out.

Gwen gently put the painkiller on Peter's mouth and helped him to drink the water. She put the glass on the bed nightstand and hugged him close, relaxing his body.

"Don't fight," She whispered worried. "I'm here for you"

He finally gave up and fell asleep, being hold by Gwen's arms, on their bed. I need you more than ever was the last thing he heard.

* * *

**New York**

"It's done." Quentin announced the success of his first job throught the phone. He was in the alley where he had trapped Spider-Man and made his worst dreams come true. Quentin was holding the pod where the black goo was, before releasing it close to Spider-Man.

_"You can come back, time shall do the rest for now."_ Fiers said, satisfied with the success.

"I could have just killed him."

_"Your job was just to make him get the symbiote"_

"What good that will do?

_"I don't want him dead now."_

"What's the point-"

_"The point is; you're gonna do what I want. _Fiers interrupted.

"Alright,don't need to get all snarky."

Fiers ended the call without any warning.

"Idiot..." Quentin walked back to his ca**r.**

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if this one felt rushed. I wanted to finally introduce the Black Suit and focus in the gathering of S6. The next one will be heavily focused on Peter and Gwen. The black suit will play a big role in the current plot and in the future one.**

**Hope you enjoyed and I appreciate a review,it inspires me. Next chapter should be ready very quickly.**

**04/07/14 : Added more description, fixed and rewritten lines,fixed encountered grammar mistakes.**

**07/09/15 : More detail on certain scenes and additional lines for better understanding.**


	6. Black's The New Red and Blue

**March 29th - 2019**

Peter stirred on his bed, and very slowly, rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, feeling like if someone or something was constantly kicking his head and never stopping for anything. The sun's rays coming from the window, illuminated his tired expression, but it was also relaxing his confused mind. After scanning the room with his eyes, Peter slowly turned himself to Gwen's side of the their bed, noticing that she wasn't there and that he wasn't using the suit, but only a boxer and an old white T-shirt, meaning that Gwen probably changed him while he was unconscious.

He slowly sat on the bed and brought both hands to his face, trying to recompose himself from everything that recently happened.

_"He wasn't feeling well, probably heavy headache,"_ Peter heard a very familiar feminine voice coming from the living room. _"I'm worried too, but he should wake up soon, he heals surpringly quickly as you know, yeah - I'm gonna call if anything happens...okay, bye"_

Peter got off the bed, touching the cold floor with his bare feets and went to see how his girlfriend was doing. Entering the living room, he saw Gwen outside and leaned on the balcony, with arms crossed and wearing her pink sleepshirt as she looked over the now calm city.

He approached her from behind and gently wrapped both arms around her waist, resting his chin on her left shoulder.

"Hi." Peter said silently, gently brushing his cheek against hers.

"Peter...are you feeling well?" Gwen asked rather worried, placing her hands above his.

"Yeah...a little better." He replied. "I'll manage."

"You got me pretty worried last night. I just talked with Aunt May and tried to come up with a reasonable explanation of why you couldn't talk."

"I'm gonna call her later, don't worry." He soflty kissed the smooth skin of her cheek.

"What happened last night?" She inquired gently.

"I don't know...just...I followed this guy who apparently was after a woman, they entered some alley and then.." Peter gulped, afraid to live such experience again.

Gwen turned on his grip, facing him and resting her hands on his shoulders, trying to physically express that everything would be okay. "Tell me."

Peter was now feeling guilty for letting his girlfriend getting so concerned about him. She probably didn't even sleep during the past night. He could see some eye bags under her deep green eyes. That wasn't the life he wanted to give her if they stood together as they both wanted to.

"I was looking for clues of where they could have been, then out of nowhere, the alley was consumed by some green smoke coming from manholes...cogs started to appear...I was at the clocktower again and...I saw you laying on the floor...it felt so real...I panicked.. " Peter finally confessed.

Gwen felt his muscles getting tense by the word _'Clocktower'._ She wrapped both around his chest and back,and buried her face on Peter's neck while he tightened his grip around her. They stood in silence for a few couple minutes, just enjoying each other presence in total silence.

"It was just a hallucination, I'm not going anywhere." She whispered, pressing herself even more closer.

"I know..." He replied, kissing her golden hair.

"Maybe that gas you mentioned did something?" She looked up to his eyes and suggested.

"Probably, I won't let who did that walk freely on the streets." Peter stated, determined to have his revenge.

"Okay..." Gwen closed her eyes concerned. The thought of her boyfriend being on that state again was one her biggest fears. She couldn't afford to lose him after everything that they had been through.

"Hey..." He leaned backwards and gently lifted her chin with his thumb, meeting those green eyes where he could lost himself by just glancing at them. "You know that I need to catch who did that, it's my responsibility, I can't deny it."

"I know but...just ry to come back alive to me, please?" She pleaded.

"I will, I promise." Peter kissed her forehead reassuringly, before hugging her again.

Gwen understands why Peter needs to be out there fighting crime and helping people. She's his pillar that holds everything together, she needed to be strong for him or everything would fall apart. Even if he didn't really agreeded with the statement, she knew his also her responsibility, and she would take care of him as long as it takes.

"I did something for you." Gwen smiled, softly. She grabbed his left hand and intertwined fingers as she lead him to the kitchen.

"What's it?" He asked rather surprised.

"Ohh...If what your Aunt said it's true, then you're gonna love it." Gwen replied, enthusiastic. "Sit next to the counter."

"Mystery." He joked, before grabbing a stool to sit besides the countertop.

Gwen opened the stove and retrieved a plate covered with a white towel. She walked back to Peter and placed the plate right in front of him.

"I'm not THE cooker, but I think it's good, I mean - if expect it to be good because then-"

Peter chuckled at her cuteness and interrupted her, "Gwen, everything that you do _is_ good." He affirmed.

Gwen smiled kindly. "Aww...thank you, even if you're kinda lying."

"I never lie, babe." Peted teased.

"Uh-um... you don't say those cute things because you have some hidden agenda with me, right, babe?" She cocked her head and gave him a wink.

"What-no!" He laughed. "I mean - you will never know so..."

"I have my ways of making you talk." Gwen flirted.

"Oh well, I can't really disagree with that." Peter replied, making his girlfriend giggle.

"Won't you see what I did just for you?" She asked anxiously.

"Sorry, you're too distracting."

Peter carefully removed the towel that covered Gwen's work, revealing an impressive cake that he loved since, like - forever.

"You made me cake? Wow...Thanks honey! And yeah, Aunt May was right, I really appreciate it." Peter leaned closer and kissed Gwen, enjoying the taste of her lips on his.

"You-are-welco-me," Gwen said between the kisses."But...not any cake, a chocolate cake!" She stated, proudly.

"I noticed." He grabbed a fork besides the plate and calmly cut a slice of the cake. He brought the piece of silver to his mouth and tasted it slowly.

"So? It's good? Did you like it?" She questioned, excited. "Hm?"

"Gwen... I loved it" Peter mumbled while he ate the rest of the cake, reliving his girlfriend.

Gwen smiled as she watched him eating on his own typical dorky way, like if the world would end in a few seconds. If everyday could be like the current one, without being worried about his condition.

Satisfied, he finished his plate and looked up to his beautiful girlfriend before smiling. "Do you know that I love you?"

"You said that a few couple of times." Gwen replied, biting her lips to appear serious, but that was something hard to achieve with Peter around.

"I know that you love it."

"Oh well, I'm happy that you liked it. I'm going to take a shower" Gwen seductively said as walked past Peter, adding a little sway to her hips as she headed towards their bedroom. "Are you coming?" She stopped at their bedroom's door, before turning to Peter just to give him one of those winks that can make him go crazier if she wanted to.

"Damn right I am." Peter replied as he hurried to catch her.

* * *

After taking a revigorating shower with his gorgeous girlfriend, Peter stepped out of the bathroom and entered their suite with a towel wrapped around his waist, exposing his muscular torso and arms. He left Gwen for another hour of finishing whatever was she still had to do during her shower.

_I'm gonna bankrupt when the electricity bill arrives...well at least it's for a good thing_. He smiled because of her natural beauty.

Peter opened his part of the wardrobe and wore a black short to feel more comfortable in the current saturday morning. He was about to close it but he noticed his revamped suit hanging, it was so much more different since the last time he saw it, and that got his full attention. The red and blue colors were forever gone and were now replaced with a dark pattern that Peter had completely forgotten about it.

He placed the dark piece of spandex over their bed and tried to figure what could have caused that.

_No way it's dirty._

He touched the suit's chest area and felt that the material was slipping more easily, it was somehow sticky and the lenses were now bigger and more curvy. It wasn't the same thing anymore.

_It isn't stinking or whatever else...this is...well, a new visual would be cool. It can't hurt, right?_

"Why the suit is now black?" Gwen questioned, standing behind him, wearing nothing but a bathrobe around her slim and petite body, making Peter's mouth almost fall to the floor in adoration.

"I-I..have no idea..." He roamed her covered body with his eyes.

"You should take it off." Gwen gave her advice, approaching him while analyzing the black suit, noticing he couldn't take his eyes away from her.

"No, I mean...it isn't doing anything bad." Peter replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You sure? Who knows what it can do-"

"Trust me, it's fine." He assured, convinced that it wouldn't any harm for him. He approached her and placed both hands on her waist and moved a single hand through the robe, before caressing the smooth skin around her belly.

Gwen got surprised by his behavior. He never was that excited on the morning but she decided to play along. "See something that you like?" She teased with a grin.

"Not with that bathrobe around you." He leaned down and started to trail kiss on the delicate and pale skin of her neck.

"That's bad...I wasn't planning to take it off soon."

Peter slowly wrapped his arms around Gwen. The trail of soft kisses stopped close to her ear as Gwen released a low moan. " There is always an exception." He whispered.

"Since..my..b-boyfriend...damn, just continue it. " Gwen ordered, enjoying his delicate ministrations.

Peter lifted her from the ground using his hands and still kissing her neck as Gwen wrapped her legs around his waist and gently pressing his head down to her neck. He carried her to bed and gently laid her. He stood on top of Gwen, enjoying the friction of their bodies together. He clumsily kicked his suit off the bed. They touched foreheads and looked at each other with eyes full of passion and desire. He placed a hand on Gwen's cheek and leaned down, kissing her sweet lips. They wouldn't be able to talk for a few hours.

* * *

**Ryker's Island - Curt Connor's Cell**

"I won't ever hurt that boy again." Connors stated, with furious eyes. "No matter what you do to me."

"Even if your family's safety is in game?" Fiers questioned, convinced on his persuasive skills.

"You wouldn't dare." He moved his eyes away from the man who wearing a black suit.

The man in hat continued, "Harry would. He's out of his mind. I don't doubt the things he could do to achieve his bloodthirsty goals."

Connors instantly gazed him back. "I-I..." He gulped nervously.

"Think about it." Fiers cocked his head. "I will be back soon and I'm expecting an answer. " He walked out of the cell, leaving Connors conflicted about what to do.

He couldn't bring himself to hurt Peter again, not after he forgave him for the Lizard actions. At the same, his son would be at risk if he refused the invite, and there isn't anything that he could do to stop it, unless if he called an old friend.

* * *

"I gotta say...you look pretty hot with the new look." Gwen stated, lying on their bed and with the covers over her body.

Peter chuckled lightly as he dressed the upper part of the suit. _"Really?"_

"Yeah, I mean...it really accentuates your muscles." She eyed his toned chest before it was unfortunately covered by the spandex.

"Thanks, I guess. He grinned and turned to face her. "So what do you want to eat?"

"Hm...Korean meatballs?" She suggested.

Peter sighed. "That place is on the other side of the city, Gwendy."

"So? You'll swing around, quit complaining already." Gwen grunted lightly. "I don't want a whiny boyfriend." She teased.

"That's harsh." He approached the bed's edge and moved his hand underneath the sheets and grabbed her feet and start to tingle her playfully.

Gwen giggled. "Stop!" She tried to retract her legs but her boyfriend was gently keeping her strength in check.

Peter smiled and moved away from the bed. "Alright, alright...anything for you." He scoffed and stretched his arms, groaning as he exercised his muscles.

"I'm the luckiest girlfriend." Gwen winked. "You're so good that I should marry you -" She stopped once she realized what she was about to say.

After grabbing his mask, Peter turned on his shoulder to gaze her. "Um...you want to m-marry?"

Gwen brought the sheets up to her bare neck and shook her head awkwardly. "I didn't mean that, I mean - no, like...um, oh god, I was joking, but I...I love you."

Peter noticed she was changing the subject so he went along. "You should, cause I don't think that there's anyone else besides me, that would be willing to cross the city for food." He put his mask, only leaving his mouth exposed.

Gwen exhaled sharply and calmed herself down, before playing along. "You can always reject, but that wouldn't be good for you." She winked.

Peter walked to the side of the bed and gave Gwen one final kiss before heading out. "I want to make my girl happy." He kissed her cheek and went to their window, jumping down without any kind of warning and with his characteristic backpack around his shoulders.

"Okay..." She said, surprised of his unexpected and so quick move.

Gwen got off the bed and wore one Peter's shirts which was rather big for her slim frame, but it was enough and she loved to wear some of his clothes, not only they're very comfortable but she also wanted to make him happy with whatever she could.

Suddenly, his phone fired in the kitchen, gaining Gwen's attention as she changed. She walked to the source and answered the unknown call.

"Hi." She placed her weight on a single hip as Ren stood next to her bare feet.

_"Good afternoon, is this Peter Benjamin Parker_?" A feminine voice asked.

"No, it's his girlfriend, he's out." Gwen replied rather awkwardly.

_"Oh, sorry, I'm from Ryker's Island and one of the prisoners is requesting his presence."_ She informed.

"And who such person would be if I may ask?"

_"Curt Connors."_

Gwen deadpanned. What does the man who murdered her father could possibly want with her Peter now? She didn't want to see Curt on their lives anytime soon, even if he was out of his mind during the incident, she wasn't ready to meet him again.

The caller continued, "Could you warn about it him when it's possible?"

"Y-Yeah...okay, I will." Gwen cleared her throat.

"Thank you, have a nice day." The woman turned down the call, leaving Gwen thinking about what had just occurred.

It's been years since she last heard anything about Connors. A million of thoughts were igniting on her mind, and none of them were any good.

* * *

**New York**

_I feel stronger...it's weird, but effective. It's...nice._

Spider-Man gazed his reflection in the building fully covered with reflexive windows. He hold his webline tightly and stood upside down. He touched the big spider across his chest that also reached his back. The suit was a lot more tighter than before, like if it was now part of his skin.

He wasn't fearing anything. More power, more confidence, that was what Peter was currently feeling. If anything, Peter could even move mountains. He wanted to release the adrenaline that pumped on his veins, his hands were tense and firm.

_Okay, this is a bit cool...it's awesome, some time with it wouldn't hurt. Black's the new red and blue. _He thought, finding a reason to keep the suit.

Peter released his grip from the webline and briefly fell just to shoot another biocable as he swung towards Gwen's favorite restaurant. He landed on the restaurant's rooftop and started to remove his suit, but he noticed that his web-shooters' fluids which were buried on the new material were now over, though, he could still fire webs if he wanted to.

_How?_

He removed his web shooters from the suit and aimed his right hand up, firing a black web that attached to a very far building which was something that never had occurred before. His webs were stronger, but they didn't ever reach that far as they did now.

"Well, I guess I won't need it anymore, this is spectacular...I'm loving it." He said to himself.

He stocked the device on the backpack and continued to remove the rest of his new suit. He landed in the alley besides the restaurant and went to pick their lunch. Feeling more stronger than he ever felt before.

**One hour later...**

Peter landed on their balcony, carefully to not mess with the food inside of his backpack. He opened the door and stepped inside the living room, before heading towards the kitchen and putting the box over the countertop.

Gwen wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Gwen?" Peter called as he removed his black Spider-Man mask. His second personality.

"I'm coming!" Gwen replied from the bathroom.

After a few minutes, Gwen finally entered the living room, wearing his shirt over her slim frame, stopping only a few inches from her tights.

"Is everything okay?"

"Y-Yeah, nothing to worry." She smiled, reassuringly.

"Okeydokey." Peter replied, not convinced. He eyed her current style of clothing and smiled playfully. "You look very nice, babe."

"Thank you." She approached him and gave in a tiny peck on the lip. "Did you get our food?"

Peter returned the kiss. "Yep, it's on the counter" He pointed out.

"Then let's finally eat, because I'm dead hungry." Gwen sat on the stool as Peter followed her closely.

"You seem pretty hungry, recently." He joined her, still wearing the suit minus the gloves and mask.

"You know me." Gwen opened the box and grabbed the contents, placing on each other's plates "Um...an officer from Ryker's Island called and she was looking for you."

"Ryker's? What did she want?" He questioned, eating the meatball.

"Connors want to talk with you." Gwen answered.

"Connors?" Peter said surprised. "That's...a little strange" He raised an eyebrow and took a bite.

"I don't think you should see him."

"I know, Gwen." He placed his hand over hers and caressed the delicate skin with his thumb. "But what if is something important?"

"You..." She sighef. "You're right...just be careful around him when you go in there."

Peter nodded and changed the subject. "I took some new pictures, the Bugle will freak out when they see the new visual."

"Jameson should at least pay you a good deal over the exclusives."

"He will, because I'm not selling the new ones for a cheap price." Peter hid his real motives of why he wanted more.

"And you're right. " She noticed his different behavior, a little more aggressive, which was something rare to happen when they were alone at home.

"We literally did nothing today." He smiled and affirmed softly.

"I had lots of fun, though." Gwen flirted, taking a bite of her meatball.

"Oh yeah, true" He chuckled.

"Are you planning something for the rest of this Saturday?" Gwen asked.

"Oh, you know, I was just looking forward to spend the rest of the day snuggling with my beautiful girlfriend."

"Sounds like a good plan." She smiled contently.

* * *

**A/N: This one was mostly fluff and setting up things for the next chapter but I hope you guys enjoyed. I will not detail that much of those " intimate " scenes because some people feel uncomfortable when reading that, and the story it's T rated. For those who don't enjoy it, don't worry about it. If anything, please PM me.**

**Suggestions and tips are always welcome.**

**I see you guys on the next chapter :)**

**04/07: Added more description, fixed encountered mistakes.**

**09/06: Better pacing, edited dialogue.**

**07/24/15 : New lines and add more description on certain elements. Also removed grammatical errors. The entire chapter should be now totally fixed.**


	7. More Questions & Less Answers

**April 19th - 2019**

Peter stood in front of Captain Stacy's grave on the such clouded and rather cold day of spring. He hasn't been at the location for a long time since he broke the promise that he was forced to do before his girlfriend's father closed his eyes for the last time. A night that he couldn't forget even if he wanted, one that would curse him for as long as he keeps breathing.

He wanted to say something very important words to one of the many mans that he admired most. A man who showed a younger Peter Parker that he wasn't using his powers for the greater good like his Uncle Ben originally wanted him to. He helped to place Peter in the path that made him the man who he is now.

_George Stacy - Beloved Father and Guardian_

_1957 | 2012_

"Hey Captain," Peter smiled rather nervously, fearing what George could be thinking about him after everything that happened over the years. He accepted Gwen on his life, despite the risks, but he couldn't help and think that he was doing something wrong. Maybe because of the promise. It's something that he has to live with.

"It's been a long time since I was here for the last time and I'm sorry about that. I know that I failed you, not once but twice, and it's something that I'm always thinking about it." He confessed, looking down to the gravestone surrounded by the short grass.

"I understand why you made me promise that, I really do. My actions almost cost Gwen's life some years ago and there isn't a single night where I don't relieve that moment but..." He gulped, finding the correct words to express his reasons. "I can't do that Cap...I tried...I love her so much, if you only could understand that. She's the woman of my life, I can't just stay away from her, unless if she wants me to, it's just...so hard."

He silenced himself for a few minutes, trying to find the most appropriate words to finally say what he wanted to. He moved his eyes away from the grave and to the city, deep in thoughts, before glancing the grave again.

"I want to spend my whole life with Gwen. Wake at her side, have breakfast together during every morning and maybe one day..." He smiled, imagining a distant future.

Peter exhaled deeply. "Okay, I'm just gonna say it...I-I'm gonna propose. I wanted to tell you this because you're her father and you deserve to know such important decision. " He finally revealed his intentions with the Captain's daughter.

"I can promise that I'm gonna take care of Gwen with all my strength, and I hope that you approve it. It means a lot for me thinking that wherever you may be...you would be watching for us, for her."

Peter stood quiet again, waiting for some kind of response, even knowing that it probably wouldn't happen. He felt guilty and happy at the same time, about proposing Gwen, because it was something that he always dreamed to do in the close future, even if he wasn't really allowed to do that. His first love, his girlfriend and future wife.

"I hope that you understand Captain," Peter said, touching the grave with the tip of his fingers as he paid his respects. "I won't ever let her down," He whispered, before walking away from the gravestone and heading out of the eternal silent cemetery. "I promise."

* * *

Gwen hurried inside the restaurant across the street since it was already starting to rain and she hadn't brought any umbrella to protect her. She was wearing a black coat over her white blouse and dark blue jeans. She carefully opened the door made of glass which caused a little bell to ring, and sat in one of the empty tables, waiting for someone to attend her.

The place was currently almost empty. The only costumers besides her, was a young couple who were drinking what looked to be an orange juice.

Gwen was on her lunch break, though she wasn't that much hungry. She normally had lunch with her boyfriend, but he went to sell some new pictures for the Bugle, but he was recently acting kinda weird, like leaving the bed so early in the morning, only with a note explaining that he went to patrol the city earlier than he usually did.

She retrieved her phone from her purse and checked for any missed calls or messages. She was about to text Peter if someone hadn't interrupted before she could type something.

"What would you want for today, Miss Stacy?" An unknown but gentle feminine voice questioned.

Gwen looked up, seeing a very pretty and red haired woman wearing black skirt and a white buttoned shirt.

"How do you know my name?" Gwen asked rather surprised as she raised an eyebrow.

"One of the boys has a list of the most frequent costumers, special treatment." She kindly smiled.

"Oh...thanks I guess, but you can call me Gwen, what about you?

"I'm Mary Jane Watson but most people call me MJ." She replied, surprised by the blondie's friendly treatment towards her.

"Nice to meet you, MJ." Gwen smiled by her sympathy.

"Likewise." Mary Jane nodded." So, what would you want for today?" She grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from her skirt's pocket.

"A hot chocolate would be nice."

"Then a hot chocolate is coming." Mary Jane said before walking away to send the wish for the cooker.

There was something with this girl that really got Gwen's attention. She sounded so energetic and she seemed to be a really nice person.

Gwen shook her head and grabbed her phone. She texted Peter to see how he was because it had been hours since they last talked with each other, after he made breakfast for them.

_GS: Hey Bugboy._

_PP: Hey yourself Gwendy :)_

_GS: What are you doing?_

_PP: Catching a bus to Rykers, you?_

_GS: Lunch, be careful there._

_PP: I will, and I'm sorry for not being with you. I have to do some things , it's for a good cause though._

There he is, acting weird again. Hiding something from her and she could feel it.

_GS: Peter, what are you hiding from me? _

She raised an eyebrow.

_PP: :0 what are you talking about Gwen? This is a very serious accusation ;(_

"Here it is." MJ announced, interrupting Gwen from replying to her dorky boyfriend. She removed the cup from the plate she was carrying and placed it in front of her client. Gwen was so distracted that she didn't even notice MJ coming.

"I hope that you like it."

"Thank you, " Gwen smiled, taking a sip. "Yeah, it's very good."

"I'm glad then." MJ smiled back and nodded as she walked away from the table.

Gwen again reached for her phone and got surprised by Peter's desperate texts.

_PP: Gwen?_

_PP: Are you still there, Gwen?_

_PP: Are you ignoring me? :'(_

_PP: Please forgive me...I can cook something just for you for this dinner! Or I can massage your legs, your pick._

She giggled and started to reply a text that would make her superhero boyfriend get even more desperate.

_GS: I'm mad at you, but now I'm just going to drink my hot chocolate...without you so...bye._

_PP: What? C'mon Gwen...you can't be serious_.

She placed her phone back to the purse, leaving Peter alone on the chat while she focused in drinking her hot chocolate, grinning and watching the rain brushing against the restaurant's transparent windows.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

Harry found himself inside of a dark room, sat on a chair, facing a holo-screen in the wall right in front of his figure. He was also holding the small device that his father gave to him before he finally died after years of prolonging his life.

He watched the recorded footage from Oscorp over the past years. With his left hand, he waved to the right and selected the footage recorded fours years ago when he requested Spider-Man's blood, saying to Peter that they literally could change the world with such special ingredient, cure diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's and even more, but Peter's selfishness didn't allow any of that to happen. He just pushed Harry to his limit by using an unfinished serum to cure himself, and that almost cost Gwen's life, because of Peter's owns actions, at least that's what Harry thinks about him.

_And now I'm building a team for my own reasons. Am I being selfish?_ Harry asked himself, conflicted.

He grabbed the bottle of scotch from the floor, and started to drink it's contents as he kept opening some other files through the virtual screen, thinking about what's right and what's wrong, if that is even possible at the current stage.

* * *

**Ryker's Island**

After walking through many blocks of the prison, Peter and two escort guards finally arrived at the cell where Connors was waiting for his presence. One of the guards opened the door and gave him a nod.

He stepped inside, seeing Connors sat in the chair besides the table which was the only thing inside of the room among with a lamp that was hanging on the ceiling. His hands were cuffed and were lying over the metallic and empty table.

"Peter." He greeted.

"Doctor Connors." Peter nodded, sitting on the chair and facing the ex scientist.

"Not a Doctor anymore, I'm afraid. " He smiled, sadly.

"You wanted to talk with me." Peter affirmed, scratching the back of his neck.

"This man, Fiers , he came here during the past day, asking for my help against you." He revealed, leaning more closer onto the table.

"Fiers? What are you talking about? Who is looking for me and why?" Peter questioned, confused by what he meant with 'against' him.

Connors narrowed his eyes at the young man. "Not looking, he wanst to kill you."

"Yeah, everybody seems to want that." Peter stated, sarcastically. "I'm already used to it."

"I don't mean you know who, but Peter Parker himself."

Peter deadpanned. "People are after me?" He whispered, leaning more closer to Connor's position. "Who?"

"Fiers and...Harry"

By the mention of such name, he widened his eyes in surprise. "Harry? Osborn?"

Connors nodded.

"That's impossible," Peter released a desperate and short chuckle. "He's locked at Ravencroft and can't do anything to harm me or my family, I made sure of that myself." He leaned back on his seat and crossed arms arrogantly.

"I don't know if he is, but Fiers seemed pretty confident and are you really sure about Raven? After everything that happened there with Max?"

He shook his head and sighed quietly. "Who is this Fiers?"

"I don't know him personally, but he knows a lot about me, and you."

"Where does he llive?" He asked determined, nobody threats his family and simply walks away. He would find the new threat, and it wouldn't end well for him.

"I _really_ don't know."

Peter buried his face on his hands, thinking about what to do. It was happening again, but this time, it seemed to be a lot more dangerous and personal.

"He threatened my family, I refuse to do anything against you, but could you look out for them? They mean everything to me." Connors begged.

He looked up with a serious expression "I will...anything more?"

"No..but thanks for coming, just make sure they are okay."

"Yeah," Peter rose from his chair. "Thanks for telling me this, Connors." He turned on his back and walked towards the door. "Take care." He said without looking to his ex mentor as he left the room, slowly closing the door.

"You too." Connors replied, alone again.

* * *

**Empire State University - Gwen's office**

Gwen opened the plastic which covered the gum and then placed it on her mouth as she sat in the chair next to her desk, and searched the internet for what could possibly be happening when a boyfriend starts to act differently than the usual. Her search brought several links for thousands of websites, but the one that grabbed her attention was _Five likely motives about why your boyfriend is acting differently._

"Hm..." Gwen mumbled to herself. She scrolled down the page and read it's contents.

_1- He's cheating on you._

"No! Peter would never do that to me." She snarled annoyed.

_2 - He's turning gay._

"Of course not! Not after all this time."

_3 - He will break with you, soon._

"Not again..ugh." Gwen rejected it, now supporting her chin with her wrist.

_4 - He doesn't have any money to pay dates._

"No...who knows? I wouldn't mind, though. "

_5 - He's gonna ask you to marry him._

Gwen eyes widened by the last suggestion, it made some sense after all. When she accidentally let the subject slip days ago, her boyfriend seemed pretty interested if she hadn't changed subjects quickly.

"Probably not." Gwen chuckled, awkwardly. She deadpanned. "Or is it true...? I mean we''re both 24 years old, and we're dating for ages so...nah, We would have talked about that before...would we?" She asked herself.

Gwen wasn't expecting that, could her boyfriend really be planning that? She of course would accept, there isn't someone else she'd rather spend her life with. She knew that Peter is the man she chose for a really long time. Persons like him are here, men like him are even more here. She wouldn't let him go. Still, the possibly was getting her excited for some reason, and a little nervous.

_Oh boy..._

* * *

**New York**

Spider-Man calmly swung through the city, wearing his new black suit that was near perfection on his mind. He thought about what Connors had just told him. If someone or Harry was really after him, that meant people close to him would be in serious danger, like Aunt May or Gwen. He couldn't let anything happen to the most important persons on his life, even if that means pushing himself to his limit.

His enemy is going to appear soon and when the moment arrives, Peter would end this once, and for all. Everything was now making sense, the night in the alley was their first attack.

He landed on the Daily Bugle's rooftop, unzipped they hidden pocket on his hip and retrived his phone. He called his Aunt as he stood in the edge of the building, looking over the beautiful city.

Peter stretched his shoulders while he supported his phone with his cheek. "Hey Aunt May, everything alright?"

_"Hi dear. Everything is alright, how is life going with you and Gwen?"_

"Perfect, she's working now, though."

_"Good, come by when you have a chance, okay?"_

"Understand, ma'am." Peter nodded to himself.

_"What are you doing?"_ She asked.

"I...I'm going to the Bugle." He replied. "Sell some couple of photos."

_"Good luck with the Jameson guy then."_

He chuckled. "Thank you, I might need."

_"Okay dear, I will leave you to whatever is that you do."_

"Huh? Erm, Okay...bye Aunt May"

_"Bye!"_

Peter turned the call down with a confused expression. Sometimes, his Aunt sounded like she knows something but she doesn't want to tell him, but she keeps hinting about it.

_That was kinda weird.._

Peter shook his head and retrieved his clothes from the backpack, dressing them over the suit before walking towards the door that would lead to the maintenance room.

Arriving in there, he slowly opened the door in the small hallway and saw the offices and carefully took a glance around his surroundings, checking if anyone could notice his, out of normal, entrance.

_I'm good._

He slipped inside, without making any noises and headed towards Jameson's office.

"Is Jameson inside?" He asked Betty, still walking.

"Yes, he is, let met just check-"

"No need, it will be quick." Peter interrupted Betty as he reached Jameson's office. He quickly turned the knob and without a warning, stepped inside of the room. Jameson was reading the rival newspaper, smoking a cigar, with his feet lying over his desk.

Jameson looked up to the intruder. "Parker?! How dare-"

"Here's the photos." Peter threw the folder into Jameson's desk. "He's wearing new colors, cool ones."

"Let me see!" Jameson quickly leaned foward. He grabbed the folder and checked the photos with a huge grin. "Oh...this is gold, I already can see the headline. _Spider-Man finally embraces the dark side_."

Peter grunted in disapproval. "Whatever, just pay me." He demanded.

"Two hundred."

"Two hundred?!" Peter protested. "You gotta be kidding me!"

He looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Parker, I never kid , three hundred."

"I want seven hundred. This is an exclusive and they are the first photos ever taken."

"Seven?! Are you mad?!" Jameson made a desperate face. "This is an assault! Call the cops!"

"Fine...I'll take somewhere else then." Peter threatened to grab the folder.

"No!" Jameson quickly grabbed the folder and pressed it closely to his chest. "We have a deal you damn bastard."

"Do we?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes! Check with Betty!"

"Alright..boss" Peter nodded with a smile, feeling victorious.

He walked out of the office and to Betty's table to receive his well deserved money. He needed that if he wanted to buy the best ring that he could afford to Gwen. The ring that would start a new stage in their lives, a family one.

* * *

**Jewelry Shop**

"What about this one?" The short salesman handed Peter a beautiful golden ring with a tiny and delicate piece of crystal on top of it.

"It's perfect," Peter eyed the ring, contemplating such small and precious object, an object that would cement his love with Gwen for forever. "How much?"

"Eighty hundred." He revealed.

Peter sighed, he didn't have the sufficient money to buy the precious ring right now, and he didn't want to buy a cheap one. Only the best for his beautiful girlfriend.

"Hold this one for me," Peter handed the ring back to the salesman. "I will be back soon, but thank you."

"No problem, I understand." He smiled.

Peter raised from the chair and walked towards the door, noticing that the heavy rain was already back.

_Damn._

He retrieved his phone from his coat and called Gwen. She would be ready anytime soon after finishing at Empire State and they usually went home together, but maybe not today.

* * *

Heavily exhausted, Gwen was already packing her things to finally end her day, but got interrupted as her phone fired, showing a photo of her and Peter making silly faces on their bed as usual.

She grabbed the device and placed it besides her ear, answering the call.

"Hi." She faked a serious tone.

_"Just Hi? No love or something more caring?"_ Peter joked, making Gwen giggle._ "I knew it."_

"Silly one, you got me now." She smiled lovingly.

_"So...can I come to pick you up?"_ Peter asked.

"I would enjoy some company, sure." Gwen replied, taking a sip of her coffee.

_"Yes...then?"_

"If you insist." She teased.

_"Because you don't like, right?"_

"You never know," Gwen hinted. "Maybe I'm getting tired of you."

_"That's really impossible, you can't."_

"What makes you sat that?" She grinned, playing along.

"Well, you don't get tired of someone that does everything for you. You just love me too much." He replied, cockly.

"Hum...you have a strong point." Gwen agreed with his argument. "Coming?"

_"I will be right there," _He replied. _"Hey?"_

"Huh?

_"I love you."_

"I love you too, you dork." Gwen smiled.

_"See you soon."_

"Bye."

With that, she put her phone back to her purse and grabbed some work folders from her desk. Gwen turned the lights off and closed the door, heading towards the elevator.

* * *

Peter jumped off the building, wearing his Spider-Man suit, and fired a biocable till the last second possible as he passed close to the cars. He gained height and momentum, now flying above the cars as he landed in another rooftop. He ran towards the edge and jumped again, still with the adrenaline flowing through his veins. He was feeling more agile and fast. He could abruptly land without preoccupying to break a leg or anything else.

He swung at high speed under the heavy rain as he headed towards Gwen. Traces of waters slipped down on his lenses, the suit became even more tighter for some unknown reason. Suddenly, his spider-sense triggered, making him look to the street, seeing a silver car at high speed being reckless by evading others civilians cars. After some seconds, he heard sirens coming from behind him.

_A chase_.

This time, Spider-Man didn't fire a web, but let the gravity do it's work by pushing him back to the ground just to fire a web-line in the last second, correcting his trajectory, before violently landing in the car's front, smashing the metal material that coveted the engine with his feet.

"Hi." Spider-Man said to the two robbers. One was driving while the other was holding a bag in the passenger's seat.

"You!" The driver yelled, scared.

Spider-Man punched the glass that shattered and quickly grabbed the driver's by the collar of his jacket, before throwing him out of the car and to the air, just to fire a huge amount of webs towards the flying bandit to stop him from falling on the ground, trapping him in a network of webbing across the street.

He turned back only to see a gun aimed to his chest.

_BAM!_

* * *

Gwen stood in front the University's entrance, with arms crossed while evading the rain with her black umbrella. It's been almost one hour and no sign of Peter, yet. Nothing out of normal though. He always somehow managed to get late on his compromises.

_Here I am...waiting for my superhero boyfriend to pick me up so that we can go home together...Oh, I forgot he's Spider-Man and that he's probably finding someone to arrest_. Gwen sighed, not because he's a superhero, but because he actually rarely manages to get in time for their encounters. It can't be that hard, even for man like him.

After some couple of seconds, a small car stopped right in front of the entrance, the right window of the passager seat was automatically lowered, revealing the woman Gwen had met earlier, in the driver's eat.

"Wanna a ride, blondie?" MJ asked, smiling.

"Oh...I'm awaiting for my boyfriend, but...um, you know what? Yeah, I accept...red." Gwen teased and walked towards the car. She closed her umbrella as she opened the door. "I appreciate it." She sat in the seat and closed the door, placing the closed umbrella between her feet.

"Late boyfriend?" MJ drove the car back to the main avenue.

"Always." She smiled rather annoyed.

"What's his name?"

"Peter Parker." Gwen replied, glancing the traffic in front of them.

"Parker, I remember seeing that name somewhere."

"He take photos of Spider-Man for the Bugle, probably from there." Gwen grabbed her phone and texted Peter, notifying him that she was already heading home.

"Oh right, that makes sense." MJ nodded.

"So, what can you tell me about you?"

"Me? Well, I live a few blocks from Times Square. I do some shows here and there. Acting is my passion." MJ replied.

"Sounds exciting." Gwen said, amused.

"Yeah, I work at that cafeteria to gain some extra money, and I like to meet new people too." MJ smiled. "You?"

"I work at Empire State, scientific stuff."

"Ha! I wish I was that smart." MJ affirmed, making the two woman laugh together. " So...married, kids?"

"No, no," Gwen said, blushing. "Not married...or kids"

MJ shrugged her shoulders in agreement. "Me too, not looking forward to that yet-"

Suddenly, a car at high speed and with a shattered front window passed right besides Mary Jane's car, alarming the pair.

"What-" MJ again got interrupted again by the sirens of the police cars that followed the criminal. "Where is Spider-Man now?"

"Right? I was thinking about that too." Gwen said, concerned for her boyfriend's state.

* * *

Spider-Man slowly started to regain his consciousness. He sat straight up, noticing that he was in the middle of the street and with a large amount of curious people surrounding him.

"Hey man, are you alright?" A civilian asked.

Spider-Man stood on his feet, only to feel an insane amount pain coming from his chest as he accidentally stumbled on the car parked in front of him. One of the civilians approached to help him but Spider-Man lifted his hand, stopping him to come closer. "I'm okay, just a scratch. I don't need your help."

Suddenly, he climbed the car and fired another biocable, ignoring the pain caused by the bullet on his chest. After some minutes, he was already back on track and after the robber's car.

_Let's finish this._

He landed ontop of the car, and with both hands, ripped the metal apart to grab the driver from the top. He brought the robber close to his face and stared him with deadly eyes, making the robber plead for mercy. Even if it's not what Spider-Man wanted, he threw the bandit away and did the same thing he did with the previous bandit, evolving him around webs. He jumped off the car, landing on the street and fired two webs of from each hand towards the car's back, making it stop after applying a huge amount of strength against it.

When everything was back to it's normal, he ran and jumped to high heights. He swung towards home as the police cars surrounded the stolen car that he stopped. Justice was applied.

* * *

"Here we are." MJ stopped the car in front of Gwen's apartment.

"Thank you, " Gwen smiled kindly. "If it wasn't for you, I would probably be soaked by now."

"No problem, call me if you want to do something fun, bring Peter too."

"I will, thanks again." Gwen smiled by MJ's kindness. "See you later! " She opened the door and walked to the main entrance before nodding to the doorman.

"See ya!"

* * *

After finishing his duties, Peter was now in the bathroom, facing himself in the mirror, only with the pants of his black suit as he slowly started to clean his chest with a white towel that was now covered with his blood.

_How didn't I notice that shot coming?_

While removing the lost blood out of his skin, he noticed the wound wasn't open anymore. Instead, just a tiny scar was now replacing the open wound.

_Wow..._ Peter stared himself through the mirror. He looked to his own brown eyes, seeing a much more tired expression than before, something that only happened during the night at the clockwork.

For a moment, he didn't recognized the man right in front of him. He shook his head to forget such thoughts.

Suddenly, Peter remembered something very important. "Oh crap! Gwen!"

With that, Peter hurried outside bathroom and started his search for the apartment's keys and a new set of clothes. In the middle of the search, he heard a sound of door opening andreturnede to check if it was his girlfriend who had just arrived.

"Gwen? I'm so sorry." Peter apologized, stepping inside of the living room.

"Figures." Gwen closed the door and turned back to Peter, noticing something that immediately got her worried. "Why is your chest covered in red?" She approached him, and eyed his torso.

Peter looked down to the stains. "Oh, this is...erm, nothing. "

_Damn... _He sighed as he lied straight to his girlfriend's face.

Gwen put her hands on his bare chest, noticing a new scar close to his shoulder. "Nothing?! What happened?" She questioned with eyes full of concern, worried about his health.

"This? Well, I got shot and...stuff happened." He tried to explain.

"Oh my god, Peter." Gwen grabbed her boyfriend by the hand and leaded him to their bedroom, before making him sat on their bed. "You was after that car with a broken window, wasn't you?" She grabbed a medical kit from under their bed and sat besides him, before starting to clean his chest.

"Yeah, that was me."

"Why did you let this happen?" She focused in bandaging the already closed wound.

"I don't know, that sense I told you about failed me, but I'm okay-."

"No, you are not okay!" She looked up, meeting his eyes with hers. "You got lucky that wasn't anything deep, but what if it was?" She seriously asked, holding herself to not let the emotions get in the way. "You could have died. could have left me and your Aunt. What would we be without you?" She continued, desperately.

"Hey Gwen...hey," Peter placed both of his hands on Gwen's cheeks and brought her close. "I'm okay, alright?" She turned her eyes away, evading his eyes and not totally believing him.

"I already said that I won't die. " He gently made her look back at him.

"How can you be so sure?" She questioned with a weak voice. "You aren't immortal just because you have gifts that no else has."

"I just know. You need to trust me, okay?" He pleaded with his eyes.

"I trust you, but you can't promise that you bulletproof.' Gwen leaned her forehead against his. "You know that's not possible."

Peter smiled. "I've already beaten impossible odds." He continued, gaining a weak giggle from his girlfriend. He thankfully smiled and slowly leaned closer. He gently captured Gwen's lips, assuring her that everything is gonna be alright, despite the situation they were going through.

He broke the kiss and said, "Thank you, for everything."

Gwen placed a hand on his chest and gently pushed Peter away. "Let me just finish this."

"Fine." Peter replied, watching her finishing to bandage where he got shot. He still couldn't believe that he had the luck to meet such beautiful woman, or an angel. Thousands of people on Earth and Gwen had chosen him among all that people.

Gwen noticed that he was observing her and looked up with a huge smile. She gazed his eyes, well aware that they're mentally flirting with each other in the most unlikely situation she could imagine. They're indeed a very strange couple, but a happy one.

"What's it?" Gwen eventually broke the silence.

"You're beautiful." Peter grinned. "Like - super unbelievable beautiful."

"Thank you." She giggled and shook her head to remove such lustful thoughts from her mind and resumed to patch him up.

"How did you get here?" He asked, moving a trace of her blond hair behind her ear, before cupping her cheek amorously.

"I met this nice girl called Mary Jane, she gave me a ride." Gwen explained. "Have you seen my text."

"Sorry." Peter apologized

"She invited us to do something fun, someday." Gwen patted his chest, feeling his hardened and toned muscles, and looked up to greet him with her green eyes.

"Oh...sounds like a good idea."

"Yep." Gwen ran her hand on his perfect hair. "What about Ryker's? "

"Apparently, there is someone who wants me dead, and they wanted Connors to help them with that." Peter didn't mention Harry's name since he wasn't sure if that was true or not, and he didn't want to preoccupy Gwen with the man who once tried to kill her.

"Why?" Gwen changed to a more serious expression.

"I don't know, but Connors isn't someone that lies so I'm taking his word. I'm watching over his family as well." Peter moved a single hand to her thigh covered with her jeans.

Gwen let him have his way and questioned, "What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm gonna take care of that, don't worry because this isn't something new for me," He leaned closed and gave her a quick kiss. "Just call me when we aren't together, alright? "

"I will," She kissed his hand that was resting in her right cheek. "Um, you want to tell me something, Peter?"

"Yes...I love you." The unique couple laughed together.

"I love you too." Gwen gave him a tiny peck on the lips. "Now...go take a bath because my favorite movie is going to start."

* * *

**A/N: MJ is finally introduced. I hope that you guys liked her and don't worry because she won't ever replace Gwen, it's for another route that I'm taking the story, thank you for reading and for the reviews.**

**12/18: Entire chapter revised. Added extra dialogues, description and expanded scenes. Kassady's scene was completely removed due to fitting reasons.**

**08/01/15 : Fixed grammatical errors.**


	8. Proposal

_Everything was now slow, his blood froze when he saw his girlfriend falling from Harry's grip.. He couldn't fail Gwen. He had to catch her in time and protect her from touching the strong metal bars of the tower's ceiling. _

_After he quickly jumped, their bodies collided against each other, but Spider-Man was careful enough to not hurt Gwen in any way. He wrapped his arms around her slim frame while she buried her face on his left shoulder as they fell together, wrapped in each other's arms._

_Spider-Man's back made contact with ceiling, he groaned in pain as the shattered glasses ripped his suit and skin. They finally landed in one of the many platforms inside the tower. He just ignored the pain and checked on Gwen to see if she was alright._

_"Are you okay?" He asked, running a hand over her bloned hair. _

_She just shook her head in form of response, still terrified._

_Suddenly, an orange device fell right at his side and started to flash like if it was going to explode. Instanly, he turned to the other side with Gwen on his arms. The explosion burned the skin of his back and made the edge of the walkway fall, making Gwen slip from his arms as he quickly leaned down to catch her arm, holding her firmly. One mistake and an innocent life could be lost._

_"I got you Gwen! I'm gonna put you right here!" Spider-Man released Gwen and fired a web on her hand, she grabbed it as he lowered her down in the cog._

_Spider-Man noticed Harry coming down with his glider, preparing for the attack. He quickly jumped to the other side of the tower, evading a direct hit with the glider. Harry quickly turned, preparing a punch towards him but Spider-Man webbed his hand to the wall and again jumped to the other side to evade Harry's attacks. With each jump, he placed a single web-line between the walls while he ran against them. He was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to rise._

_Gwen moved from one cog to another. At some point, she almost feel but she managed to recover her balance in a split second. While trying to find a more secure place to say, she heard a sound of strong crash so she looked up and saw her boyfriend being launched to what once was the ceiling. _

_He spun in the quickly and fired a webline down to Harry's glider and pushed himself close, landing on his back. He wrapped both legs around his waist as his enemy spun the glider. Spider-Man punched his cheek and fired a web from his left hand to his right hand, forming a new web-line that he used to suffocate his opponent. _

_Harry quickly reacted and flew backwards, making Peter's back shock against the wall made of old bricks. He recovered and quickly kicked Harry's back, freeing space to pass past him, spinning himself in web that was across the tower as he kicked Harry right in the face._

_Harry fell in another plataform while his uncontrollably glider headed down towards Gwen's direction. She managed to evade it but her cog where she was standing was shattered in pieces. _

_Desperate, Spider-Man saw Gwen falling and quickly jumped down to snother cog as he fired a biocable towards her delicate hand. He pushed Gwen upwards but got interrupted when Harry grabbed him by the neck and with both hands, pressed him against cog. _

_Gwen released a yelp, watching Peter struggling to keep her safe while dealing with Harry at the same time. Harry pressed his foot over Peter's hand as the cog suddenly turned. He retrieved a knife from his armor and moved it towards his once friend's face but he quickly evaded. With that, Spider-Man placed a hand on Harry's face, trying to push him away._

_Screaming in rage, Harry removed his hand just to be headbutted and quickly punched after it. He recovered and grinned. He tried to hit him with his knife but Spider-Man webbed it to the cog behind him. Harry got even more nervous and with one single hand, he grabbed Peter's neck and started to violently choke him._

_Spider-Man fired a web to the cog behind him and quickly wrapped it around Harry's neck as the cog again turned, making his head move backwards. They stood choking each other for a few couple of seconds while groaning in pain. There wasn't any friendship left anymore, this was a fight that would only end with a death._

_Without any warning, the cogs started to move, but Peter interrupted them by placing is feet against it. It was unbearable painful, but he preferred to lose his leg in order to save the love of his life. He looked down, seeing Gwen terrified._

_"Peter?" Gwen called. She could see that Peter wasn't going to make it, despite his best efforts to keep her safe._

_Suddenly, the mechanism that hold the cogs together dislocated after such amount of force being applied against it. His web that was holding Gwen got cut in the process, causing Harry to be launched backwards and consecutively lose his consciousness in the impact against the barrels. _

_Peter looked down, and jumped, seeing Gwen falling way more faster than him._

_NO!_

_Everything was now slow again. It was like an eternity. A painful one. Gwen looking to him with eyes filled with pure fear because of what would probably happen with her. Their future together was about to be destroyed. There wouldn't be Peter and Gwen, just Peter._

_Peter fired one last web line towards her, rejecting what was currently happening with the love of his life. The line went straight down while luckily evading the shattered cogs that blocked his way towards her. _

_Gwen looked to Peter one last time before accepting her fate. She wouldn't ever forget the brown doe eyes that were under that mask which turned him to the greatest man alive. She was proud of him, no other person would do what he would. This was where their paths finally went different ways._

_The web line made contact with her waist as Peter grabbed a pole to slow down the fall and save his girlfriend. With all his strength left, he didn't let the web go, and that ended a life._

* * *

**April 22th - 2019**

Peter jolted awake, eyes snapping open instantly. He immediately began to assess his surroundings, checking for any threats. He groaned as he properly awoke, realising that it had only been a dream. He checked to his left, seeing Gwen sleeping safely by his side. She had an arm draped across his chest, gently pressing her body into his side. Peter looked down at his own form, his body was covered in a light sheen of sweat and his breath came in rapid gasps with his heart still hammering in his chest. He raised a hand to his face, rubbing the sleep from his eyes forcefully. He looked to the bedstand to check what time was.

**4:23 AM**

_Oh god..._

Slowly, Peter extracted himself from Gwen's arms, rolling quietly out of bed. He walked from the bed over to the bathroom on his boxer. He released the water, cupping his hands and splashing the cold water over his face. Peter looked up, studying himself in the mirror above the basin. His nights were getting harder to go through. He couldn't sleep. His body and mind didn't allowed him to.

_Just a dream...a dream...everything is okay._

Peter turned and stood in the bathroom's door, observing the woman that could take the entire weight from his shoulders for a certain time. She was sleeping peacefully, with a hand resting on his pillow and with the entire blankets around her body. She had this habit of taking his part of the bed covers while sleeping. She neglected it, but Peter didn't mind it at all. It just made her even more cuter.

He entered their room and opened his part of the wardrobe, revealing the suit in the hanger. He stared it for a few couple of minutes, deciding if he should go out at this time of the morning. It was calling him. He wanted to feel powerful again, avoid the dreams that were haunting him, and there was only one way to accomplish that.

"Peter...?" Gwen called softly, without opening her eyes while groping his side of the bed trying to find him, realizing that he wasn't there. She rubbed the sleep away from her eyes and slowly sat in the bed, seeing Peter in front of the bed and with the suit hanging on the wardrobe behind him.

"Bad dreams?" Gwen asked concerned, he wasn't sleeping well recently.

"Yeah.." .Peter replied, feeling guilty for each time he had woken Gwen up, and each time he felt even more guilty for being such a problem for her.

"Come here," Gwen patted the bed next to her. She had an idea. "Lie down here, on your front."

He did as he was told walking over to the bed in his boxers. Peter lay down on his front, resting his head on a pillow at the head of the bed. He felt movement next to him as Gwen positioned herself over him, resting her knees either side of his hips.

Before he could ask anything Gwen began her idea, massaging his back in a circular motion. Her touch was enough to relax his body causing all of the muscles in his back to loosen up completely. He felt himself both relaxed and begin to feel sleepy at the same time, his body revelling in the incredibly relaxing stimuli.

They stood like that for a few couple of minutes.

"Is that okay?"

"Incredible Gwen," He said gladly "Thank you."

They fell into quietness again, Gwen continued her ministrations for another couple of minutes before slowly coming to a stop, dismounting his body. As she stopped Peter felt completely at ease, more relaxed than he had felt in a long time. He slowly rolled onto his side, Gwen slipping into his arms next to him. He gave her a tender kiss on the cheek, receiving a smile in return. Peter brought the sheets up, covering them.

"Are you feeling better?" Gwen asked.

"Definitely." Peter kissed her forehead.

"Wanna talk about it?

He didn't say anything at first, but just maintained eye contact with Gwen. He blinked first, averting his eyes from her piercing gaze. He didn't want to tell her about his dreams, to concern her that he dreams of her death, but could he really deal with this himself? He had tried that for the past couple of weeks since he suited up again and, to be honest, it didn't work. In fact, Peter knew he hadn't really tried to deal with whatever was going on.

"I...it wasn't anything important." Peter faked a smile to assure her that everything was alright.

"You're important to me," Gwen placed a hand on his chin, reassuringly. "Tell me." her deep green eyes pleaded.

Peter sighed. "I keep dreaming about the bad things that happened to me through the years, but...the worst part is when these dreams are about you." He confessed.

"And?"

"And every single time you die. It's the contrary of what happened in that night." He finally revealed what was going on. "Every single damn time..."

Gwen understands the pain that Peter was going through. She knew how often such night still curses him and there wasn't that much she could do to help him besides trying to make him feel better, even if for a brief amount of time.

"It's just the stress," Gwen caressed his now messy hair. "I'm not leaving you."

"I know...but thank you again" He leaned a few inches and kissed her warm lips.

She kissed him back, "Maybe that gym idea can help?" She suggested.

"I'm going to think about that." He smiled.

They stood there, wrapped in each other arms, enjoying the closeness before finally falling asleep again for the rest of the morning.

* * *

_**Hours later**_

Peter sat in the desk desk that Robie had lent for him at the Bugle. He was searching for the past years' criminal headlines which he had missed while he was living in England. He opened the huge folder that Robie gave to him, and searched for something that involved mental tricks or illusions related.

He still had to catch the person who had messed with his mind and any leads about it would be deeply welcome.

_Oscorp CEO Harry Osborn behind bars._

_Spider-Man defeats mechanized robot._

_New York's vigilant is missing._

_Serial killer know as Carnage is finally behind bars._

_New York suffers great increase in tourism numbers._

_This will take a long time..._ Peter sighed and went to grab a glass of water.

* * *

Gwen now found herself walking with Mary Jane at Times Square while holding a plastic cup filled with coffee. They were just hanging out, visiting shops since Gwen achieved to finish her duties early than the usual. She was having a girl hour, something that she missed to do and she couldn't decline MJ's invite. She was looking toward to get to know her better.

"Is that offer to go somewhere and have fun still up?" Gwen wanted to make Peter forget about Spider-Man and his others responsibilities for a few couple of hours. He was needing something to relax his mind.

"Of course!" MJ replied, excited. "What do you have in mind?"

"I want to bring Peter somewhere that we could relax. Maybe a dance club? Not too loud, though." Gwen replied, taking a sip of her hot coffee.

"There is this dance club where I usually go. It has that romantic vibe, early in the night."

"Sounds perfect" Gwen smiled, content.

MJ teased, "Is Peter going crazy?"

"What - no!" Gwen and MJ laughed. "He's just being under a lot of pressure, like working for the Bugle and attending college at the same time, among with some other stuff."

"Oh, I understand." She nodded, glancing the enormous panel on the building in front of Times Square.

"What about you? Are you from here?" Gwen asked.

"I used to live with my parents at New Jersey, where I was born, but it's..." MJ remembered those times. Her father used to drink a lot and beat in her mother and even in MJ at times. It wasn't pleasant memories. Memories that she tried to forget. "Well...I couldn't live with them anymore, too much angst." She continued.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to intrude."

"No, it's alright. It's in the past now." MJ smiled reassuringly.

Suddenly, MJ stopped her tracks and focused her attention in a dark red shoe that was being exposed in a store besides them. She couldn't resist the desire to experiment it.

"What?" Gwen asked surprised, studying her friend's amused expression.

"C'mon!" MJ grabbed Gwen's free hand and leaded her inside of the would stay there for a few couple of hours.

* * *

**Daily Bugle**

_Quentin Beck, accused of murder, still haven't been caught and put behind bars. Citizens start to wonder if he's ever gonna be caught for his crimes against his ex-boss at the Illusion House._

"Found you!" Peter shouted, forgetting that he wasn't alone. He moved his eyes away from the piece of paper and saw everyone from the floor looking at him, with eyebrows raised.

"I-I found m-my pen...yes, my pen." He came with an excuse, before narrowing his eyes at everyone. "Problem? Don't you guys ever lost a pen? " He continued, snarky.

Everyone resumed what they were doing with an annoyed expression, leaving Peter in a rather awkwardly situation. Not that he cared about it, he had more important things to deal with it.

_Quentin Back...you better sleep with your damn eyes open from now on._

"Peter?" Robie called from behind him, placing a hand on his left shoulder to gain his attention.

Peter turned on the chair he was sat and looked up to the man in front of him. "Thanks for the old issues, Robie."

"No problem, son. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yep, thanks again." He smiled kindly.

"I wanted to thank you for your effort in the recent weeks. You really put the Bugle back on track in a very short time."

Peter nodded professionaly. "My pleasure."

"And for that, I'm promoting you to web-designer of the Daily Bugle. " Robie gently patted his shoulder. "You had show interest earlier, so, why not?"

"Me? Wow..." Peter wasn't expecting that, for a simple freelancer photographer and now to a professional web designer. "T-Thank you."

"This desk where you are sat now, it's yours. Feel free to place your stuff here."

Robie moved his hand under his gray suit and retrieved an envelope. He handed to Peter who couldn't believe what was happening.

"This is a bonus along with your new salary." Robie continued. "But don't forget to take pictures of Spider-Man or else Jameson is going to crawl the walls." He chuckled.

"Y-Yeah..Thanks..for everything."

"Now go pay your girlfriend a nice dinner." He stated before walking away.

_Not just that..._

* * *

**Harry's Apartment**

Harry entered the apartment that he bought using a secret identity so that he wouldn't be recognized. He was now on the last floor of the enormous and luxurious area.

The place was huge, a living room at center which connected with a long balcony and kitchen. There was a stairwell that leaded to his bedroom and some other areas. Everything was already furnished.

_This will be perfect._

Harry walked to the kitchen, removing his glasses and jacket. He placed his belongings on the counter and went to grab a bottle of whisky from the fridge. He placed it over the counter and opened one of the drawers, retrieving a small glass just to fill it with whiskey. He headed towards the balcony and looked over the city that was already starting to get illuminated ad the sun moved away from sight.

It's crazy what happened him through his short life, being throw away more than once, losing a friend more than once and lastly, losing his father that left a curse to Harry deal with. The more he thought about it, he felt even more anger.

What has he done to deserve that? The truth is; he doesn't have anyone that cares about him, since his mother died.

Suddenly, he felt pain coming from his neck and arms. He looked down and noticed that green marks were now appearing over his arms. It was happening again. It was only a matter of time before his curse consumes his mind and body again, he didn't want Peter's blood anymore, he didn't knew about what to do with his life.

* * *

"Oh my god, Mary Jane...it was just one shoe..." Gwen gasped. "But you bought four shoes!" She was now helping MJ by carrying one bag in each hand while her friend carried the other two.

"You have to admit...they are great!" MJ stated, excited.

"Yeah, yeah.. they are, but you need to control yourself. " Gwen replied as they walked back to MJ's car. "You're the capitalism's greatest consumer." She chuckled.

"I will...I just couldn't resist."

"I know, I know. I'm a girl too." Gwen laughed.

They reached MJ's car as she opened the company doors, placing all the bags in the backseat

"C'mon." MJ opened her door, sitting on the driver's seat while Gwen sat besides her.

Gwen opened her purse and grabbed her phone, checking for any messages that she could have received during her friend's consumer hour.

_PP: Central park? Don't be late :)_

Gwen raised an eyebrow, what Peter could possible want to do in Central Park? Just a normal date?

"Home?" MJ questioned, observing Gwen who was with a confused expression across her face.

"Could you drop me close to Central Park? Peter wants to meet there."

"Hmm," MJ teased, "I'm getting signals here..." She winked playfully.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked innocently, not understanding what she meant with that.

"Oh, nothing." MJ grinned, turning the car's engine on. "Okay, Central Park here we go."

* * *

**Central Park - Bow bridge - Night**

Peter stood quietly in the bow bridge at Central Park, leaned on it while observing the river that passed right under the bridge. The reflection of the light poles and his figure were spread across the water, seeing the moon's reflection was also relaxing.

There wasn't anyone there besides him. The moment that he waited years to come had finally arrived. He was happy and nervously at the same time. He knew that Gwen loves him as he loves her, but there is always a chance that she could refuse it.

_Calm down Parker. _He shook his head, trying to forget such terrible thoughts.

Peter knew that everybody close to him would be always in danger, but he would do his best to keep them away from any possible harm that they could suffer. Gwen doesn't mind him being Spider-Man, she understands why he's needed and she isn't afraid by being with him. It's what makes her happy, and that's enough for both of them.

He noticed some movement on his corner so he turned to the direction, seeing Gwen walking towards him, she was wearing blue jeans and a dark long sleeve.

Gwen immediately smiled as she saw her boyfriend with that amused look he always had when seeing her for the first time after hours of being away from each other due to their own personal responsibilities.

_Here we go_. Peter rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hey." Gwen approached him, before leaning closer and resting each hand on his shoulders.

"Hi." Peter wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her warm lips passionately, enjoying the taste as Gwen happily reciprocated.

For a moment, he felt at ease, relaxed. She had that effect over him.

"What's up?" Gwen asked after breaking the kiss, caressing the back of his hair with her fingers.

"I'm just happy to see you." Peter leaned again. He closed his eyes and brushed his lips against hers, feeling her warm breath on his neck.

"Hmm.." She also closed her eyes while they stood there, slowly kissing each other lips for a few more minutes like if they had all the time available in the world.

"So, you just wanted to make out with me huh?" Gwen said between the kisses.

Peter leaned his head backwards. "What-no!" He laughed, before staying quietly and gazing her deep green eyes in silence. "Do you know that I love you, right?"

"Yes, I do." Gwen replied confused because of such random question. "Well, I think so." She teased.

Peter ignored her tease and continued, "And that I would do everything for you?"

"Yes I know, Peter." Gwen could feel his mucles getting tense. "Why-"

"Shh," Peter gently placed a finger on her lips, interrupting what she was just about to say. "If there's something that I never doubted, is that you're the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. I never forget the first time I talked with you. When I awkwardly invited you out and our first kiss. Those are memories that I carry close to my heart." He grabbed her right hand and gently moved it over his pulsing heart.

Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle started to meet each other.

_Is he.._

Peter placed a hand on her cheek and softly caressed it. "You was there for me when I was lost. You saved my life more than once and you understand why I do what I do." He moved his free hand to the coat's pocket and retrieved the little white box.

"I'm never letting you go anymore again," He smiled. "I'm giving you my soul, because I trust you, I adore you."

Peter slowly stood on his left knee, holding Gwen's right hand on his.

Gwen calmly covered her mouth with her free hand while carefully bitting her lips, holding the incoming tears back. She wasn't believing that he was proposing. She thought that it was just her mind creating false assumptions about it.

"Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy," Peter looked up and opened the tiny box, revealing the golden ring. "Will you give me the honour, of marrying you?" He smiled and finally asked.

Gwen couldn't hold anymore. She dropped a tear of happiness. After all these years, she couldn't get tired of such loving man who Peter is. The best thing that ever happened to her.

Gwen wanted to jump in happiness. "Oh my god - Yes! Yes! Of course!" She replied lovingly, with eyes full of tears. He retrieved the golden ring with a tiny crystal on top of it from the box, and gently slipped across Gwen's finger.

Their future together just got sealed. He stood up and kissed Gwen salty tears as he wrapped her arms around her slim frame. She buried her face on his chest, enjoying such moment. They hugged each other and smiled to themselves.

"I love you." Peter whispered close to her ear.

"I love you too." Gwen replied, soaking his shirt under the coat.

"You just made me the most happy man from the entire world." Peter kissed the top of her blonde hair.

Gwen looked up, grabbing him by the collar, pushing him closer, before kissed him passionately. She hadn't any words to express what she was feeling. Now they were starting a new stage in their relationship, one that she always looked forward to.

"I want to show you something."

"Not now," Gwen smiled. "Let's just stay here.." She leaned closer. "For a few more minutes."

* * *

**A/N: Excuse me while I go cry in the corner.**

**08/01: Fixed errors, rewritten llines and added more detailed description. The scene in Harry's Apartment was rewritten due to fitting reasons.**


	9. Approval

**April 23th - 2019**

Gwen peacefully stirred and rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, feeling two strong arms wrapped around her slim frame. She felt rested and stretched drowsily on her side of the bed next to Peter. She turned to gaze at him sleeping and she glowed with happiness. After his proposal during the past night, Gwen felt more happy than ever, the two of them had evolved their relationship and she had never felt as good as she did now being with him. She felt more at ease with him now than ever before. She now loves him even more.

Gwen turned her head at the clock on the night stand. It was a little over 7 on the morning. They had slept surprisingly long. She moved even closer to Peter, thinking that it was time for him to wake up. She lied down next to him and gave him a soft kiss on his lips as she took in his scent, stroking his brown hair.

Peter slowly woke up and opened his eyes tiredly, but soon smiled up at her when he saw Gwen.

"Morning sleepy head." She said with a heartwarming smile.

"Good morning, Mrs Parker." Peter smirked and kissed her soft lips while slipping a hand under Gwen's nightshirt, caressing her back, wanting to always be awaken like that.

"Hmm...that's how I'm gonna be called from now on?" She asked before standing ontop of Peter, straddling him and sensually running a hand over his toned abdomen and chest.

"Soon, there's no turning back now." Peter lowered his hand down to her waist and caressed her thighs.

"I can't resist waking you." Gwen said and couldn't stop smiling. "Every time I do you look at me as if you hadn't seen me in years."

Peter pondered her last words. "Well...I didn't see you for almost an entire year shortly after the graduation. " He moved a lock of hair behind her ear and leaned closer to give her another kiss.

They parted and Gwen lay down again and rested her head on his shoulders. She moved her arm around his torso and hugged him closer.

He stretched tiredly as much as he possible could with Gwen hugging him, "What time is it?"

"Sevenish." She answered drowsily. She could feel him move his arm a bit which ended up on her lower back and his fingertips began caressing her bare skin. It was a wonderful sensation. He placed his other hand on top of hers. She hummed contently.

"Last night was amazing." Peter grinned.

Gwen chuckled and turned to look into his eyes. "God, yes it was, Peter."

"But It doesn't need to end now." Peter gently turned to Gwen's side and stood over her, with their bodies closely against each other. "Hmm?" Peter mumbled as he kissed the spot behind Gwen's ear.

"As..much as I love...the idea" Gwen closed her eyes, breathing heavily because of his delicate touches. "We don't have enough time for that." She ran a hand on his hair, evolving a small lock around her finger.

"We have..." Peter descended his kisses down her neck, slowly slipping a hand underneath her nightshirt, before gently drawing circles on her stomach with the tip of his finger.

"Y-You...know the rules," Gwen tried to reply while dealing with his ministrations. "Not before the wedding." She kissed his cheek.

"We..usually..break that rule." Peter descend the kisses to Gwen's neckline and at the same time, started to move her nightshirt upwards, revealing her bare belly and almost -

"My gosh - Peter!" Gwen opened her eyes in shock. She knows that Peter has super powers, but he never was that impatient during the morning. "You want to kill me?!"

"Of course not." He went to kiss Gwen while his hand under her nightshirt adventured higher.

Gwen quickly leaned to kiss Peter on the lips and slipped away from his grip. She got off the bed and brought a pillow along with her.

"C'mon, Gwen...don't leave me alone here." Peter begged, sitting on the bed and revealing his bare chest.

"Then follow me to the kitchen," Gwen smiled. She threw the pillow back to Peter as he quickly grabbed it. "Let's go," Gwen walked away.

"Argh..." Peter groaned in discontentment. "Alright, alright, I'm coming my dear babe bride."

_"Good know that you've noticed who leads things around here." _Gwen replied from the kitchen. _"Babe..."_

"My revenge is coming ,just wait." He stated, determined.

Peter could heard Gwen's cute giggle from the kitchen while he wore a shirt. _"I'm scared!"_ She teased.

"Don't worry beautiful my lady, Spider-Man is coming for the rescue."

* * *

**Quentin Back's Hideout - Docks**

Quentin unlocked the gates that led to the abandoned warehouse in the docks, and headed towards one of the doors of his hideout.

Fiers had given him some top node Oscorp technology to do whatever he wants while the project isn't ready. Quentin went to check how his own personal operation was going on so far.

With a key, he unlocked the door and entered the warehouse, seeing some of his thugs working over a huge amount of tech spread in the metallic tables. He approached the one that contained his unfinished armor, colored in green and with some traces of purple, a design that he found rather silly, but it's what they had come up with.

"Ready?" Quentin questioned the worker.

"Just a few more days and it should be ready." He replied, removing the metallic mask that protected his face from the blowtorch's sparkles.

"Good." Quentin nodded in contentment. He was about to touch the armor of he wasn't interrupted before he could do so.

"Quentin!" A short, bald and aged man hurried towards him.

"Toomes?" Quentin raised an eyebrow at his friend's urgency. "What do you want?"

Toomes approached. "Seriously, where did you get all that stuff, what did you do?" He questioned, annoyed.

Quentin sighed. "Does it matters? We can do almost anything with this."

He couldn't reveal such information. His source wouldn't like that since everything involving the project is being kept in secret until they're finally ready to fulfill their ultimate goal.

"This isn't smelling good." Toomes stated, not trusting his story.

"Look," Quentin placed both hands on Toomes' shoulders. "Didn't you want to be rich? To never do any kind of effort? It will happen."

"Last time." He walked away, mumbling something.

Quentin turned to the table and grabbed the metallic and flexible gauntlet, placing it on his right hand, eyeing such weapon he was given. One that would help him to achieve his goals.

* * *

**Hours later...**

"So where would you like it to happen?" Peter asked as they walked around the city, enjoying their time together before going separate ways.

"Hmm..." Gwen frowned, thinking. He had an arm around her back while Gwen stashed her hand on his black coat's pocket, with an arm around his waist. "The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers? It's a beautiful place."

"Agreed." Peter smiled, already imagining how would it be when Gwen is finally walking towards him in some beautiful dress that she would choose, one of the best days of his short life.

"But only if we can afford it because-"

"We can afford, it will be special." He tightened his arms around her.

Gwen continued seriously, "You sure? I don't care that much about those small details, we don't need to prove anything."

"I know," Peter stopped and gave her a tiny peck on the lips. "Don't worry." He assured.

"Parker!" A familiar voice called from behind them, interrupting the couple. They turned backwards and saw a strong and tall figure walking towards them with a huge smile spread across his face. He was wearing military clothes.

"Flash!" Peter said surprised and with eyes widened, they haven't seen each other since the graduation, six years ago.

Flash approached Peter as they friendly greeted each other like if they were in highschool. "What's up, guys?" He asked smiling "Long time no see." Flash nodded to Gwen who nodded back.

"It feels like ages," Peter replied, unable to contain his grin. "I gotta say, you look good in this uniform." He pointed out.

"This?" Flash looked down. "Thanks, my team and I just got back from training," He continued, "I saw you guys through the window. I was at the bar with my colleagues, what have you two been up to?"

"I'm working at the Bugle while finishing college," Peter explained. "And Gwen is working at Empire State University." He looked at Gwen and smiled, proud of her personal achievements.

"Wow! It's been six years that you guys are together." Flash affirmed, struggling to believe that their relationship still was going strong.

"Actually, we are going to marry." Gwen interjected, leaving Flash surprised.

"Really? Oh...I always had faith on you, Parker" Flash joked and chuckled briefly once he saw Gwen's cold stare. He gulped and said friendly, "I'm happy for you two."

"Thanks, maybe you could be present at the ceremony?" Peter questioned.

Flash was his bully for some time, but he matured after what Peter had been through when his Uncle died. They were friends since that day. A friendship which he wanted to keep.

"Of course, if I don't get back to the training camp then I will happily go." He replied, grateful for being invited to such special date.

"Thanks, Flash," They shook hands again. "We appreciate it."

"No problem," Flash patted Peter in the shoulder. "I'm going to get back there, it was good to see you two." He nodded before walking way.

"See ya!" Peter grinned, before turning back to Gwen, wrapping his arms around her perfect body. "What do you think?"

"It was great seeing Flash again and I'm happy that you invited him." Gwen kissed Peter softly dancing with his tongue on hers, before he leaned backwards and looked at her green eyes.

"You don't want to be late for you job, right?" Peter grinned, teasing her for spending her time with him instead of going to her work.

"Of course not, after that we're going to my mom's house and tell her the big news, okay?"

Peter cleared his throat. "Big news...? Like - you're pregnant?!"

Gwen scoffed, noticing he was teasing her. "No, I'm not...you're silly, you know?"

Peter grinned. "Part of my charm, honey." He chuckled and kissed her again, tasting her sweet taste.

After releasing a soft moan, Gwen placed a hand on his chest and slightly pushed him away. She playfully raised an eyebrow at him. "So...?"

Peter cocked his head and smiled. "We have a deal." He leaned again.

* * *

Spider-Man watched Billy as he stepped out of the school's bus and waited for his mother to pick him up. He promised Connors that he would look over Bill while he lives in a cell. He didn't even need to promise such thing since it's his duty to protect people from any harm.

Suddenly, Peter started to feel dizzy, his vision was trembling, and before he could notice it, he almost fell from the edge, but he shook his head, trying to recover his senses and balance.

_What just happened? _ Peter moved a hand to cover his black masked face.

After some seconds, he looked down to the place where Billy was located for the last time, but he had already left the place with his mother.

Spider-Man jumped off the rooftop, letting the gravity do it's work and fired a web-line to gain extra height as he headed towards Aunt May's house. It was time to tell her the big news.

* * *

**Empire State University - Gwen's Office**

"Seriously?! He asked you?!" Gwen colleague's asked excitedly.

They were in the coffee room, and Gwen's friends were asking her billions of questions about Peter's proposal. They were all sat on the table and having lunch.

"Yes." Gwen took a sip of her coffee.

"When?" Another colleague asked.

"Last night." Gwen glanced the clock over the door. Her friends weren't giving her a break.

"Where?"

Gwen mentally sighed. "Central Park."

"That's so romantic, Gwen!"

"I know." Gwen looked up to the television on the wall. It was broadcasting some popular talk show.

They continued, "When is the wedding going to happen?"

"We haven't decided that, yet." Gwen replied emotionless.

"Oh my gosh..I'm so excited!"

_"Spider-Man saved me! He's amazing! If it wasn't for him, I would probably be very injured, and he's looking so hot in that new suit. I need to know him personally."_ The woman being interviewed on the talk show affirmed.

"Look at that! How a woman can be like that!?" Gwen pointed out to the screen, totally annoyed, almost spoiling her coffee as she changed the subject, unintentionally.

Even after all these years, she still couldn't deal with the sexual harassment towards Peter, or Spider-Man. Almost every single woman that he saves suddenly falls in love with him, even the gay ones, but those Gwen don't mind that much.

"What would you do if Spider-Man saved you?"

Gwen gently rubbed her nose thinking. If they only knew what she had been through already. "I just would be grateful, not wish him naked in my bed." She rolled her eyes.

"I doubt it," Her colleague continued. "But seriously, what happened after that?"

_Here we go again..._

* * *

**Herman Shultz's Apartment**

Herman opened his drawer and recovered the gauntlets which he invested so much time on it when he stayed some years in jail. Some fixes here and there and it should be ready for use. His criminal career started early, he always was a genious back at school, but instead of using his gifts for the greater good,bhe went for the most easy way, crime.

He closed the drawer and wore the metallic gauntlets on his hands, before turning the device on. He wore a huge yellow leather jacket and brown pants. He hid his mask in the jacket's pocket. He would pay a visit to the city's bank, with a groundbreaking entrance.

_Let's make some money._

* * *

"A man has to put his wife before himself, can you do that Peter?" Aunt May questioned him. They were sat on the couch, eating some cookies that she always did for her nephew.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Peter smiled at May. Her precious lessons was something that he took seriously.

"I'm deeply happy for you two." May hugged him. "You guys were made for each other, and you two deserve to be happy."

"Thanks," Peter returned the hug. "We're very excited."

"Are you ready for this big responsibility?" May smiled. "Having a woman to take care of?

He nodded.

"I'm really proud of the man you turned. Gwen is certainly in good hands" She placed her right hand on his cheek and cupped the soft skin. "Never doubted that, and I'm sure Ben thinks the same."

"Your approval means the world for me."

Aunt May smiled kindly, she got up and grabbed the plate where the cookies she did for Peter was, and walked towards the kitchen.

"I found this weird toy or device on the basement, I think it's yours, it has this funny red light." She said from the kitchen.

_Oh my freaking god._

Peter immediately rose from couch, bringing his hands to his hair, thinking about how he would explain that. He didn't even remember that his old webshooters were there. He must had forgotten there when he was trying to make his webs electricity proof in case if he ever encountered Max again. With Gwen's help, he succeed.

"Y-Yeah...um..yeah...I mean, alright." Peter paced around the room rather nervously.

_"It's in some box that contains most of your old junk."_

"Okay, I'm gonna check it." He hurried towards the door led to the basement.

Peter walked downstairs and saw a box over the table in the middle of the basement. He approached the box and started to stir it's contents, searching for the device that allowed him to swing around.

_I'm such a idiot. How did I let this pass?_

After some minutes of searching, Peter finally found the two webshooters. He brought them close to his eyes and analyzed each one. They weren't loaded with any cartridges. He was lucky because if they were and May activated them, he was totally screwed.

_Thank god.._ Peter slowly breathed, relieved.

"Did you find it?" Aunt May asked from behind him, almost making her nephew jump into the ceiling.

"Y-Yeah..I found it..." Peter turned on his back rather clumsily.

"I never figured what I does.'

"It...It was for science stuff at school...I though that it didn't work." He came up with a story.

"I liked that red light, though."

"Um..it's cool, isn't?"

"Very teenager thing." May walked upstairs, laughing. "C'mon. I want to show you some of your old cute photos before I send them to Gwen."

"What?!" Peter hurried upstairs "No!"

* * *

**Helen's Apartment**

_"Are you hungry, Gwen?"_ Helen asked from the kitchen while preparing something for her 'kids' to eat.

"No mom, I'm cool" Gwen checked her phone for any calls of Peter. They quickly talked before and apparently, someone was trying to rob some bank so he decided to stop the crime since the cops weren't capable to handle such robber.

Simon was watching some action movie, lying on the opposite couch while Howard was next Gwen, observing her with a huge smile.

Gwen noticed his gaze and looked at him "What's it, Howard?" She raised an eyebrow, her brother always enjoyed to prank her but this time it was different.

"You look different." Howard replied, massaging her legs that were resting on his lap.

"What do you mean?" She cocked her head.

"More happy. It's on your face...I can't really explain."

"Well, nothing to complain so far." She smiled at him.

Howard chuckled. "Sure, must be Peter."

"He plays a big role." Gwen nodded. "I'm lucky to have him."

Despite the fact that they barely had any time for themselves, Gwen would never complain about Peter. He's always there for her if she needed. Gwen knew how her life would be with Peter, but she never would want to change that. She doesn't regret being with him, even if that means fearing every day that he wouldn't manage to return at their apartment, but it's the life she chose to live, her choice, and they are going stick together, no matter what. Being with him it's what made her happy.

Gwen shook her head and crossed arms. "What about you?" She continued. "Any plans?"

"Yeah, I'm want to be promoter, you know?"

"Oh," Gwen was surprised, he never mentioned that.

"I know," He chuckled. "Continue what dad started."

"That's nice, Howard" Gwen found his inspiration so noble, putting criminals behind bars, something that apparently, every man on her life seemed to want. "Be careful though"

"I will." Howard now gazed the watch on his wrist. "I'm dead hungry, where's your boyfriend?"

"Well...you know him."

* * *

**New York - Lloyd's Bank**

Herman fired another blast towards towards Spider-Man who was crawling in one of the supports, but he quickly evaded by jumping to the ground before running towards Herman, ready to punch him.

"I don't like people who have more flashy clothes than me!" Spider-Man tried to punch him but he quickly reacted and protected his face by closing his arms.

"Well...that's your problem!" After blocking the punch, Herman quickly made one step backwards and with both hands, fired a blast towards Spider-Man who evaded by jumping from his position just to land in another. The blast destroyed the ground where he previously was standing and replaced it with a small hole.

Spider-Man quickly fired a webline at a table far away from them and spun around just to finally throw it at the robber who, with the impact, flew away and violently crashed in another sets of tables that now covered his figure.

"Ouch...you okay? " Spider-Man approached the mess. Suddenly the ground started to shake and a blast came from the tables that covered his enemy, hitting the hero, he violently shocked against the wall, passing out for a few minutes.

"Ouch. " Herman said sarcastically. He approached Spider-Man and noticed that the suit was moving, like if it was alive. The lenses were getting even more curvier and the white spider across his chest was getting bigger, the legs connecting with the spider's legs on his back.

"What?"

Suddenly, Spider-Man fired two web lines at the ceiling above Herman and with his strength, he made the concretes fall over Herman. He stood up and approached him stood up and grabbed him by the collar, before he threw him to the closest wall. Herman prepared his right hand release another blast, but Spider-Man quickly webbed them to wall. He took his mask off, seeing Herman bleeding through his mouth.

"Kill me, if you are strong enough." Herman challenged.

_Kill him._

Spider-Man raised his fist and punched him over and over again. It was simple, he killed his enemy and he wouldn't ever cause any destruction again. It's the most efficient way. Not getting tired, he prepared his hand for the final blow, staring the criminal with bloody eyes full of anger, as tiny poodles of blood dropped from his knuckles.

_No mercy_

"Spider-Man!" One of the cops that arrived in the location called, before holstering his gun since the masked hero had already taken care of the situation.

Spider-Man shook his head and turned his head on his shoulder, observing how the place was a chaos. He released Herman from his grip and took both gloves before smashing them with his hand.

"I'm done here." Spider-Man walked to the main entrance and fired a webline at some building, dissapearing from sight.

He swung towards Gwen's mother apartment. He could feel some pain coming from his ribs, but as ever, he just tried to ignore it. He landed in some building filled with windows and observed his own reflection. He brought his left hand close to his eyes and closed it. He felt his blood burning with adrenaline, his muscles hardened.

_The power...it's all mine._

Spider-Man jumped backwards, spinning on the air with open arms. He fired a web-line to slow down his falling. He was feeling more stronger than ever. Nothing would get on his way. Nobody would ever touch his family, and if they do, things wouldn't end well for them, because he's Spider-Man, and nobody that get on his path would simply walk way without knowing what he's capable of.

* * *

**Harry's Apartment**

"Results?" Harry asked, before leaning on his balcony, looking at the now lightened city.

Fiers replied, "Yes, I don't know for how long but it's certainly working."

Harry nodded to himself. "Good, what about Connors?"

"I will return there soon. Are you really willing to hurt his family?"

"Maybe." Harry took a sip from his drink.

"Is it coming back?" Fiers noticed some green marks coming from Harry's neck.

"I can handle it," Harry pulled his jacket up, hiding the marks. "I haven't heard anything from Max." He changed subjects.

"He usually stays at the city power grid, waiting for the call." Fiers noticed the discomfort over the past subject.

"Goblun?"

"Still going, even if success is very...unlikely."

"Make it happen, " Harry ordered, drinking the last of the glass' contents. "What happened to Felicia?"

"After you used the serum and spared her life, she disappeared." He informed. "Rumors that she's now working for Wilson Fisk, her father got condemned to jail and apparently, it was unfair."

"Shame, I liked her." Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm heading out, see you soon" Fiers turned around and walked to the main door, leaving Harry alone in the apartment.

Harry turned on his back, checking if Fiers was gone. He raised his sleeve, seeing the new marks that were starting to reappear. The time was coming, if he didn't act soon, death would be inevitable.

* * *

Peter knocked the door to Gwen's mom apartment, feeling pain coming from his ribs. He could have broken something while he fought that robber. Nothing that his special healing couldn't handle, but it hurt like hell. He had changed to his usual clothes before walking inside of the building, having Gwen's mother approval would be so important for him.

The door opened, showing Gwen standing in front of him, smiling happily and with arms crossed.

"Hi?" Peter said, approaching her.

"Hi," Gwen quickly kissed his lips and gently pushed him away since they weren't alone. "What took you so long?"

"We can talk about it later," Peter kissed her forehead. "Do they know?" He whispered.

"I didn't say anything yet." Gwen whispered back.

"Okay." Peter kissed her again. She reciprocated it, before grabbing Peter's right hand and leading him to the living room Her brothers were in their respective rooms, probably playing some videogames together.

"Mom? Peter is home."

_"I'm coming!"_ Helen answered from her bedroom.

Gwen sat besides Peter on the couch. He wrapped his arms around her, leaning on her shoulder as he softly kissed her cheek, enjoying her warmth as they snuggled.

"I stopped this idiot from robbing a bank." Peter said in way so that only Gwen could hear it.

"That's why you're late?" She smiled by such lovingly affection.

"Yeah...sorry about that." Peter apologized.

"No problem." Gwen kissed his now fixed hair and stroked it gently.

He eventually looked down, seeing Gwen's hand resting on his thigh and the ring wrapped across her finger.

"The ring is even more beautiful on your hand." He leaned on her neck and trailed soft kisses, before stopping close to her lips and brushing his own against hers.

"You two can't control yourselves, can you?" Helen teased, sitting in a comfy chair that faced the couple.

Peter quickly sat straight up, still holding Gwen as he smiled rather awkwardly, he blushed by being caught in the act. Gwen, as ever, just enjoyed seeing his reaction.

"Sorry." Peter rubbed the back of his neck, blushing.

Helen smiled "So...what did you guys wanted to say?"

Peter and Gwen looked to each other, talking through their eyes.

_Go for it_. Gwen ordered.

_Okay.. _Peter replied mentally.

"Hm, Mrs Stacy...you know that I love Gwen, right?"

Gwen teased. "You better."

Helen chuckled at the playful banter and replied, "Looks that way."

"Erm...we.. I mean - Gwen and I... we're thinking that...and then -"

"We're getting married." Gwen finally said, interrupting Peter who was gazing her with surprised eyes.

"Oh..." Helen couldn't find any words to come up with a reply.

"Yeah, Peter proposed last night." Gwen smiled, one of the best days of her entire life.

Helen turned to a more serious expression. "Wow, I - well, do you think that you can take care of my daughter, Peter?"

"I would do everything for her, anything, she asks - I do." Peter suddenly felt at easy. Helen didn't said that yet but he could feel that she was had approved the initiative. "She's the one for me, I know that since the day we met."

"Well..." Helen smiled. "I totally approve it. I know that you love Gwen and that you're gonna make her the happiest wife ever." Her eyes started to get wet, she knew that her little girl would some day trail her own path, without her help anymore. Time flies, one day she was trying to calm her baby, now her daughter was getting married.

"I'm so happy for you two." Helen said huskily and rubbed her eyes, removing the incoming tears."

"Oh mom...don't cry." Gwen rose from Peter's grip and approached Helen, hugging her closely.

"I'm alright, She assured, caressing her daughter's back. "I always wanted to see my little girl to marry and follow her dreams, it just happened so fast." She kissed Gwen's blond hair.

Peter watched the heartbreaking scene. He certainly wanted to tell his parents and Uncle of such important moment that was happening on his life, but he knew that whenever they are, they would be looking for him and Gwen.

* * *

**Police Department**

"C'mon, you idiot." The guardsman pushed Herman inside of his new cell. "You like to be on prison, don't you?" He joked, before closing the metal bars and locking the cell, and returning to his guard post, leaving Herman sat on his bed, thinking about what happened today. His face was full of bandages and cuts, everything was ruined again, because of Spider-Man.

_You wanted to be the hero? Now you gotta pay the price_.

* * *

Peter and Gwen were lying on the bed, with their arms wrapped around each other. The bed covers covered their bodies and their intertwined legs. She moved a hand to Peter's cheek, caressing such special skin. He had a hand underneath Gwen's nightshirt and was currently drawing circles in the smooth and delicate skin. They were there, just looking at each other eyes, in silence.

Gwen leaned a few inches closer and gave Peter a lingering kiss, enjoying the taste of his lips on hers. She ran a hand over his toned chest, passing his cheek and stopping on his brown hair.

She released his lips and asked. "Do you want to hang out with me and MJ tomorrow night?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Peter whispered, trying to capture Gwen's lips again, but she slowly moved her head backwards with a huge grin.

"You're impatient, aren't you?" Gwen giggled.

"And you're such a tease." Peter chuckled, holding her tightly.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked innocently.

He start to pull the nightshirt up, revealing her bare hips. "Always adding sway to those hips when I'm facing your back."

"Oh? I'm glad you're paying attention then." She winked, the wink that drives her future husband crazy.

Peter bit his lip. "And those winks...you're beautiful -"

"Just shut up and kiss me." Gwen pressed Peter even more close, smashing her lips against his.

* * *

Peter glanced the ceiling fully awake. Gwen was using his chest as a pillow and had an arm across his abdomen. He couldn't stop thinking about what happened recently, the suit, his promotion, Connors and finally the best of it, his incoming wedding with Gwen that would happen soon.

He kissed her golden blonde hair. He noticed that his part of the wardrobe was, for some reason, open and showing his hanging suit. He stared it for a few minutes, feeling like if the suit was calling him. Carefully, he slipped his body away from Gwen's arms, receiving a discontent moan in response and pressed his pillow closer to her. He covered Gwen with the bed covers and kissed her forehead.

Peter walked to their wardrobe and grabbed his suit, looking at lenses that were calling for him. He wore the black spandex and walked back to the bed, kissing Gwen one more time, before heading out to accomplish his plans for tomorrow.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if I took so long to update. This chapter was a bit tricky to write, for some reason. I'm not that much satisfied with it. This one was the first fight that I ever wrote so I hope that it's not that bad.**

**See ya!**

***Aunt May's Quote from Spider-Man 3**

***Peter's quote about joking Shocker costume was taken from Shocker's first appearance in the comics. Small changes were made.**

**12/30: Chapter fully revised, lines were extended and one scene with Spider-Man and Shocker was removed. Overall, it was irrelevant to the story.**

**08/02/15 : Fixed errors.**


	10. Someone's Birthday

**April 24th - 2019**

Gwen woke to a strange sensation on her face. At first she though it was Peter, showering her with light kisses. But then she realised it couldn't be him, firstly they were less like kisses and more like miniature licks – and he had never exactly licked her face before. Secondly there was pressure on her chest, four small points of pressure to be exact and they were far too light to be him. And finally she heard a chuckling from the other side of the room, clearly Peter's. She opened her eyes, seeing the perpetrator on her chest.

She raised an eyebrow. "A puppy?"

"Happy Birthday!" Peter took a seat on the bed next to her, giving her a passionate kiss that lasted minutes before he broke it to pick up the tiny pug in his arms. It squealed slightly as he did so, waving it's paws in the air.

"Thank you." Gwen smiled happily.

Gwen sat up in the bed, regarding the dog closely. It was very round, the body of it with plenty of puppy fat. It was total white, it's short tail also being of both colours. Rounded, floppy, white ears were continuously moving around as the puppy eagerly took in the sounds of it's surroundings. It was also looking around, curious brown darting from right to left. In fact it bore rather similar eyes to the man currently petting it. Perhaps dogs really do reflect their owners, Gwen amused. Though she didn't know that much about dogs, she was pretty sure of what this one was.

"It's a pug right?"

"Yep," Peter placed the dog back on Gwen, setting it down on her lap. It looked up to her with those eyes, a pink tongue lolling out to one side of it's mouth rather comically. "And he's all yours.

"You do know how much affection they need?" Gwen looked at him, trying to look serious. His enthusiasm was infectious however, and she couldn't keep a straight face at all.

"We will give him all the love on the world." Peter said, making his bride giggle.

"It'll drool everywhere."

"That's not the end of the world," He gave her a grin. "I know someone who drools just a little in their sleep."

"I don't drool." She lowered her tone, now managing to hold a glare.

"I'm only joking Gwendy, but back to the dog. Watch this," He moved properly onto the bed, lying next to her. He picked up the puppy and placed it standing on his own lap before speaking. "Sit."

The dog didn't do exactly as commanded though. Instead of sitting down it just flopped onto it's back, legs flying up into the air. Then it lay still, staring up at the pair of them and panting wildly. It was perhaps the most cute and adorable thing Gwen had ever seen, prompting her to pout slightly.

"That is just..." A sudden realisation hit her. "That's why you got off bed last night, right?"

"Erm, yeah." He smiled, awkwardly.

"I felt you moving away from me. It won't work again." She winked.

"I went to pick him from the saler." He replied rather suprised. " I've been trying to train him but...you saw," Gwen placed a hand on the puppy's stomach as Peter talked, scratching it's fuzzy belly. It's paws flailed in the air in response, a slight whine escaping it's snout. "To be honest he's still very young, only ten weeks old."

"Naw, he is very cute," She placed her other hand under it's back, lifting the puppy up and holding it at arms length in front of her. It yawned, stretching it's mouth obscenely wide and succeeding to make itself look cuter. "And I suppose it would be nice to have a dog."

"Exactly, I..."

"But you're training him," She placed it back on her chest, the puppy resuming it's exploration of the bed and sniffing happily. "And what's he called?"

"That's your choice." Peter placed a hand underneath the sheets caressing her thights.

Gwen whistled to get it's attention, the puppy immediately flipping it's gaze to her. It watched her with a cocked head, it's body standing stock still.

"Hmm..." Gwen concentrated, thinking. "Maybe...Ren?"

"It fits." Peter leaned closer and kissed Gwen on the lips. Ren didn't like the fact he wasn't receiving any attention, so he climbed Gwen's chest and lay on it, interrupting the kiss. She smiled by his behavior as Peter made an annoyed face.

"He's so lovely," Gwen caressed his soft skin. "Thanks, honey."

Peter joked, "Yeah, just don't forget me, I need special treatment too."

"Oh poor you," Gwen smiled. "Don't worry, I'm officially older than you now, though. " She was now 25 years old, so the teasing had to begun.

"Just for one more month," He leaned down, brushing his lips against hers and feeling Gwen's warm breath close to his cheek. "Just for one more month._..happy birthday."_ He said softly as they locked lips for a few seconds before getting interrupted by Ren's snore.

He looked down to her future wife's stomach, seeing the puppy lazily spread over it, enjoying the comfort. "Boy, you better not get used to that place, because it already have it's owner."

* * *

**Empire State University**

Peter entered the gym area of the University, wearing his blue jeans, black T-shirt and a backpack which contained his stuff. Gwen had suggested that he should exercise his body, without any compromise, to occupy his mind, making him have better sleep nights without having some kinda of nightmare.

He approached the table where a woman was sat on a chair, typing something on the computer.

"Hi," Peter greeted. "Can I hit the gym?"

The young woman looked up and slowly lowered her glasses, roaming Peter's chest and arms, surprised at his muscular build.

"Hmm...do you need a personal trainer?" She asked, not moving her eyes away from him.

"I can handle it." Peter nodded. Her behavior was starting to annoy him.

"Just choose the equipment that you want. You can change in the bathroom in your left." She pointed to the area with her pen.

"Thank you."

Peter headed towards the bathroom, well aware that the woman was still glancing him before he stepped inside of the rather small bathroom. He removed his shirt, exposing his toned chest and abs, before wearing a tight t-shirt and black shorts. He stepped out of the bathroom and walked towards the stand that contained some dumbbells, while the most heavy ones were lying on the floor. Not satisfied with the options on the stand, he looked down and saw a dumbbell with 300 pounds.

_Well...let's play a bit_.

Peter started to lift the imense amount of weight with one hand, without applying that much of strength. Some people at gym stopped their activities and looked at him, with surprised expressions. He wasn't even trying at all. After some minutes, Peter noticed a rather strong man walking towards him with an amused face.

"You got me impressed, just with one hand." The tall and blonde man who looked to be on his mid twenties affirmed.

"Thanks." Peter placed the dumbbell back to the floor.

"What's your name?" He asked, leaning his back against the stand.

"Peter Parker, and you?"

"Eddie Brock." They shook hands.

Peter smiled friendly. "Nice to meet you, Brock."

"Same here." He nodded. "So...can you handle 300 pounds?" Eddie challenged him with a huge grin.

"Of course," Peter chuckled. "Should we start?"

* * *

Gwen walked out of the bathroom wore a bathrobe around her slim frame after taking a warm shower that made her feel more lighter and relaxed. Gwen and Peter had spent most of the morning snuggling on the couch while watching some televisions' programs, before finally having lunch.

She spotted Ren on Peter's side of the bed, just waiting for Gwen to play with him.

"I'm gonna let you stay there, but if Peter discovers, it won't be my fault." Gwen warned while giggling. Her family had already called her during the morning, saying the best wishes for the new moment that started on the sunny day.

Gwen sat in the back and leaned her back against a pillow as Ren went to her lap. She picked her phone from the bedstand and called MJ.

_"Hello?"_

"Hi MJ, it's Gwen."

_"What's up?"_

"Perfect, Peter proposed me." Gwen smiled, remembering the night where everything changed for them.

_"Oh my god!I knew it! Did you accept it?"_ MJ inquired.

"Of course." She said and caressed Ren's soft skin.

_"When is the wedding going to happen?"_

"We are finishing the plannings, but you can help me, if you want."

_"YES!" _MJ quickly replied excited, making Gwen laugh. _"I can help you with the dress! O-Or the decorations! Gosh!"_

"We have a deal" Gwen was happy to have someone that she could count with besides Peter and her family, they became good friends. "Are you free tonight?"

_"Like always."_

"Can Peter and I meet you at the club you mentioned?"

_"Yep!I will wait for you guys there, tonight."_

"Can't wait. See you later!"

_"Bye!"_

Gwen turned the call down, before placing her phone back to the bedstand and seeing Ren already sleeping peacefully on her lap. She thought it was weird how some pets get attached to people so quickly. She caressed the top of his head and receiving a content snore.

Gwen gently removed Ren from her lap and placed him over the bed, close to her pillow, without waking him. She walked to her part of the wardrobe and opened it, trying to choose what dress she would use for tonight. She wanted to impress him.

They had stopped going into dates after returning to NYC since their agenda just got bigger and more bigger as the days progressed, but she wanted to do something different with Peter, even if everything was different with them, like kissing on the first date, not that she minded.

_Hmm.._

Gwen eyed one of her dresses, a red one that revealed a bit of her cleverage. She opened Peter's part of the wardrobe, curious of how he was stashing his things. For her surprise, everything was on place, something that Peter rarely managed to while living with Aunt May. His men's things like perfumes and shaver were in their own organized place.

_I'm a good influence._ Gwen smiled to herself, feeling victorious, before walking to the kitchen to find something to eat.

* * *

**Somewhere else...**

The dark figure sat in the chair close to a transparent table, similar to Harry's, scrolled down the images of Peter and Gwen. He was in some dark room with the only source of light coming from the moon's brightness through the window, that way his eyes wouldn't suffer any risk from abrupt exposure. The figure weakly analyzed the pictures, the one that caught his attention was the new Black Suit Spider-Man, like he wanted him to be.

Everything so far was working as planned. The sample was already acquired by the symbiote and it's now doing even more than that. When Harry finishes gathering the team and goes after Peter, it's when the symbiote will really do it's work with the host's body.

The dark figure turned the holo screen off and looked outside the window, he started to reflect about everything that was currently happening. That day on the Spider-Room was when everything started to head through the right path, creating the ultimate weapon to later improve it, and there's nothing that Richard Parker could do to stop him.

_Do you have any idea...of what you truly are?_

* * *

Peter turned the knob of his apartment's door after unlocking it with the keys. He stepped inside of the living room, carrying a bag full of supplies like food, health kits and Gwen's feminine things. She wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Hey honey, I'm home," Peter placed placed the bag over the kitchen's countertop as Ren ran out of their bedroom and towards him. He lowered himself on the floor and gently caressed Ren's skin. "Hey buddy, here's Gwendy?"

With that, Ren quickly shook his little tail and ran back to their bedroom.

_Well, that's answer I think._

Peter followed the puppy, seeing Ren standing in front of the bathroom's entrance, with soft lights coming from underneath the door.

"Gwen?" He approached the door and went to open it, before Gwen urgently. answered.

_"Don't come, Peter!"_ She replied. _"It's a surprise, give me a few minutes"_

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Fine, I guess."

_"Okay, love you."_

"Love you too." Peter walked away and sat in the edge of their bed which was filled with Gwen's clothes that she apparently decided to not use.

Ren jumped over the bed and rested his body besides his owner. He picked the shirt which Gwen was using before she went to prepare herself for the date. He felt her soft natural scent, something that he would never get tired of. He noticed the engagement ring lying over the bedstand so he leaned closer to pick it and observe the small golden object. In some days, he would start to use his own ring and that made him even more happy, his wife.

_"I'm coming!" _Gwen said from inside the bathroom while finishing her make up.

"I'm waiting." Peter replied, placing the ring next to his hip in the bed

The door opened and Gwen stood in the doorway with a bright, dazzling smile. She was more vibrant then Peter had seen her in a long time, he was simply transfixed by her. Her body was accentuated by a strapless black mini dress that fitted like a second skin and ended half way to her knees. It was tight and snug dress that accentuated all her curves and her golden hair.

"How do I look?" Gwen questioned, noticing Peter's mouth almost making contact with the floor.

"Y-You...you look mind blowing gorgeous." Peter was like in heaven right now.

Gwen approached him while adding some sway to her hips, before resting her hands on his shoulder's. He wrapped his arms around her waist and looked up, meeting those hipnotic green eyes. "Thank you." She cupped his cheek. "Just for you." He kissed her stomach which made her smile even more by such affection that only the man in front of her could give her.

"Don't forget this," Peter grabbed the ring that was besides his hip and gently slipped over her finger, before kissing it. "Now you are complete." He smiled, kindly.

"How could I forget what my future husband gave me?" Gwen leaned down and slowly kissed his lips as if they had all the time in the world. He felt her perfume that only made things even more special. "Now, go prepare yourself, you don't want to be late, do you?" She quickly kissed his lips again.

"Okay." Peter raised from the bed, giving Gwen a quick kiss on the neck before walking towards the bathroom.

"Don't take too long." She turned to face him.

"You wanna take a shower with me?" Peter lifted his T-shirt, exposing his toned chest and abdomen that Gwen slowly appreciated with her eyes.

"As tentative as that would be, I already did." She winked.

"Fine..." Peter mumbled, before entering the bathroom to take his shower.

She smiled to herself and looked at wardrobe, noticing that Peter's Spider-Man suit had changed quite a bit during the last weeks. The spider on the chest was even more bigger and already starting to reach his back.

"That's weird." Gwen raised an eyebrow by the sudden change. She didn't remember Peter modifying the suit recently. She would ask him some other day because tonight, is their night, and nobody or something would change that.

* * *

Peter stepped out of the taxi and turned on his back, giving Gwen his hand so that he could help her to get out of the car. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, his new favorite color.

"Thank you." Gwen smiled as Peter wrapped an arm around her waist. The couple made their way towards the restaurant's main door and showed their IDs to the doorman before finally entering the place. It was full of weak and soft lights, candles and a red decoration that made everything even more romantic. The place was full of prepared tables and it had a rather large stage where later musicians would play classic tracks.

"This is so beautiful." Gwen said, amused.

"It is," He kissed her pink cheek.

They walked to the nearest table formed by plates, glasses and candles. Peter helped Gwen to sat by pushing the chair for her, before sitting besides her as they instinctively intertwined their fingers.

"When is your friend coming?" Peter leaned on her neck and slowly kissed the delicate skin.

"Soon, I think." Gwen caressed his now fixed hair. He was still focused on silently giving her light kisses. "Behave..." She teased.

"Fine..." Peter stopped the kisses and rested his head on Gwen's shoulder. "I bought your favorite chocolate when I was at the mall."

"Aww thank you," She placed a hand on his hip, drawing circles with her finger. "Look, she's there." Gwen pointed out with her head. MJ was walking towards them wearing a tight red dress and a bag around her right shoulder.

"Hi guys." MJ said, standing in front of the pair.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Peter Parker." He raised from the chair and shook hands with the redhead.

"Nice to meet you too." MJ noticed how lucky Gwen is by just seeing Peter for the first time. "Gwen talks a lot about you." Gwen and MJ kissed each other's cheeks.

"I hope she says good things." He sat again, wrapping an arm around Gwen's waist and holding her close to his body.

MJ sat in the chair on the opposite side of the table while facing them. "Most of the time, yes." She grinned, making Gwen open her mouth in surprise.

"What you're talking about? I always says nice things about Peter," She kissed his cheek, almost on his warm lips. "When he deserves, though."

Now was Peter turn to raise an eyebrow. "Hm? When do I not deserve?"

"I'm kidding." Gwen gently elbowed his ribs. MJ could see right in front of her a couple deeply in love, no wonder that they were already engaged.

"So, what do you ladies want to eat?" Peter asked, grabbing the menu and opening it. "It's mostly Italian food."

"Jo Mama's?" MJ replied "It's really good.

"It looks delicious," Peter read the contents. "Gwen?"

"Sounds good for me," Gwen leaned on his left shoulder and looked at the menu on his hands. "Wine?"

"Yep." MJ nodded.

"Carbenet?" He questioned the friends.

"I like it." Gwen replied.

"Me as well."

He nodded. "Okay then."

Peter called the waiter and passed to him what they wanted to eat as he wrote the wish in a piece of paper. He and Gwen hadn't dinner like the current one in ages so he wasn't worrying about the price at all.

"Can I see the ring?" MJ asked, smiling.

"Of course." Gwen moved her hand over the table as MJ gently grabbed and looked at it.

"It's beautiful" She affirmed, seeing the tiny crystal on top of the golden ring.

"Yeah," Gwen looked at Peter. "He has a good taste" She winked playfully.

"I see."

The waiter approached the table and served them with the wine the trio had asked for. "Anything else?"

"We're fine." Peter smiled, the waiter nodded and leaved them alone.

"So, Peter, are you from here?"

"Yep, I was born here and I used to live with my Uncle and Aunt on Queens." Peter took a sip of his wine and offered his glass to Gwen which she happily accepted.

"What about your parents? " MJ innocently asked. She didn't know they died a long time ago. She had never questioned Gwen about the subject.

Peter hesitated for a brief moment. "I never really knew my parents," He replied, sincerely. "They left me with my Uncle and Aunt when I was very young before they died, so I don't really remember that much about them."

"Oh...sorry," MJ apologized. "Didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry. I've already moved on and now I'm focusing in what's important." He looked at Gwen and received a warm smile.

"I totally understand."

They kept talking about other subjects for a few more minutes before their food finally arrived. Peter could see Gwen having fun and that just made him even more happy by seeing her priceless smile. That's the life he wanted to give her, and he would fight for that.

* * *

**Ryker's Island**

The guard walked through the huge corridor that was full of fortified cells, made of glass, in the sides. He was checking if everyone was sleeping or at least trying. He walked to Aleksei's cell, noticing he was lying on his bed and staring the ceiling, fully awake.

"Hey, Aleksei?" The guard knocked the glass with his flashlight.

"What do you want your american pig?' He replied, impatiently.

"Watch your tongue, go sleep, now." He ordered.

"What if I don't?"

Suddenly, all the lights from the corridor started to blink, constantly. The guard looked up, noticing the weird behavior, that never happened before since Ryker's is a max security prison.

"Having problems, idiot?" Aleksei teased.

The guard looked down to him again "You like to feel pain, don't you?" He started to type the codes to unlock his cell in the panel close to it.

"I'm scared!" The guard was about to teach him a lesson but he noticed some green smoke coming from the vents out of the cell. Suddenly a spark perfured his chest as he instantly fell to the ground. Aleksei widened his eyes by what he was seeing, some blue aura was coming from the lights, forming a figure right in front of him. Max finally emerged.

"You're coming with me." Max ordered without expressing any kind of emotions.

"Are you crazy?! I don't even know who you are!" Aleksei said on his Russian accent.

"You don't know who I am?" Max questioned, leaning his head to the side.

"Wait, I think I heard-"

"I'm Electro." Max stated.

"Erectro! That's the name the boys were talking about."

The green smoke started to get more dense, a shadow appeared from the smokes who later turned to be Quentin on his new armor. He stepped inside of the cell, stopping next to Max and holding a breather with his left hand.

"C'mon, Aleksei." Quentin threw the breather to his lap.

"Who are you - Why are you using this stupid fishbowl?"

"It isn't a fishbowl, your inferior human being." He stated, annoyed. "Now move your ugly ass because we don't have much time before the gas finally dissipates and everyone from this cellblock awakes."

Aleksei rose from his bed and used the breather he was given. "Where are we going?"

"Fiers."

* * *

The group was now laughing and drinking their wine. After some time, MJ decided to dance a bit, leaving the couple alone in the table. They were having a lot of fun this night, Peter needed this to relax his damaged soul.

"Peter?" Gwen called, observing her future husband eating furiously as usual.

"Hmm...?" Peter mumbled while eating his spaghetti.

"Would you like to dance with me?" Gwen asked but her eyes begged. He couldn't decline it. The band had already started to play some classic/romantic tracks. She pressed herself closer to him adding some kind of physical pression.

"You sure? It's been ages since the last time that I've danced."

"C'mon." Gwen stirred his arm.

"Alright babe, I'm all yours." He smiled, accepting her invite.

"Then let's go!" Gwen raised from the chair, bringing Peter with her as she led him to the dance stage.

"Don't need to get anxious, relax." Gwen wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing Peter very close as he snaked both arms around her waist and leaned closer, touching foreheads. They stood there, slowly dancing in their own and slow rhythm like if they were the only ones there.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Gwen said softly, looking at his brow doe eyes.

"I want the same, no matter what." Peter silently replied and leaned forward, meeting her sweet lips which were full of passion. The time stopped for the two of them. It felt like an eternity, an empty universe where the only living beings were them.

Gwen moved her hands to Peter shoulder's and rested her head on his chest, hearing the relaxing sound of his heartbeat while he gently rested his chin on top of her blond hair, still holding her closely. They stood like that for a few more couple of minutes just enjoying each other presence.

* * *

Gwen opened the door to their apartment, using the keys and with Peter closely behind her as he hold her right hand. It was already dawn and they were tired. Peter was somewhay smiling most of the time for no reason at all, probably because of the wine. They went directly to their bedroom. He quickly kissed Gwen before she gently pushed him down to the bed, he removed his T-shirt and jeans while Gwen walked to the bathroom to remove her make-up and the tight dress.

"Peter?" Gwen called. "I could use your help to take the dress off, if you want."

_Of course he would want._

Some minutes passed and Peter hadn't replied yet. Gwen turned on her back and saw him already sleeping on their bed, just wearing his boxers, and with Ren spread across his chest. She giggled by the super cute view before finally joining the sleepy heads.


	11. Metamorphosis

**A/N: This chapter was recently rewritten. 2K words were removed, meaning that lots of scenes don't exist anymore, yet, making the chapter more efficient. (01/07/15)**

* * *

**April 25th - 2019**

Two armed and masked male figures walked inside of the empty room with bags around their shoulders. One of them broke the window which faced the bank's rooftoop. In that way, they could fire a straight rope to it's rooftop, forming a line where they could slide through.

"Don't mess this up," The thug wearing a pumpkin mask warned his partner. They were using black suis along with red tie. "Quentin wants us to deploy the gas through the vents, before they arrive in the van. The gas will keep everything safe for us."

"Understood." His partner replied.

With a rope gun, they fired a rigid rope towards the rooftop and locked their suit's hooks on it, before sliding through fastly enough before someone warn the cops, ruining their plans. They landed safely and started to unzip the bags, retrieving the small and sealed cans to deploy over the bank ventilation shafts.

"Let's do our part, and get out of here."

* * *

Gwen ended the call and placed her phone back to the floor. She couldn't believe what her mother had just told her. There was a chaos happening outside their apartment. She looked upa to the ceiling, thinking about what she should do. Peter was sleeping peacefully on the couch and was snuggling with her as well. She wanted him to have time for himself, but on the other side, he's probably the only one who could stop them.

Gwen turned on Peter's arms, standing face to face with him. She gently placed a finger on his lower lip, trying to wake him slowly but he just leaned forward thinking that it was her neck he was touching.

"Peter?" Gwen called softly, but he didn't replied. "Hey handsome."

"Hmm...?" He mumbled while bringing Gwen closer and trying to make her lay down on the couch, making her giggle during the process.

"You must get up." Gwen cupped his cheek after lying next to him.

"I don't. "

"I'm serious."

"No, you aren't." Peter replied, still not opening his eyes but leaning on her neck to resume his sleeping. "You just want me to massage your legs."

"Peter, I'm pregnant!" Gwen affirmed. "Twin boys!"

"What?!" Peter immediately sat straight up with a confused expression. "What the hell, I mean - really?" Their sexual life was a very active one, but she couldn't remember them being reckless. And Gwen was using pills before they talked for the first time.

"No," Gwen chuckled. "Well, I don't think I am." She pulled the covers. off them.

"Oh my god..." Peter lay on the couch again, relaxing his heart that looked to be in a NASCAR race. "Oh...my, I suck...don't ever do this again, unless if it's the truth."

"Maybe I am pregnant, we never know," She teased. "You have been pursuing me lot recently so..."

He looked at her, especially at her deep green eyes. "You're gonna be my end, seriously, don't joke about this."

"Heh," She gave him a tiny peck on the lips, quickly sucking his lower lip. "I woke you for a reason, this bank currently robbed, there's some gas that is keeping the police away from the building."

"Really?"

"Yeah, maybe you should see what you can do?" Gwen avoided to express how worried she was about him going out there and stopping this whole confusion.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked, noticing her concern.

Gwen nodded.

Peter quickly kissed her arms lips and rose from the couch. He walked towards their bedroom and directly to the wardrobe. He opened it, seeing his new black suit that granted him so much power. He grabbed the piece of spandex and wore every part, only leaving his mouth exposed while the mask covered his head eyes with the curvy with lenses.

"Be careful. " She said, standing on the bedroom's entrance and with arms crossed.

Peter slowly approached her and placed a hand on her chin, gently bringing her lips close to his, connecting their souls. After reassuring her, he broke the kiss and cupped her cheek. "I'm gonna be fine, I always do, I love you." He brought her hand close to his cheek and kissed the delicate skin.

Gwen smiled. "I love you too." She pulled his mask down, turning Peter Parker into Spider-Man. "Now go save the day."

* * *

Spider-Man let the webline he was holding go from his hand as he safely landed on a rooftop where he could see everything that was currently happened. Police cars were in front of the bank with cops taking cover and aiming their guns at the windows and doors from the building. Barracks where officers were planning the infiltration attack were there as well, and barricades were strategically placed in the entrance of the avenue to stop people from coming through.

He jumped off the edge and landed close to a barracks where the infiltration team was discussing the attack. By the sound of an unknown person arriving, they turned on their backs with guns raised at the invader who stood calm despite the situation. They lowered their weapons once they recognized who was in front of them.

"Spider-Man." The squad leader said, not liking his presence.

"What's the situation?" He asked.

He groaned is discontentment. " The place is full of civilians and armed threats, they are using advanced assault rifles and some mask that filters the gas, they just cracked the safe."

"What caused the first explosion?"

"An armed bomb in the gas tubes." He replied. "We're searching for more."

At Spider-Man's sudden movement, the officer quickly placed his hand on the hero's left shoulder and stooped him from jumping away from the location.

"You are not going there. We are gonna handle this!" He stated.

"You all? The same people who couldn't stop the Lizard, Electro and even Harry Osborn?" He stared the man with cold eyes, the now curvy lenses were even more threatening. The cop was about to protest but Spider-Man pushed him away from him, getting free before swinging away.

"Son of b-" He punched the closest truck's metallic structure and turned to his team. "We're going in!"

* * *

After not seeing any possible danger through the smoke that covered the entire reception, Spider-Man dropped himself from the ceiling and calmly landed on the ground and quickly checked his surroundings. He slowly walked through the reception, seeing nothing but destroyed tables and people that were passed out on the floor. Suddenly, he heard a scream that made him constantly turned around at the same spot, looking for the source, footsteps could be now heard as well, and they were getting closer as the seconds passed by.

Without being warned, two arms, from behind, snaked themselves around his neck while someone grabbed his arms and others, his legs. He was now trapped, and the attackers were people that were infected by the gas, causing hallucinations on their desperate minds.

"Kill the Spider- Demon!" One of the attackers stated.

"No! I'm trying to help -" Peter felt a deep bite on his left shoulder causing him to gasp in pain. "Get off me!" They pushed Peter's mask backwards, almost exposing his mouth. "No!"

With a sudden movement, Spider-Man punched the one holding his left arm and proceed to punch who was holding him by his neck, causing him to fall on the ground. Two civilians ran at the same time towards him but he quickly jumped and pressed their heads against each other, stunning them. He recovered his breath, realizing that he just fought civilians that he wanted to protect.

"That's something new." Quentin walked out from the dense gas, appearing in front of Spider-Man, wearing his armor. "Spider-Man fighting unharmful civilians." He clapped hands.

Spider-Man closed his hand feeling the anger running through his veins. The man who made him revive the worst things that ever happened on his life. "Quentin Back, now I can finally end you."

"You know me?" He walked close to Spider-Man. "By they way, you're looking good with the new collor."

"Good, that will be the last thing you'll ever see, and before I pull your arms apart, you're going to tell me everything that Fiers is planning." Spider-Man demanded.

"Fiers? I don't know any-" Herman was interrupted as Spider-Man quickly punched the helmet, leaving a hole on it.

"What the heck?" He retrieved his hand, bringing some cables along. "A robot?!"

"S-see y-yooouuu nnext t-time" The robot fell onto the floor.

"They are already escaping!" The realization emerged.

With a loud explosion, the doors from the main entrance exploded with a SWAT team quickly entering the hall, with guns aimed at every corner on the sight, eventually stopping at Spider-Man's figure.

"Put your hands behind your neck! That's your only warning!" The officer ordered as some more couple of explosions happened through the building, meaning that the place was soon going to be filled with cops.

"Are you guys stupid or what?" Spider-Man took a few steps towards them.

_"Attention, unknown chopper landed at the rooftop, move your team upstairs and stop them from escaping."_ The radio from one of the members announced

The cop aimed his gun at Spider-Man's right foot but in the same moment, his spider-sense triggered, warning him of the incoming bullet which he quickly evaded it by jumping onto the ceiling while being under fire, before finally disappearing from sight.

* * *

**Jameson's House**

"Parker! Where's Parker?!" Jameson hurried downstairs, wearing his pajamas and holding phone with his right hand. He sat on the couch of the living room and turned the TV on with it's controller.

"Jonah?" Jameson's wife called from the stairs. "What are you doing?"

"Parker better be taking pictures of this or else.. "

"Come back to bed, it's already late." She said, eyeing the television from the stairs.

"I need to see if Parker is there, this is a golden opportunity." Jameson didn't move his eyes away from the screen.

"Jonah, you better come up here or else I'm gonna tell to your mother that you're avoiding the medication."

"But-" Jameson turned on the couch, his mother still thinks that he's a child and that he deserves to be punished if he does something wrong.

"Now."

"Argh, Fine!" He turned off the TV and went towards the stairwell.

"And don't complain." She disappeared to their bedroom.

* * *

"Game over, pal." Spider-Man kicked the door that led to the rooftop, seeing the already loaded helicopter ready to leave, just waiting for everyone to get inside. Quentin could be seen sat on the edge of the chopper.

"Wait for me!" Toomes shouted as he hurried towards his companions, with a bag full of money around his shoulder.

Spider-Man quickly fired a webline at Toome's feet, making him fall in the floor while he kept dragging him closer with the line.

"No!" Toomes retrieved a pistol from his hip and aimed the device at Spider-Man who quickly smashed it with his feet, breaking both gun and hand, before hurriying towards the helicopter. He jumped from the edge and grabbed the metal bar with the helicopter already flying away.

"Quentin help me!" Toomes screamed as he saw the helicopter flying away with Spider-Man holding himself with one hand. They left him behind to be arrested as a SWAT team came from the door and surrounded the robber with guns aimed at him.

Suddenly, the entire city blacked out, leaving everyone in total darkness and making the helicopter to be lost in the sky without any police followers.

"Can you fly Spider-Man?" Quentin asked from his seat. He retrieved a gun and pointed aimed it towards Spider-Man who was struggling to climb onto the helicopter. "Shall we discover?"

_Damn!_

Spider-Man let his hand go from the bar as Quentin fired the gun, missing his head but scratching Peter's arm. He fell, seeing the entire New York in darkness. No buildings were close so that he could fire a webline on it. He could only hear the sound of the cold wind brushing against the suit's material.

_This is going to suck badly.._

**Hours later...**

_"Quentin, you idiot, what have you done?"_ Harry's image appeared on the computer.

"What? I just did some robbery. " He replied, sat on his chair, and smelling the money he was holding with his bare hands.

_"You could have compromised the entire operation." _Harry stated annoyed.

"Relax...I think that I even killed Spider-Man" He smiled.

Harry gulped. _"You killed Pe-...Spider-Man?"_

"Maybe. I just saw him plummeting to his death." Quentin explained.

_"Why does that sounds familiar..?"_ Harry remembered that night at the Power Plant, where Gwen almost died if it wasn't for Peter's unnatural reflexes.

"What?"

_"Nothing."_ Harry said, incredulously. _"Don't ever do this again, wait now."_

"But-" Harry ended the call during his sentence. "Ugh..I hate when he does that."

Quentin placed his Bluetooth headset back to the table and appoached the window where he could see the ocean. Toomes was left behind, there wasn't anything that he could have done for him. He must be feeling betrayed right now.

_"Good luck on prison, Toomes."_

* * *

"Ouch! Watch the arm"

"Stay on your boxers." Gwen demanded as she walked to the bathroom, grabbing a med-kit while Peter sat on the bed, resting his head in a pillow.

"Do you want to see me naked?" Peter teased.

"I already have seen you naked." Gwen sat on the bed and besides him. She opened the kit, eying his chest that was covered with some burns and cuts, could have been worse if not for the suit. "You are being reckless" She cleaned his wounds with a soaked towel.

"Sorry," Peter gently moved a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. "I will be more careful."

"Like always, right?" Gwen looked up with a concerned expression.

"Don't need to get mad at me." He rested a hand on her waist.

"I'm not mad you," Gwen moved the soaked towel to his abdomen. "I know you have to fight them,I just worry about your health, that's it."

"I know." He observed her patching him up. "I couldn't stop them though."

"You will stop them some other day," She started to put some bandages on his not so deep cuts. "Why did you ignore the cops orders?"

"That SWAT leader was a confident idiot," Peter replied rather annoyed. "If it wasn't for me and your Dad, Connors would have deployed that bomb. They are useless.

"Oh." She noticed his aggressive behavior.

"Are you really pregnant?" Peter questioned her, changing the topic. He leaned closer and buried his face on Gwen's neck, brushing his cheek against the smooth skin.

"I was just kidding." She smiled. "Why?"

"But you leaved room for a possibility." Peter slipped a hand underneath Gwen's shirt and caressed the soft skin of her back.

"Believe me." Gwen kissed his shoulder.

"We can always try, you know?" He started to kiss Gwen's neck and moved to the spot behind her ear. "What do you think?"

"I think you hit your head pretty hard." Now it was Gwen's turn to joke, a mostly true joke.

"C'mon...imagine a house full of our minions," Peter moved his lips to her cheek, kissing it. "Huh?"

"Even if we tried, you would probably fall asleep at your current state." Gwen tried to finish the bandages but Peter wasn't helping her with the process.

"I can handle it." Peter slowly tried to lift Gwen's shirt but she gently pushed him back to the pillow.

"Not now, bugboy," Gwen proceed to clean the cuts on his face. "Why don't you rest for a bit?" She suggested as he slowly closed his eyes, now sleeping like a rock.

"You dork." Gwen smiled because of his out of place baby talk. The time for that would arrive, when they were ready for such responsibility.

**The next Morning...**

Peter groaned in pain as he slowly opened his eyes, feeling a pleasurable feminine weight on his chest and wrapped around his strong arms. Gwen buried her face on his neck. She was sleeping peacefully and doing a little smile, probably dreaming. Ren was sleeping on top of her head.

Peter looked up to the window, seeing the sun already shining. He thought about his adventure from the past night, he failed and that was something rare to happen. He wouldn't ever fail again.

"Peter..." Gwen lazily stretched on his arms

"Good Morning, baby." Peter leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Feeling better?" She finally opened her eyes, bringing herself even more closer to him.

"Yep, thanks to my healing...and you of course." Peter and Gwen shared a lingering kiss. His back still hurts, but it's something he already got used to it and that's being in pain.

"So...still wanting a baby?" She giggled and quickly kissed him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he turned to Gwen's side, drawing soft circles on her back.

"A baby?" Peter replied confused. He didn't remember what happened after arriving at home. "You want a baby?"

"You wanted to try for one last night." Gwen bite her lips to not laugh by the hilarious scene.

"Oh..." Peter widened his eyes. "Well...erm...that wasn't me.."

"Yep,you definitely hit your head somewhere really hard then." Gwen ran a hand over his toned chest before stopping on the back of his now messy hair. He loved how her touches relaxed his entire body.

"I don't think we are ready for that yet," Peter slipped a hand underneath Gwen's short, resting it on her thigh. "I still have to finish college and stuff."

"I agree," Gwen smiled. "Everything at it's own time."

Peter nodded.

"You aren't going to put that suit anytime soon, you hear me?" Gwen ordered.

"But-"

"No but," She gently pinched his ear. "You need to fully recover. I forbid you of any...anything that involves strength "

"So if I wanted to make up with you, I would be not allowed?" He flirted.

"There is some exceptions.." She captured Peter's lower lip and gently sucked it, savoring his taste while being careful to not hurt his close wounds.

"T-That is great." Peter said between the kisses. At least something good wasn't forbidden because of those damn wounds.

* * *

**Ravencroft**

"What's your favorite animal? " Fiers asked, walking around the table where Toomes was sat besides.

"My what? Erm...Vultures I guess." He answered rather reluctantly. First day on prison and he was already getting unexpected visitors.

"Why?" Fiers inquired calmly.

"Because they eat the flesh from their enemies, and that's what I'm pretending to do, destroy those who I once trusted."

"Hmm...then you'll like what I have to offer."


	12. The Rest of Our Lives

**May 16th - 2019**

**New York - Empire State**

"Having problems to catch up, Eddie?" Peter lifted the dumbbells in a fast pace, and mocked his partner with a cocky smile.

Most of Peter's bandages were already gone besides one located on his right cheek and chest. His left shoulder was still bandaged because of the bullet that had caught him. Nothing that Gwen's marvelous care couldn't fix.

"Just starting, bud!" Eddie replied, trying to catch up with Peter's fast pace, despite being very strong, but this time, he was getting defeated. "You might want to slow down a bit because of those wounds." He teased, anything to make Peter lost his momentum.

"I'm almost finishing here." He teased back.

"M-me too!" Eddie exhaled heavily.

"And I'm done! " Peter grinned as he placed the dumbbells back to stand, stretched his shoulders and turned back to Eddie's side with a cocky expression.

"Damn it." He stopped, frustrated about losing again. "You have some nice muscles that's for sure." He gestured to his biceps.

"Yep," Peter chuckled. "So what do you do when not pushing up around here?" He inquired.

"I used to write stories, articles, and take some pictures," Eddie crossed his toned arms and leaned his back on the wall behind him. "But right now, I'm unemployed." He explained.

"Pictures? Me too." Peter cleared his face with a towel he brought from the apartment he shared with Gwen. "I work for the Bugle, take pictures of Spider-Man for quite some time now. Maybe I can recommend you?" He kindly offered.

"Really? Wow.." Eddie said amused. It's been a long time since he met someone as kind as Peter, his entire life was a hurricane since his father used to beat his mother, sister and even on him before he died because of a gambling game. "I-I...I really appreciate it, for real."

"No problem," Peter patted him on the shoulder. "Always willing to help a friend in need." Be smiled brightly, but that soon disappeared as he remembered the whole issue with Harry's blood.

He wanted to help Harry but not in that way. The last time he did something like that, the Lizard was born and almost managed to release a biological bomb. His actions with Harry almost cost Gwen's life. But this was different, nothing bad could come from it.

"That means lot." Eddie nodded, gratefully.

Peter stopped to think about the past and focused back to Eddie. "Also, in two days, my wedding with Gwen is happening. It would be great if you're there."

"You can count on me." He replied, before asking, "What about the bachelor's party...?"

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "My friend Flash already suggested that, but I don't know..." He feared Gwen's reaction to that. She would probably kick him out from their bed to sleep on the couch, and let Ren sleep on his own part of the bed.

_That would be awful_.

"Well, I'm with him," He continued, "Just a few drinks here and there and nothing more. Tonight? "

Peter sighed. "I'm gonna talk to her, if anything happens... it's you guy's fault."

* * *

**Mary Jane's Apartment**

"Oh my god..." MJ said, mouth open. "You are looking gorgeous!" She observed Gwen standing in front of her, wearing a snug sweetheart white gown.

"You think?" Gwen looked down, analyzing the dress herself, they had just arrived from the Wedding store. "What if Peter doesn't like it?" She asked, worried.

"There's no possible way that Peter won't like it" MJ assured her friend, "What I see is he wanting to get you out of this dress quickly after arriving back at you guy's apartment. " She teased, making her friend blush.

"If you say so." Gwen turned on her back, seeing herself on the moveable mirror that MJ had earlier placed on the living room. She was excited and nervous at the same time. She knew how important the wedding day would be for their lives, and she wanted it to be perfect.

"You know I'm right." MJ observed Gwen. She indeed was beautiful on the gown and it really accentuated her golden hair.

"Yeah, I think you are," Gwen smiled. "By the way, I'm hungry, this gown is super tight and it doesn't a bit with that."

"Me too, there's this nice restaurant around here," MJ raised from the couch and helped Gwen to unzip the gown from behind. "What do you think?"

"What are we waiting for?"

* * *

**Daily Bugle**

"Parker!" Jameson bursted out of his office, heading towards Peter's table and ignoring everyone's surprised glances.

"What I can help you with, Mr Jameson?" Peter questioned before lowering the pen that was close to his lips and spinning it with his fingers.

"Tell me that you took pictures of yesterday's robbery." He leaned on Peter's table, adding some physical pressure.

"Actually, I did," Peter opened his drawer, retrieving a folder which contained the pictures. He handed it to Jameson. "Mostly of Spider-Man though, it was impossible to get inside of that bank."

"Let me see!" Jameson impatiently opened the folder and analyzed the pictures with his furious eyes. "I knew it! Spider-Man don't cares about the law!" He stated proudly, seeing the pictures of Spider-Man pushing the officer away from him.

"That guy was jerkface...from what I've heard, of course."

Jameson looked up at Peter with a happy expression. "I don't care. This is gold, Parker."

"Alright...six hundred." He demanded calmly.

"What?!" Jameson narrowed his eyes at him. "Now you are the one assaulting people?!"

"I'll take them somewhere else then." Peter leaned closer to grab the folder but Jameson quickly pressed it against his chest.

"Fine! Okay? Fine!"

"We have a deal," Peter smiled, proudly. "Also, I know this guy called Eddie Brock who is currently unemployed, he knows how to handle a camera."

"And?"

"And that means more photos... and money." Peter grinned while manipulating Jameson with the thing he knows best, money.

"Oh.. I see."

"Yeah, me too." He nodded.

"Warn him to come here so that we can talk."

"I will." Peter raised from the chair and went to the coffee machine. "Don't forget the wedding!"

"I know!" Jameson hurried back to his office with the folder under his arm, desperately to see all of them.

Peter pressed the button for a hot coffee and waited for the machine deliver it. The plastic cup slowly came through the small compartment as he grabbed it and took a sip. Peter leaned on the nearest window, seeing New York's intense traffic down there. He was unable to wear the suit since Gwen had forbid it.

His body still hurts in some areas but mostly on his back. Quentin is still out there, and for the first time ever, Peter was defeated and he's now probably a wanted man, and that pissed him off. That wasn't important though. Gwen is his and only focus for now.

_Let's check on my blonde_.

Peter retrieved his phone that was stashed on his jeans' pocket and quickly tappedtapped Gwen's number. She was probably with Mary Jane now. He brought the phone next to his ear and waited Gwen to respond the call.

_"Hi!"_

"I'm still waiting for the lovely day when you're going to call me love." Peter teased, receiving a giggle from the other side of the line. He could hear that sound forever and never get bored.

_"Okay...Hi love,"_ Gwen replied, still playing along with him. _"What do you think?"_

"Hey babe. That's much better." He smiled proudly. "How are you?"

"I'm at MJ's house now," She answered. "Guess what we are doing."

"Hm...eating?" Peter joked.

_"No!"_ Gwen stated annoyed. _"Well...we already did that."_

"I honestly don't know," Peter confessed. "You two together are unpredictable."

_"Your future wife, is right now, wearing the gown which she is going to use in your wedding."_

"Oh!" Peter got even more excited for the day. "And how does she look?"

_"She looks gorgeous!"_ MJ stated, approaching the phone. "That was MJ" Gwen continued not so surprised by her friend's interruption.

"I can't wait" Peter smiled.

_"Me too."_

Peter cleared his throat. "Erm...Gwen?" He rubbed the back of his neck, something that was his natural habit for ages now.

_"Yes?"_

"E-Eddie, that guy you quickly met at Empire, remember?"

_"Yep, what about him?"_

"Well, he and Flash invited me to, um... like...fun...I think."

_"A Bachelor's party?"_ She finally realized what he was trying to say.

"No!" Peter instantly replied, "No...I mean it's not a party, just a bar or something like that.."

_"It doesn't evolve any woman's shaking their...you know what, right?"_

Peter scoffed. "Of course not." He replied, convinced. "It's like you don't know me."

_"Hmm...Fine."_ Gwen accepted. _"Don't arrive back at home drunk though." _She knew that is almost an impossible task with Flash, Eddie and Peter together in the same place, but she would at least try to warn him.

"I won't." Peter smiled. "I love you."

_"You better love cause you're stuck with me,"_ Gwen teased. _"But I kinda love you too."_

"Just a little, right?"

_"Very little."_ She assured.

"I'm gonna collect all that little love after the reception then." He flirted.

Gwen giggled, before asking, _"Are you with the suit?"_

Peter looked down, seeing his black suit underneath his shirt. He wore just in case if something bad happened.

_Just in case._

"No..." He lied.

_"Peter..."_

"I gotta go, love you!"

_"Peter-" _He turned the call down, avoiding her question.

_That was close.._

Peter closed the window but got surprised as he saw his reflection wearing the whole black suit in the window's glass.

Not believing what was happening, he quickly closed and opened his eyes again, noticing that the suit's reflection wasn't there anymore. He shook his head and walked away, trying to figure what had just happened.

_Could that coffee be poisoned? I'm getting delirious._

* * *

**Oscorp**

Fiers walked inside the room where a huge circular table was located at the center. Quentin and Herman were sat on their respective chairs. Max was seriously standing on his feet and next to the table. He only observed the group's behavior.

"I liked the fishbowl that you are using." Aleksei provoked Quentin.

"First off all, it isn't a fishbowl and at least I don't have a freaking horn." He provoked back.

"You have a problems with Rhinos?!" Aleksei aggressively leaned on the table, facing Quentin.

"Maybe I have." Quentin rose from the chair.

Max annoyed by the situation, fired a single electric bolt on the center of the table making the two hotheads walk backwards. "Shut up." He ordered with his deadly and burned voice.

"You guys are retards." Herman entered the discussion. He wanted to take his revenge over Spider-Man, even if that meant spending time with the people inside of the room.

"Mr Shocking can actually talk?" Quentin provoked.

"What did you just call me now?" Herman raised from the chair besides Quentin, everyone was now staring everyone with deadly eyes.

"Enough!" Fiers finally intervened, before things got out of control.

"Idiot." Quentin whispered towards Herman while sitting back on his chair.

"Where's the Osborn guy?" Herman asked, ignoring the insult.

"Harry is occupied with something personal."

"Great." Aleksei stated, sarcastically.

Fiers approached front part of the table and threw a very small cube over it that displayed a huge amount of images of Spider-Man wearing the black suit, mostly swinging photos.

"You all know why you're here." Fiers zoomed in one of the photos, focusing on Spider-Man. "This person is your target."

"That bug..." Aleksei closed his fists. He was humiliated more than once because of him.

"His body is slowly betraying him," Fiers explained. "It's called the Symbiote, a parasite that needs a host to keep alive." He explained, half of the truth.

"I wouldn't say that. He hit me really hard." Herman doubted the symbiote's porpuse. "He became more agile and everything."

"It's only temporary. You all have the advantage over him." He scrolled down, showing footage of their respective weaponry located in another chamber. "From now on, you all can do whatever you want." Fiers turned the holo off and walked away, leaving the almost complete group processing the news.

Peter Parker is about to face new challenges, the one his father started, and now he had to finish it by himself, for his own sake.

* * *

**New York - Graveyard**

Harry stood in front of his father's grave, wearing a dark coat which was protecting himself from the cold wind the night currently had.

It's been years since the last time he visited his father's grave. Their relationship was not the best out there since his mom's death, Norman had never been the same again. They stopped to talk with each other for a long time during his childhood, mostly of the time being ignored or being gifted with something to shut him up, the usual Osborn way.

"Hi, father." Harry broke the cold silence around him. "It's been years." He felt his spine shiver, talking to the dead. "We never had the perfect father-son relationship. Most of the time we just ignored each other. I just felt like visiting you if that really means anything."

Harry rubbed the back of neck, felling a scar from the past transformation, when his entire body got broken because of his search for a damn cure.

"Honestly...I don't even know why I'm here, visiting someone that left me to die in the last minute possible." Harry huffed. "You ruined everything.. " He stated, remembering Peter and everyone who he hurt because of his selfsh actions. "It's your fault for destroying my whole life, I used to look up to you, I wanted to be like you, but then I realized being you meant not having a normal life, pushing people away, when I need them most."

Harry stared the gray stone. "I shouldn't even had come here to waste my time talking with a dead man." He stashed his hands back to the coat's pocket and walked away from the graveyard, feeling the anger running through his veins.

A mysterious figured standing behind a tree observed Harry as he walked away from his father's grave. He grabbed his phone and tapped some numbers, before placing the device next to his ear.

"It's time to rush things a little bit."

* * *

**New York - Bob's Bar**

"I won't drink too much." Peter clarified to Flash as they headed towards the bar his friend had recommended. He had just finished his class at Empire and then went to meet Flash in some place they both combined. Eddie was probably already there waiting for them.

"C'mon Dude!" Flash elbowed Peter. "Drinks, music and some darts, nothing more."

"Yeah, but there is a certain woman waiting for me back at home." He barked.

"Gwen won't mind, I'm sure." Flash grinned.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Peter shook his head, not believing him. "Let's go."

The friends approached the location's entrance as Peter opened the door, revealing a rather dark ambient with a huge amount of colors blinking, making the place more comfortable, everything was clean and well placed, tables with comfortable seats were besides the walls.

_Not so bad._

"Where's your new boyriend?" Flash questioned, searching the place for Eddie.

Peter scoffed. "There." He pointed towards Brock who was sat on a stool while typing something on his phone.

Eddie turned on his shoulder, seeing Peter walking towards him. He raised from the stool and friendly greeted him. "What's up guys?"

"This is Flash." Peter patted his friend's shoulder.

"Nice to meet you" Eddie friendly nodded, it's been a long time since he went out with friends. "I already prepared everything." He turned back to the counter, pointing to the already filled transparent glasses with whiskey.

"Damn right." Flash sat next to Eddie, preparing himself for the incoming alcohol "C'mon Pete!"

Peter joined them, eyeing the glass. "Just a little..."

"Who lasts longer, will be the winner" Flash straightened his position. "Now." They quickly grabbed the glasses before drinking it's contents.

Peter frowned and shook his head as he slowly got used to the strong.

"Boom!" Flash cleared his throat as he lowered his glass back to the counter.

Peter cleared his throat and chuckled. "I've arranged a interview for you. "

"Really? Thanks!" He said grateful, nobody ever did something like that for him. "You're the best, man."

"No problem." Peter smiled.

"You two already are giving up?" Flash grinned.

"Keep it coming." Peter replied as the bartender filled their glasses again, this would be a long, long, long night.

* * *

"Your puppie is so cute, Gwen!" MJ kneeled on the floor before caressing Ren's soft skin.

"Peter chooses well." Gwen replied, smiling and placing her bag over the kitchen's counter. They spent most of the day together, like watching a movie on the theater's and experimenting Gwen's wedding gown. She loved it.

"What's his name?" MJ looked up.

"Ren." She affirmed, before walking to the fridge, searching something for dinner. "There's Pizza."

"I love Pizza, that's fine by me." MJ raised from the floor, observing the cozy place. "Nice apartment by the way."

"Thanks." Gwen placed the frozen pizza inside of the stove. "We are going to live here for a long time, hopefully."

"I can see that," MJ nodded, "Can I take a look?"

"Of course." Gwen allowed so as she played with Ren's paws on the floor.

MJ went to the bedroom's hallways to know the place. Their bedroom was perfectly in order. A gray suit was lying over the large bed. "This is the suit for the wedding?" MJ asked, standing besides the door.

"Peter's." Gwen replied from the kitchen. "I bought it with his Aunt yesterday."

MJ approached the other bedroom on her left. It didn't have any forniture yet besides a white curtain on the window. A box could be seen down on the floor.

"What's this room?"

"Oh..." Gwen stood behind her and crossed arms. "For now it's just an empty room. We haven't decided what it will be about."

"It's perfect for your kids!" MJ affirmed, with a huge grin. "Imagine a little blonde girl or boy, eh?"

"Oh my god..."

* * *

Peter carefully aimed the dart to the target as the excited crowd waited for the move. His hand was trembling a bit and it was hard to maintain a good concentration after all these drinks, his vision was blurry. God bless his powers for helping him to stand straight.

"Hurry up, dude!" Eddie added pressure, standing behind him. "If you miss it's one more shot."

Peter quickly threw the dart towards the target, hitting the center of it and winning the game. "There you go!" He exclaimed proudly as he turned and cheered. "Now, drink." He ordered.

Eddie approached the bar and grabbed his glass. "Where's Flash?" He questioned, searching for him.

Peter roamed the place with his eyes, catching a glimpse of Flash on a dark corner, talking with some woman he apparently had just met. "Flash is doing what he knows best." He laughed.

"I've noticed." He grinned.

"Hey, handsome." A woman wearing black leather jacket and red as blood blouse approached him. "What a show you've put."

Peter turned around and leaned his waist against the counter. He smiled and said, "Natural talent, I guess."

"Is there any more natural talent you have?" She approached him closer than the usual and leaned on his neck and took on his scent.

Peter raised his hands. "Wow, wow, wow, lady." He chuckled nervously, before placing his hands on her hands and gently moving him away.

Eddie smirked, watching the situation unfold.

"What's the matter? Will you get into trouble?" She teased.

"That too, but you know, it's wrong." He argued back.

"Fun is wrong?"

Peter gulped. "Um...exactly!"

The woman sighed. "Whatever." She walked away.

Eddie laughed uncontrollably. "Peter Parker, breaking hearts since -"

He snarled, "Just fill the glasses."

**Two hours later..**

Gwen found herself sat on the couch, watching television as she waited for Peter to finally arrive back at home. It was already late and he hadn't given any sign of life, yet. Ren was spread over her legs and snored lightely.

MJ had left the apartment one hour ago after they had dinner and watched some silly action move, it was a pretty fun day for Gwen and MJ is one of the few persons that can deliver a day like that.

The wedding was just two days to happen and Gwen was already feeling anxious and nervously. She knew that everything will probably go alright. The new step on their life was going to be taken, a married couple ready to live together for the rest of their lives.

Suddenly, a very familiar voice could be heard singing a song close to the apartment's main door which Gwen had never heard before, from what she was hearing, it involved Spider-man. She raised from the couch and faced the door.

_"Spider-man... Spider-Man..." _The masculine voice sang while trying to open the door with the keys. _"Does whatever a Spider can,"_ Peter finally opened the door, seeing Gwen with arms crossed. "Spins a web, at any size." He raised his hand to Gwen's direction and imagined him firing a webline at his future wife's direction. "Thwip! Gotcha you, baby."

"Goodnight." Gwen said rather seriously, ignoring his silliness.

Peter stepped inside the apartment rather clumsily and then closed the door with his feet. He narrowed his brown eyes at her. "God...were you always this hot gorgeous?" He sighed and then slowly approached Gwen, snaking his arms around her waist as he kissed her on the lips. Gwen didn't retreat, and she could taste the strong whiskey on his lips and warm tongue. "I've *hic* something to say.."

"What's it?" Gwen leaned her head backwards, leaving Peter trying to connect his lips with hers again. "Huh?"

"Oh, yes," Peter gently grabbed her hand and kneeled. "Gwendolyne *hic* M-Maxine *hic* Stacy" He said while sobbing.

"Yes?" Gwen smiled as he apparently started to propose again.

"W-Will you marry me?" Peter asked again, caressing her hand.

Gwen laughed after seeing Peter proposing her again in this new drunk version. "Sure, why not?" She nodded, deciding to play along with him.

He rose from the floor and wrapped his arms around Gwen's waist as he started kissing her neck. "Slow down, bugboy." She gently pushed him back.

"What?" He questioned with confused eyes.

"Where's the ring?" Gwen gestured to the ring on her hand. "Aren't you proposing me?" She crossed arms, still on his grip, and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh..*hic* the ring?" Peter searched his pocket, but there wasn't anything lost there. "Can *hic* I give you a kiss instead?" He closed his eyes and slowly leaned brushing his lips against hers.

"No..." Gwen let Peter attack her lips as she snaked her arms around his neck. She parted again. "That's your job already." She moved a hand to his chest and slowly unbuttoned his coat.

"How many drinks?" She asked.

"Just *hic* a few." Peter moved his hands to her waist and pulled her legs as she quickly wrapped them around his waist.

"Peter! Put me down!" She chuckled lightly.

Ignoring her orders, Peter slowly walked towards the couch, being careful to somewhat not stumble on the air. He lowered Gwen on the couch and stood above her. He rested his head on her shoulder, ready to fall asleep.

"No, no," Gwen removed his coat and threw into the floor. "Shower before sleep."

"Tomorrow..." He mumbled on her shoulder.

"Nope, I will help you, you drunk Spider-Man."

Later on, Gwen lead Peter to their bedroom, making him sat on the edge of the bed while she picked a towel from the wardrobe and positioned herself besides him. Gwen pulled his shirt up, revealing the black suit which she previously had forbidden Peter to use it, but as ever, he just ignored the orders. She unzipped the zipper on the back of his neck and slipped the suit out of his body, exposing his bare chest.

"What did I tell you about the suit, Peter?" Gwen questioned, checking the bandage on his cheek. He was almost sleeping.

"Hmm?" Peter opened his eyes, seeing what looked to be an angel right in front of him. "Why you are so beautiful?" He leaned on her neck again.

"Erm...genetics I think, " Gwen replied, "But seriously, you need to recover first."

"Our baby is going to be perfect." Peter stated, making Gwen smile. She loves how he's already thinking about the close future with her.

"You really want a kid don't you?" Gwen giggled. "First you hit your head pretty hard, and now you're drunk."

"I'm not feeling well." Peter leaned backwards, hitting his head against the pillow.

"Next time you should at least regulate your drinks." Gwen threw the towel over his face.

"It's all Eddie's fault." He mumbled under the towel. "He *hic* forced me."

Gwen giggled after hearing his cute sob. "No one can force you to do anything," She removed the jeans, leaving Peter only on his boxers "Aren't you Spider-Man?"

"Who's this guy?" He removed the towel from his face, glancing Gwen before raising an eyebrow.

"Oh...he's very handsome." She teased. "Always seeking my attention."

Peter sat on the bed and gently pushed Gwen down on it, making her laugh by the sudden movement. He stood over her and started to kiss the soft skin of her neck. "No...you're mine."

Gwen kissed his cheek and whispered seductively next to his ear, "Maybe after you take a shower?" She knew that Peter was fighting to not fall asleep and seducing him would be the only way to get him under the shower.

He gently sucked the delicate skin of her neck and left a light purple mark on it

"Peter!" She exclaimed. The mark would probably appear even after using the gown. "Now you are going to take the shower, mister!" Gwen grabbed his hand and walked towards the bathroom. Peter Parker was indeed a very unique person.

* * *

**Aunt May's House - Wedding Day**

**May 27th - 2019**

Peter adjusted the tie of his gray suit while looking himself through the mirror on Aunt May's bedroom. The day that would finally cement his and Gwen's love over each other had arrived and that made him even more happy and anxious about it.

They had split up after enjoying their last hours together on the morning before the wedding. Gwen was at her mom's home, preparing herself. He wondered what she was thinking right now, probably the same thing as he was.

Peter combed his hair, making it very simple. Most of the bruises were already healed so he wasn't using any bandage anymore.

"Ready, Peter?" Aunt May opened the door, seeing her handsome nephew finishing to prepare himself.

"I think I am," Peter turned to his Aunt and smiled. "What do you think?"

May grinned even more by the such wonderful view. Who she considered to be her son was finally ready for the day of his life. "You're perfect, Peter." She approached him and fixed the tie which he never fully knew how to do it. "But you still don't know how to do your tie."

Peter laughed. "Uncle Ben never achieved to teach me properly."

"He had this trouble too," May remembered years ago when Ben tried to help a much younger Peter with his tie for the small party after finishing junior school. She had to interrupt or else they would spend all day there. "I know he's proud of you"

"Thank you." Peter kissed her forehead.

"There you go." May patted his chest "Now you can meet your beautiful bride."

"Always saving my skin."

Flash leaned on the door, already wearing his black suit. "C'mon, Parker." He entered the room and teased, "The bride is the one who always come late."

"And she will," Peter chuckled. "Let's go." He led May outside and towards Flash's car.

* * *

**Helen's Apartment**

"C'mon, mom!" Gwen exclaimed impatiently. She was standing over the small support placed in the living room, already on her sweetheart gown.

Helen was doing her make-up while MJ was checking the dress, searching for something that was possibly done wrong.

"Calm down girl!" Helen focused on doing Gwen's make up while trying to calm her desperate daughter.

"Peter should be already there!" Gwen said still impatiently, before looking herself through the mirror on the wall. Coming towards Peter's direction on the altar would probably be the longest moment on her entire life. The one she always looked foward to.

"Gwen, you are looking gorgeous," MJ assured. "Just a few more minutes and you're going to see your husband."

Gwen smiled to herself by the "husband" word that MJ had just used. It's what Peter would be to her in a few hours, her new family.

"Where's Howard?" Gwen questioned. "He can't be late!"

"Howard is coming honey," Helen applied the pink material on Gwen's cheeks. "Don't worry."

Helen was feeling her daughter's contagious happiness, long time ago she had been through the same thing before marrying George. He later had given her four beautiful children. Now it was Gwen's turn to embrace the one she had chosen. Helen approved her relationship with Peter, they had their up and downs, but those were in the past now. Gwen made her choice and she's proud of it.

"Sorry!" Howard clumsily entered the apartment, already wearing a black suit. He saw his sister in a way he never had seen before. "Gwen...you're beautiful." He said amused as he placed both hands on her waist, before looking up so that he could meet her green eyes.

"Thank you." She smiled, kindly.

"I'm happy for you, both of you." Howard noticed that Gwen almost releasing a tear. "Hey, don't cry or you are going to ruin the make up."

"I know." Gwen softly caressed his blonde hair.

"Okay honey, you're ready." Helen walked down from the support, checking her work.

"How's the bite, mom?" Gwen descended the stairs with Howard's help.

"It's hidden."

"Thank god..." Gwen took a heavy breath.

"You guys pose for a photo." Helen demanded as she walked to the small counter and grabbed a camera. Howard stood on Gwen's left with an arm around her waist, while MJ stayed on her right doing the same.

"Smile!" Helen pressed the screen recording this unique moment.

"C'mon ladies," Howard led Gwen with his arm outside the apartment so that they could go towards the wedding's location and bring his sisters to her future husband.

* * *

**Lighthouse - Chelsea Piers - Night**

Peter greeted the guests as they arrived and sat on their respective chairs, waiting for the ceremony to start, familiars, highschool friends, and collegues were the majority of the guests. The decoration was mostly blue with some white curtains and roses were spread on the floor, rather fancy, he thought. The altar was behind a huge window from where it was possible to see the now dark sea.

Anxious was the best word to describe how Peter was currently feeling. The wedding golden rings were already here so everything was going on like originally planned, no Spider-Man or any super villains, just him and Gwen.

"Parker!" Jameson hurried inside the place with his wife besides him. "Those pictures were gold! I might even crush the damn Times!"

"Hi Jonah," Peter patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for coming" He smiled kindly.

"Yeah, yeah, look you need to take more -"

"Jonah!" His wife interjected. "You aren't going to say anything about Spider-Man today," She ordered and glanced him with serious eyes. "This is a wedding not a reunion."

"But-"

Peter insisted, "Thanks, Mrs Jameson."

"No problem son, you are looking good." She smiled and led Jameson to their respective seats. The situation made Peter laugh, wives indeed have control over their husbands as proved seconds ago.

Later on, Eddie Brocm approached him and gave Peter a friendly hug. "How are you feeling?" He asked, gently patting his shoulder.

Peter exhaled sharply. "Anxiously, nervously...happy." He smirked and adjusted his tie again.

"Relax, man, everything will be alright." Eddie said reassuringly. "What could go wrong? You don't have any enemies, right?" He teased.

Peter laughed ironically yet nervously. "Yeah, of course, why would I even have any?" He rubbed the back his neck. "I should prepare myself, she will arrive at any second by now."

"You do that, I'll be here."

**Ten minutes later...**

_Relax Parker..._

Peter breathed heavily while he waited Gwen to come through the main doors. He was already in the altar with the Pastor right behind him. Everyone was in total silence and looking to Peter. It was kinda uncomfortable for him, but nothing that hard to handle, at least that was what he told himself.

It should've been a piece of candy, after all, he had defeated a Mutant Lizard, an electric guy, a Rhino, but in the end, it wasn't. His impatience was at the highest levels. He couldn't wait too much to finally see his future wife walking towards him. This is the day he had always waited for.

The music suddenly started to play meaning that Gwen had arrived.

_This is it.._

Simon and his cousin entered the location, holding a blue pillow containing the wedding rings. Howard and Gwen came right after it as everyone stood up, watching the bride coming towards her groom.

Gwen smiled happily as she saw Peter waiting for her. Suddenly, the nervously and anxiety were long gone and now replaced with happiness. She was just thinking about him and nothing else. He thought Gwen was a goddess if she wasn't one already. The gown just made her even more beautiful, if that was even possible.

Howard led Gwen to the altar and kissed her hand before leaving her close to Peter. They looked at each other with eyes full of passion as they smiled like little kids while the celebrant did the introducing prayers.

"Into this union of Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy and Peter Benjamin Parker now come to be joined. If any of you can show just cause why they may not be lawfully wed, speak now, or else forever hold your peace."

Nobody protested. If there's something that everyone is sure, is that they're made for each other, even death couldn't take them away.

"I charge you both, here in the presence of God and the witness of this company, that if either of you know any reason why you may not be married lawfully and in accordance with God's word, do now confess it.

Mutual silence between the crowd.

"Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy, will you have this man to be your husband; to live together with him in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live?"

"I will." Gwen replied, still looking at Peter with affectionate eyes.

He quickly made a dorky face, making Gwen giggle silently as she tried to remain serious and remember that there was a wedding going on, something her almost husband didn't seem to mind at all.

Not far away, Helen started to cry while holding Simon and Phillip close on her arms. Tears of happiness descend down her cheek.

"Peter Benjamin Parker, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together with her in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?"

He nodded to himself. "I will."

"Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?"

"We will." The congregation replied.

"Who gives this woman to be married to this man?" The celebrant asked.

"She gives herself, with the blessing of her mother and brother." Howard replied.

A hymn started to play before the vows starts, just in a few minutes their love over each other would be finally cemented forever.

Peter faced Gwen and took her right hand in his.

"In the name of God, I, Peter Benjamin Parker take you, Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow." He said gently as his heartbeat started to slow down.

May emotionally watched her boy as he said his vow. She and Ben were proud for everything Peter had ever done. He became the man Ben wanted him to be.

They dropped hands, before Gwen took his right hand in hers.

"In the name of God, I, Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy, take you, Peter Benjamin Parker to be my husband, to have and to hold form this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow."

Peter placed the ring on the left ring-finger of his bride's hand before saying, "I give you this ring as a symbol of my love, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Gwen repeated the action. "I give you this ring as a symbol of my love, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you,in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Then the celebrant joins the bride's right hand and the groom's right hand.

"Now that Gwen and Peter have given themselves to each other by solemn vows, with the joining of hands and the giving and receiving of rings, I pronounce that they are husband and wife, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit"

Gwen and Peter stood face to face, smiling at each other, all the pressure of the world was gone from their shoulders, a new step on their life is about to begin.

"Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy and Peter Benjamin Parker having witnessed your vows of love to one another, it is my joy to present you to all gathered here as husband and wife." He turned to Peter and smiled. "You may kiss the bride."

Peter slowly leaned towards Gwen, still holding her hands on his, before kissing her lips with all the passion available. Gwen reciprocated the kiss, closing her eyes, falling into his embrace as he cupped her cheek.

Everyone raised from their chairs and cheered for the new married couple. Gwen teared as she let Peter seal their compromise with each other, even in the darkest hour, they would always be there for each other dealing with what the future brings, no matter what.

Suddenly, Peter moved his right hand to her waist and gently leaned her down as he moved his lips to her neck. Everyone started laughing at his unexpected movement, even Gwen couldn't control her soft giggles, after all, they were now wife and husband.

* * *

**Lighthouse - Wedding Reception**

Peter and Gwen slowly dance in each other arms. They just wanted each other for a break. The reception's was in the same area but in a different room. The cake which had their figures was on center, and tables were positioned on the walls around it.

Everyone was drinking, dancing, talking and eating some cake slices. The day would forever be remembered.

"How are you feeling?" Peter kissed the top of Gwen's head while she rested her head on his shoulder, hearing the peaceful sound of his heartbeat.

"Happy...very happy." Gwen replied, before moving a hand to his cheek and cupping it. "This is what I've always wanted." She looked up as they touched foreheads.

"Me too," Peter kissed her tiny nose, while holding her closely with his arms. "So...Mrs Parker?" He grinned.

"Yeah, it's one of the perks of marrying you, I guess." Gwen giggled.

"Like - Gwen Stacy Parker." Peter nodded to himself. "Me like it." He said playfully and leaned and softly kissed her lips, before gazing her deep green eyes again.

"Wait till we get home," Gwen seductively whispered on his ear.

"Oh, you have everything planned?" Peter guided Gwen on their own dance. "A nice movie with some popcorn?"

She chuckled lightly. "Nope, I bought a very nice piece of lingerie just because of you, and I'm using it right now." She winked.

"My god woman, you have no idea how happy you make me." Peter kissed her neck. "I just read my mind."

"I think I have some." She hugged him and sighed happily. They stood embracing each other for a few couple of minutes, before Helen and May interrupted the recent married couple for some photos.

"Hey lovebirds!" Helen called, gaining their attention. "What about a photo for _that_ portrait?"

"Why not?" Gwen smiled as she turned on Peter's grip. He wrapped both arms around her slim frame and rested his hands on her stomach. "We're ready."

"Okay...say cheese!"

"Cheese!"" Peter kissed her ear while Helen pressed the button a couple of hundred of times.

* * *

Peter abruptly opened the door to their apartment while dealing with Gwen's aggressive attacks on his lips. She pushed his tie closer so that he could be even more close to her. They walked inside as Peter closed the door with his feet and pulled Gwen up, wrapping her legs around his waist. He walked to their bedroom as Peter gently lay Gwen on the bed, before moving himself over her.

There wasn't any talking because they simply wanted each other, feel each other, every kiss was a passionate one, every look was one full of desire, every moan was a deep one.

Gwen rolled over him and stood over his crotch, making Peter groan in pleasure. She moved a hand to her back and started to sensually unzip the gown as Peter caressed her tights meanwhile.

The gown was ready to completely fall in any second. So, he raised from his spot and kissed her neckline, making Gwen release a soft moan as removed the dress away, revealing the blue lingerie that perfectly fit her curvy and delicate body. He took a moment to appreciate the beautiful woman that was straddling him. He cupped her bra - clad breasts and kissed her cleveage.

Later on, Gwen helped to remove the suit out of his body, exposing his muscular chest and arms.

"I will love you for the rest of my entire life." Peter said huskily. He moved a hand to her back, unlocking what was left of the locks so that Gwen could be entirely for himself.

"Show me... how much you love me." Gwen and Peter locked lips, joining their bodies together for the rest of the night, becoming one entity. A new step was made in their life. One that would last forever.

* * *

**A/N: Seriously, I just loved writing this..really. I always wanted to write/read their wedding and I think that I delivered it. This was supposed to happen in two parts but I thought that it would be better just in one. Please say what do you think about this chapter.**

**-Andrew**

**08/23/15 : Fixed encountered errors.**


	13. The Calm Before The Storm

"Daddy?" A young feminine voice called from her bedroom, grabbing Peter's attention while was in the kitchen and preparing some milk.

Peter lowered the fire on the stove so that the milk don't overheat itself and headed towards the voice. He entered the small and cozy bedroom room, seeing a little girl lying on the pink bed with the bed sheets covering her as the sun rays started to invade the room through the curtain in the quiet morning. She had a short brown hair like Peter's, a pale skin and green eyes like her mother's.

"Yes, Liz?" Peter approached Elizabeth and kneeled next to the bed so that he could be on her level.

"Where's mommy?" Elizabeth asked as Peter moved a lock of brown hair behind her ear. "I want to see her." She hold his hand softly with her tiny hand.

"Mommy's sleeping." Peter replied with a kind smile. His daughter's the best thing that ever happened on his life.

"Really?" She said surprised and with eyes widened. "What's her full name?"

"What do you mean?" Peter raised an eyebrow at the strange question. "It's Gwen, Gwen Stacy Parker. " He brought the sheets close to her neckline. That was a weird question. She shouldn't forget Gwen's name that easily.

"Gwen?" Elizabeth repeated it.

Peter nodded.

"That's a beautiful name, daddy." She smiled happily.

"I know." Peter agreed. "But why you are asking? You know that already."

"I never saw her." Elizabeth explained, "You said she was up there." She pointed with her tiny finger to the window and towards the blue sky. "Heaven."

"Heaven?" Peter replied confused. "N-No...I didn't say that, Liz."

"That someone hurt mummy before I could know her." She continued, being truthful.

"No...I-I saved her." Peter started panic. "Stay here." He kissed her forehead and went to check their bedroom.

Peter raised from the floor and turned to the door but got shocked by what he was seeing. His black Spider-Man suit was standing on the door, blocking his away and apparently someone was wearing it.

"Liz, don't get up." Peter assumed a defensive position, protecting his child. "I don't know who you are or what do you want, but if you give one more step closer...it won't end well for you." He threatened.

The figure stood on the door, quietly analyzing the room and the persons inside of it. It eventually looked up to Peter again, and with a sudden movement, it screamed before jumping towards him and with arms ready for the kill.

"No...!" Peter quickly reacted and grabbed the monstrosity and immediately propelled it to the side wall with the objective to not fall over Elizabeth as they together crashed on Peter and Gwen's bedroom.

The monster pinned Peter against the floor by pressing his hands on it, avoiding any retaliation. He tried to fight it but it was much, much more stronger than him. He grunted and looked up to the bed, seeing that Gwen wasn't there, but just one pillow and some covers, but there was a single picture of him and Gwen during their highschool graduation over the bed nightstand. He was with an arm around her shoulders, kissing her forehead while she smiled happily.

_No...no!_

"Daddy?!" Elizabeth appeared close to the hole in the wall, holding her puppy toy closely.

"Liz! Stay away!" Peter warned as his enemy started to merge itself with him. "Call your Aunt-" He was interrupted as the monster's goo covered his mouth and body, but only leaving his eyes exposed. He had failed...again.

* * *

**May 20th - 2019**

**France - Paris**

Once again Peter opened his eyes desperately, shaking lightly and covered in sweat. He performed the same routine after having that kind of nightmare that is checking his surroundings for any possible threats before checking the woman next to him. Gwen was still asleep and lying her head over his chest and peacefully breathing close to his neck. Peter, now relieved, lay his head back to the pillow and looked up to the ceiling, trying to relax his now confused mind.

Peter had never dreamed of something like that before, having a child and raising her without Gwen. It felt so real and painful at the same time. A shock of reality is what Peter was feeling right now. He didn't even wanted to think about raising, if they ever had a baby, without Gwen who is the woman of his life. He was still trying to make sense about what was that thing. For moment, it was his suit but after some minutes, it had turned into some kind of a monster. He focused back to the present and tried to forget about everything that he had dreamed.

_The suit.._

Peter rubbed with his left hand, the sleep away from his eyes before turning himself to the woman who now became his wife, and softly kissed the delicate skin of her shoulder. He observed her as she sleeped peacefully. He gently slipped from Gwen's arms, receiving a discontent low moan from her as he smiled by the cuteness. He walked to their suite's bathroom only wearing his red boxers. They were in honeymoon for a few days now. Gwen always wanted to visit France and now she had realized one of her dreams.

Peter splashed some cold water from the sink on his face and cleared with the towel before glancing himself through mirror.

_It only gets worse..._

He came out of the bathroom and silently opened the balcony's door as the cold air met his skin, he leaned on it and observed the unique city that was starting to be more active after every second that passed. He need some fresh air to clean his mind after such experience. That kind of dream happened often after the whole Clocktower encounter, during some days but now it had started to get intense again, just in the best moment of his entire life.

Unexpectedly, Peter felt thin arms snaking around his chest before gently caressing his toned abdomen. "Good Morning." Gwen said, slowly kissing his muscular back, wearing her dark blue underwear which was one of his favorites.

"Good morning you too." Peter turned on Gwen's grip, wrapping his arms around her waist and bringing his wife even more closer to that he could kiss her in the lips. After such experience, Peter just wanted to be with her even more, to be assured that everything it's okay and that the nightmare never happened.

"Hmm..." Gwen closed her eyes, enjoying the lovingly kiss while savoring his lips' taste. She felt something off though, his body was tense. "Everything alright?" She leaned backwards and asked, concerned.

"Of course." Peter lied. He didn't want to rewind his nightmare again so he quickly kissed her lower lip, trying to change subjects but failing miserably.

"You're a terrible liar." Gwen broke the kiss and hugged Peter to make him feel more comfortable and secure. "You don't usually leave me alone in the bed before waking me up."

"Oh...that's...um...a good observation." Peter replied, surprised, "You also do a lot of that cute nose rub." He smiled, remembering the date after not seeing each other for almost one year and as expected, their ground rules failed.

"When it's allergic season...yes." Gwen smiled back, and pinched him sofly in the nose. "But don't change the subject."

"You really want to know?"Peter tightened his grip around her. "It's just a dream, nothing I can't handle.

Gwen moved a hand to his cheek and cupped it softly. "Yes, I want to...but not here." She replied and led Peter back to the room before making him sat on the edge of their bed. Ren jumped over it and lay on his lap. "What was your dream about now?" She rested a hand on his hip.

"Okay." Peter inhaled a large amount of air before releasing it. "I-I was doing milk for our...daughter." He smiled sadly. She felt so real for one moment. He was feeling that a part of him was gone with the dream.

"Our daughter...?" Gwen widened her eyes, surprised.

He nodded.

"How did she look?" She asked, trying to make the conversation easier for him.

Peter furrowed his eyebrows, thinking. "She had a brown hair...green eyes and pale skin." He intertwined fingers with Gwen's hand which was resting on his lap. "A lot like you."

"I was going to say more with you." Gwen giggled and softly kissed his cheek.

"Well, if she was a blondie, then she would be a exactly copy of you." He chuckled lightly.

"Maybe." Gwen said, imagining how she or he would look like. They had completely forgot about the dream and started talking about a future baby, a topic that turned out to be much more easier and natural to talk about in years. "Tell me the rest of it."

"Right..then she asked about you, because you weren't in there...I-I mean alive." He cleared his throat.

"I wasn't alive then?" Gwen now understood his agony.

"Y-Yeah...I think so." He admitted, looking down to the carpeted floor.

Gwen moved a hand to his chin and gently made him look to her green eyes again. She could see the pain he was suffering. Her possible death was always haunting him after Harry almost succeeded to kill her. "Anything else?"

"I was about to check if you were in our bedroom but what looked someone on my new suit, was blocking the door and...he jumped over me, we crashed in our bedroom and it somewhat consumed me I think... I saw Elizabeth scared and then I woke up." He explained.

"Elizabeth? That's a beautiful name" Gwen affirmed. "I don't know why, but it's just a nightmare, okay?"

"Yeah..it's just not easy...but thank you." Peter smiled and went to kiss Gwen in a form of thanking her for listening. He could be a strong person when wearing Spider-Man suit, but when he's in Gwen's arms, he loses all his barriers and fears. She always was there for him if needed.

Ren got out of his lap as Peter gently pressed his weight over Gwen's, making them fall back to bed before gently sucking the soft skin of her neck.

"Peter! Stop doing this-" Gwen ordered, before getting interrupted as he assaulted her lips and tongue. "Hmmm!" She mumbled something that only god knows what could have been and eventually returned the passionate kiss.

Ren jumped over Peter's back, trying to get some attention from his owners but he wasn't succeeding, the making out was intense. Ren crawled to the top of Peter's hair and started to lick his cheeks and ears.

Peter opened his eyes and released Gwen from his lips. "Ren!" He slowly turned to the side so that Ren could jump back to the bed without hurting himself. "Sorry but she's all mine for now." He looked to Ren as he crawled underneath the bedsheets finding something to play since his owners were now busy.

"I'm yours now?" Gwen raised an eyebrow while she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Yep." Peter touched foreheads with Gwen as they closed eyes. "Just mine." He whispered softly before resting his head on Gwen's chest while she trailed circles on his usual short hair.

* * *

**New York - Harry's Apartment**

Harry sat next to the holographic screen on the table and opened every single file which the cube his father gave him before he died. Now, Harry had the time to see it, unlike a few years ago where he ran against time to find a cure for his genetic disease which messed with everything and everyone around him.

_Adjustable Military Suit - Healthy Care (Abandoned)_

_Cross Species Genetics (Abandoned)_

_Enchanted Suit Skeleton (Abandoned)_

_Cloning Research (In Progress)_

_Parker's Surveillance (In Progress)_

"What's this?" Harry narrowed his eyes and opened the last file involving the Parker's. It showed pictures and recordings of Peter since his childhood and from nowadays. Gwen appeared in one of them.

"VI, what's the last entry?" He questioned.

_"Last entry...three days ago."_ the VI replied.

For some reason, his father was spying Peter for a long time ago, but he was dead, and someone recently accessed the files, but only Norman knew about them. It wasn't making any sense for Harry. Fiers never said something about it.

"Location?" Harry attempted to locate who was accessing the files.

_"Unable to track it."_

Harry buried his face on his hands, trying to understand the situation. His father spent more time spying Peter instead of spending more time with him, but for what reason and porpuse? Should he warn Peter? Would he even listen.

* * *

Toomes sat in metallic chair for his usual session of mental therapy at RavenCroft. His right hand was still recovering from Spider-Man's strength. He was about to escape with the money and everything but the hero had to interfere on the operation and put him behind bars. Quentin left him to be arrested without even thinking about it. Toomes somehow trusted him but it's only in the desperate moments, that you can see people real colors. Spider-Man and Quentin deserves all misery on the world.

Suddenly, someone wearing a dark coat and hat unlocked the door and stepped inside of the room and stood in front of Toomes' chair.

"I already told you everything, leave me alone." Toomes snapped, thinking that the person was his doctor.

"What's your favorites animal,Mr Toomes?" Fiers asked.

"What?" Toomes raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Just a simple question, helps to determine a profile."

"Whatever...a Vulture I think." He replied aghast.

"Elaborate?" Fiers walked around the table, sliding a finger over it.

"They feed themselves with the rest of their enemy or encountered bodies, it's what I want to do right now." Toomes felt rage on his veins because of Spider-Man messing up with the only chance of his life and because that one of the people that he trusted, betrayed him.

"Hmm...I think you are going to like what I have for you." Fiers grinned.

* * *

**Paris**

Gwen wore her blue jeans, white shirt and brown jacket while Peter simply wore a black long sleeved shirt and jeans. They were walking together on the streets close to their hotel. Peter hold Ren's dog collar while he kept Gwen close with an arm around her waist.

"What do you think?" Gwen asked while retrieving the ice cream she was holding for Peter's lips which now were covered with the white cream.

"Hmm..." Peter licked his lips. "Not bad.

"It isn't cheap though." Gwen complained while licking it. She brushed her body against Peter's since it was a cold day of spring at France.

"We can pick one again, if you want it." Peter said. "I'm not bothered about the money, doesn't matter." He slipped the hand that was on her waist, underneath Gwen's shirt, gaining some of her warm.

"Thank you." Gwen leaned up, kissing his lips. Peter savored the ice cream on her tongue contently. She release him and winked, "I don't want to get fatty."

"You won't get fatty." He appeased her ego, "You're the perfect feminine specimen."

Gwen laughed, before saying, "I have to look good for my husband." She teased, "He's very mainly and impatient." She quickly kissed him again, they intertwined fingers and resumed their walking.

"I'm only impatient because you always drive me crazy." Peter said playfully.

"I'm glad I have that effect." Gwen finished with the ice cream and threw it to the garbage can.

"There's something that is always bugging me though." Peter said while Gwen rested her head on his left shoulder. "For years, literally."

"What?" She moved an arm to his muscular back.

"How did you managed to steal that police car?" Peter remembered the night when Gwen simply came out of nowhere and smashed Max with a police car.

"Oh, that?" Gwen laughed. "Well...that officer got distraughted by some robber that was trying to enter a store and I used that in my vantage." She explained with a cocky smile.

"The police never contacted you after that day?"

"Yeah...I said that I was the only one that could deal with the schematics so they let me go." Gwen giggled. "But yeah, that single day I didn't call you? Arrested, for stealing the car, for a few hours

"I'm glad because I would have to break you out of jail." Peter stopped and hugged his wife, wrapping his arms around her waist while holding Ren's dog's collar. "My beautiful smuggler, Spider-Man might catch you one day."

"I like to have a thug life." She smiled proudly, letting Peter hold all her weight.

"But seriously...you're not putting yourself in danger again,alright?" Peter changed to more serious expression. She couldn't leave him after all they had been through. He wouldn't handle that.

"Honey, we already talked about this." Gwen replied softy. She couldn't stop and just watch Peter getting hurt while fighting his enemies.

"I'm serious, Gwen. I appreciate what you did for me; you saved my life more than once, but your yours is more important than mine, and I don't want to risk losing you again." Peter placed both hands on her cheeks, bringing her closer and later touching foreheads. "Please? I will stay on my knees and beg, I swear."

"Okay, okay." Gwen looked to his brown eyes, felling somehow guilty.

"Don't get worried." He assured.

"That's impossible when living with you" She smirked.

"Sorry." Peter apologized.

"Don't be." Gwen leaned closer. "It's what I want, being with you." She whispered before slowly and delicately kissing her husband.

* * *

**Queens**

"I'm coming!" Aunt May said loudly and headed towards the main door after someone pressed the doorbell. She unlocked it with the keys and opened, seeing a young man wearing dark coat and glasses. "What can I help you with?" She noticed some green marks coming from his neck and left hand.

"Is Peter Parker here?" Harry asked, careful to not be recognized. After hours of struggling, he finally had the courage to see Peter again even if they were in bad terms.

"No, he's on his honeymoon right now." May replied. They were out for one week now.

"Oh...honeymoon?" Harry cleared his throat. He had missed a lot of things recently. "A-Alright, sorry to bother you ma'am." He smiled gently as he walked down the small stairwell.

"What's your name? I can warn Peter when he arrives from France." She kindly offered.

Harry turned back. "No need, we will eventually meet again anyways." He walked away from the house, stashing his hands on the coat's side pockes, and disappearing into the streets.

May wondered what the man wanted. She thought that he was familiar but she couldn't remember from where. May closed the door, headed towards the living room and proceeded to visualize the wedding pictures that Helen recently sent. The day was forever memorized on their minds.

* * *

Max stood in the edge of a rooftop of some building, watching the intense transit down there on the streets. He was looking for someone that always messed with him when he worked for Oscorp before suffering the accident and being declared dead. Just one of the long list of people that didn't care about him, even Max's mother since she had forgotten his own birthday a couple of years ago, and now, she's also dead, but naturally. He helped Quentin with the robbery by consuming the city's electricity for some minutes and now it's his time to cause some stir.

_He's there.._ Max glanced the sportive car getting close to his location, but stopping again because of the intense movement in New York's transit at the hour.

The car slowly approached Max, so he disintegrated his body, traveling through the city's power cables. The car passed by as he got off the cables and merged himself with it.

"Damn..." Smithe sighed because of how much slowly the transit was going

"Just one more day at this cursed city." He moved to his hand to the radio and turned it on, but nothing was coming from besides some interference noises.

"Really...?" Smithe raised an eyebrow and touched the screen, trying to make it work but his finger got a little cut because of some lost sparkle. "Ouch!" he exclaimed in pain as electricity started to come off from the radio and the velocity on the panel got suddenly crazy.

"Hello Smithe." Max's face appeared on the front window. "Miss me?"

"Max?" He wasn't believing what was just happening. "You are dead"

"I never die." A electric hand came from the window and towards his neck. Max suffocated Smithe while channelling some energy off his hand and into his body, killing him as the car exploded on middle of the street. Revenge was made.

* * *

**Paris - Eiffel Tower**

"We could get up there." Peter gestured with his head to the visitor area up in Eiffel Tower. The visit hour was already expired when they arrived on the location. They left Ren at the hotel before going out to catch some dinner. The place was already empty besides one guard in the smal security tower who was watching some TV.

"But it's closed already." Gwen looked up, seeing the tower and the sky stars above it. It was a beautiful night.

"Well..." Peter turned to Gwen and smiled brightly. He planned something.

Gwen, for a few seconds, didn't understood what he was thinking about, but suddenly a shock of realization came and leaved her with an open mouth. He wanted to crawl up there.

"No...no, no." Gwen shook her head.

"Yes." Peter placed both hands on her waist and went to kiss her, trying be persuasive. "Yes."

"No, no." Gwen slowly leaned backwards, on his grip, avoiding the kisses.

"C'mon!" He quickly leaned on her neck since her lips weren't allowed and kissed the soft skin. "Do you want to miss this opportunity just because it's closed?"

"It's illegal, Peter." Gwen said seriously. "And how you are going to bring me there without your web shooters?" She asked.

"With the new suit, I don't even need to use them anymore." He explained "You are just going to wrap yourselve around me, on my back." He smiled cheekily.

Gwen deadpanned. "That's crazy!" She exclaimed, "You can let me go."

"I'm not letting you go. Peter quickly stealed a kiss. "Okay?"

"Ugh...damn it, fine!" Gwen mumbled. "You better hold me tightly." She ordered.

"No worries...I'm already used with your body." Peter flirted, receiving a playful slap on his chest from his beautiful wife.

"Dork." Gwen rolled her eyes playfully.

They eventually sneaked close to one of the iron columns. Peter turned his back to Gwen and knelled on the floor so that she could climb him. Gwen wrapped her arms around his neck as Peter pulled Gwen up as she wrapped her legs on his waist.

"Prepared?" Peter turned his head, brushing cheeks with Gwen's.

"Of course." She replied sarcastically.

Peter started to calmly crawl the column to not immediataly scare Gwen. She was holding herself very tightly on his neck and waist.

"Everything alright?" He questioned, still heading up and touching the cold iron with his bare fingers.

"Yes..." Gwen rested her head on his back, relaxing while seeing the city which currently was very illuminated now. Such experiences that only Peter could make it happen.

Peter normally crawled it for a few more couple of minutes, but he stopped after feeling dizzy for a short amount of time. He closed his eyes, trying regain the concentration but his vision started to fade out for a few seconds.

"Peter?" Gwen called, worried about his condition. "You okay?" She softly asked.

"Y-Yeah... it's...nothing" Peter opened his eyes and started to climb the column again. The dizziness now started to happen often.

"You sure?" Gwen tightened her grip.

"Yep...don't look down" He smiled,they were almost reaching the visiting support. The wind was even more cold up there.

"Oh my god..." She closed her eyes and leaned on his shoulder.

"Here we go." Peter climbed the protection bars and landed on the metallic floor. Gwen released her legs from his waist, also making contact with the ground, while breathing relieved. She thought that she was already used with such kind of traveling, but she wasn't.

"It's beautiful." Gwen leaned on the bar, watching the entire city with her green eyes.

Peter approached Gwen from behind, and wrapped an arm around her waist as she rested her head on his shoulder. "No more beautiful than you." He kissed Gwen's blonde hair and observed his wife's amused expression. Everything was silent, except for the sound of the wind brushing against their clothes.

"We could be here forever and I wouldn't get bored." Gwen looked up and kissed Peter's cheek, before holding his hand on her stomach. Even a promise or certain spandex suit couldn't take them away from each other, not anymore.

"I know." He leaned in and met her soft lips, kissing them passionately for what felt an eternity, their eternity.

"Um...how do we get back now...?" She asked, still fighting his lips.

Peter leaned backwards and grinned. "About that...you really don't want to know."

* * *

**Paris**

The goo that covered Peter's Spider-Man suit slowly slipped half of itself through the sides of the bag which was lying inside the half open wardrobe. It searched for it's host who apparently wasn't anywhere to be seen. Ren immediately descended the bed as he noticed the intruder and faced it before threatening it with his baby bark. The goo assumed an attack position by raising itself a few inches from the floor, trying to intimate Ren but the pug bravely stood against the threat.

A sound of door opening quickly made the goo retrieve itself to the bag and hiding himself within the suit again.

"Never...again..not that away." Gwen said aghast, closing the door with the keys while Peter placed the box containing the already prepared Fromage et vin which was an exquisite selection of cheeses and a bottle of red wine over the dinner table.

"Lady, you should know how things work around me by now." Peter teased as he removed his shoes with his feet before lazily hiding it from his wife by kicking them underneath the table.

"I know." Gwen walked behind him. "After all, you alter ego is always present." She pinched his ear from behind and went to the wardrobe to stash her jacket.

"True." Peter nodded to himself.

"Ren?" Gwen raised an eyebrow because Ren was facing their bags rather nervously. She kneeled to be on his level. "What's it?"

Ren barked, nodding to the closest bag.

Gwen reached for it and brought it closer doing the locker's combination so that she could see what's irritating the pug.

"Erm..why are you opening this one?" Peter approached her and started to rub the back of his neck. That one contained his suit which Gwen said to not brought with them to France, but he ignored it just in case if something that needed his intervention happened. Now he's the one in trouble.

"Why shouldn't I?" Gwen asked, while choosing the last number.

"Aren't we going to eat?" Peter came with an excuse. "I mean...it's warm and-" Gwen opened the bag as it made a 'click'. Ren immediately jumped inside, searching for the goo that now was merged with Peter's suit.

Gwen gently removed Ren from inside the bag by placing him besides her knsee and raised both eyebrows seeing what caught his attention.

"Peter Benjamin Parker." Gwen said aghast, grabbing the suit with both hands and raising from the floor. "What do you have to say about this?" She questioned in a way Peter found rather cute, despite his sorry situation.

"Oh yeah...that..I don't know how it got in there." He avoided her gaze, Gwen Stacy's wrath is a complicated one.

"Oh really?" Gwen furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought you weren't going to bring it."

"Honey-"

"Don't honey me." She replied snarky. "This is our honeymoon, Peter."

"Hon - I mean Gwen." Peter approached "It's just in case..we never know what could happen"

"I..I just want everything to be perfect...just us." Gwen confessed.

"And it will be that way." Peter gently retrieved the suit from her hands and placed it back to the bag, locking it with the correct combination. He turned to Gwen and placed a hand on her cheek. "Sorry"

"It's alright." she kissed it. "It's the dumb of me for not understanding it."

"You're not dumb." Peter wrapped Gwen on his arms and softly kissed her, assuring that everything would go like she had planned. Gwen fell for his loving way and returned the kiss.

"There's something I don't understand, though." She said as their parted lips to catch some fresh air. "Why Ren was nervously about it?"

"I don't know, it doesn't stinks." Peter joked, she fixed him a glare in return. "Right, no jokes."

She rolled her eyes. "You noticed that the suit changed, didn't you?"

"Yeah...a bit."

"You should check it when we get back, just to be safe." Gwen wasn't sold about the sudden change. "Okay?"

"I will." Peter gently grabbed her hand and led Gwen to the kitchen so that they finally could eat their French dinner. He sat on the chair and opened the boxes.

"What are you planning to do after this?" Gwen questioned, sitting besides him. "I'm not really tired."

"Sleep..." He teased.

"No way."

"With you?" Peter flirted.

"That's better." She winked before cutting a slice of cheese and gently placing on his mouth. "Cuddling sounds like a plan."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if this took so long. I've been reallyyy busy with school, physiotherapy and stuff. I finished the main writing a few days ago but the editing and pacing took me sometime. I will update weekly if not sooner.**

**About abandoning the story, I don't even have plans to finish it anytime soon. If after five months, people are still interested then I won't end it. I initially though about covering a large part of their life together, the wedding was one of them. Now what comes? Well... ;)**

**Hope everyone enjoyed.**

**09/06/15 : Fixed errors and grammars mistakes.**


	14. You Were My Friend

**May 27 - 2019**

"See you later?" Peter kissed Gwen's forehead in front of the Daily Bugle's main entrance which was currently under heavy traffic of people getting inside and outside at the same time.

Gwen nodded with a tiny yet lovely smile. "Very likely." She fixed Peter's coat collar while his arms were wrapped around her waist.

"I'm gonna miss you." He changed to a a more sadder facial expression. The couple had just returned from France, and they were now used to being around each other most of the entire day.

"Don't worry." Gwen leaned up and passionately kissed his lips, forgetting about their duties for a brief moment, just focusing her attention in the man in front of her. "You don't want to be late, right?" She teased with a playful smile.

"And you, Gwendy..." Peter brushed his lips against hers, before softly kissing it for one last time. "...don't get into any trouble."

"I won't." She hugged him very closely for a few seconds, before releasing her now husband and walking away from him, making her way towards Empire State University.

Peter observed Gwen distancing herself from him, before she finally dissapeared amidst the huge amount of people in the crowded street. He would always be looking for her, and his loved ones till the last moment possible or even after death. The person he chose to follow for the rest of his life.

Peter shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "Alright...let's meet our wonderful boss..." He finally headed inside the the building, not really enthusiastic about the idea. He pressed the elevator's button and patiently waited for it's arrival.

The doors finally opened with workers instantly stepping outside as he quickly walked away from their paths to not be crushed by them. Once empty, he entered the elevator and pressed the respective button of his office.

As the doors slowly closed, a close friend called urgently, "Hey, Peter!" Eddie hurried inside, wearing his professional suit while holding his suitcase.

"Brock." He turned to face him and smiled friendly.

"What's up?" Eddie asked as they complimented each other.

"I'm good, living." Peter replied calmly. "What about you?"

Eddie exhaled sharply. "Rather nervous, but excited." He affirmed. "Did you hear about the accident involving one of Oscorp's highest employes?"

"No, I didn't." Peter raised an eyebrow. "I arrived back to the city on Sunday, haven't got the time to catch up with the latest news. Who was it?"

"Alistair Smythe, his car wasn't really moving, and suddenly... it exploded with him inside, nasty stuff."

"Wow..." He widened his eyes, surprised by the uncommon event, wondering what could've caused that, and if that could've been avoided if he was present. "Ready to meet your illustrious new boss?" Peter asked incredulously.

Eddie chuckled lightly. "That bad?"

"Nah, he's very gentle, sweet, peaceful and calm..." Peter joked, watching the floor's count increasing. "Best boss that you will ever meet."

* * *

**Empire State University**

"So, this is your job...?" MJ sat on Gwen's desk chair, looking at the already opened files and trying to make some sense of them. Ren played with a little ball that his owners had bought for him so that he doesn't get bored while they're busy since Gwen now often brings him to her job while he's still small.

"Yep." Gwen drank some water from the bottle she was holding with her right hand. "What do you think?I decorated it myself." She smiled proudly, before leaning her butt against the desk's edge.

The room had a relaxing dark yellow painting theme with some brow lines in the middle of the walls. Her desk was close to the now opened window, with a laptop placed over it next to the picture tAunt May took of her and Peter during highschool's graduation, not far away, some organized folders, and finally, a stand with science books was against the wall.

"I would love to work on some place like this." She grabbed the picture and giggled lightly at the couple's joyfulness. "Highschool?"

Gwen eyed the photo. "Yes, graduation to be more precise."

MJ noticed Peter wasn't to fond in taking a picture at the moment. "Is he always like this?"

"Well.. it's just Peter being Peter." She replied friendly.

"Makes sense, I guess." MJ placed the picture back to it's original place in the desk and looked up to her friend. "How was things at France?"

Gwen, for a moment, glanced the open window and remembered the past days with a heartwarming smile. "It was great, like - you have no idea...it's so beautiful, cozy and welcoming..." She exhaled deeply and smiled happily. "Just fantastic."

"It really must be; I just traveled to England some years ago because of an acting class my agent subscribed me, I know how you feel." She chuckled lightly.

Gwen looked up to MJ, surprised. "Really?I was there too, studying at Oxford."

"You are genious, aren't you?" She teased with a playful grin.

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I really enjoy what I'm working on these days, need be dedicated." She explained and winked.

"I understand; it wasn't easy to dedicate my life towards acting since my family never supported me." MJ looked down to Ren who was trying to climb up into her lap. She leaned down and caressed his soft skin.

"Hey...you are one of the most finest actress on Broadway, you should be proud of yourself and accomplishments." Gwen said reassuringly.

"You are exaggerating." MJ blushed briefly.

"No, I'm not." Gwen cocked her head at him and continued seriously. "Don't let your past ruin your future."

MJ paused at her friend's kind words. "T-Thank you...I'm glad to have you here." She smiled, grateful for such words coming from her best friend.

"Me too." Gwen nodded.

MJ was the closest friend she ever had. Someone who's always willing to listen or lent a shoulder if needed, she wouldn't let that friendship ever end, not if she had a say on it.

Gwen finally broke the silence, "That's the part when we get married?" She joked.

"What-...oh..." MJ chuckled ."You're already married so that's not possible anymore." She played along.

"True." Gwen giggled. " C'mon...I'm going to show you the labs." She took MJ by the hand and led her towards the door

Ren instantly hurried towards Gwen, but she gently blocked the way to the door with her right foot. "Stay here Ren, watch it for me." She closed the door and left the small puppy searching the place for any possible threats.

* * *

**New York - D Station**

After checking up on Connor's son and selling some photos for the Bugle, Peter took a bus which stopped close to the old D Station zone where Richard's hidden lab is hidden since the time he used to work there, before Norman Osborn forced him to use his own work for means that wouldn't help the world like he had originally envisioned. It was about time to see what the suit he was wearing really was, and Gwen made some pressure to at least check it before something unexpected happened.

Peter arrived in the dark tunnel and crawled through ceiling towards the location where the train was hidden. He eventually landed in the train's tracks, and placed the special coin in the device as the tracks automatically raised from the ground and revealed the compartment that once belonged to his father while he was still alive.

The place still was pretty much the same thing since the last time Peter was present before going after Gwen, five years ago. A little more of dust over the equipments could be seen. He scanned the place with his eyes, searching for something that could help him to understand what was currently covering his oldie Spider-Man suit. Not that he minded it, since the suit helped him in many desperate situations so far, but Gwen has a point about the sudden changes, like if it was indeed alive.

"Alright, big boy, time to understand what you really are." Peter opened his backpack and retrieved the black spandex. He unzipped a single glove from the suit and placed it underneath the lense of a small, old, but still advanced microscope.

"That's...um...a little weird" Peter noticed some living black molecules through the small hole. They were stirring nervously. Gwen was right, it wasn't isn't any common material and he had no idea from where the substance could have come from. "Not totally weird, but..different." He said to himself.

Peter was wearing an alive material and he never had a clue about it. Why does it makes him stronger still is an unsolved mystery since he got it after Quentin poisoned him on the alley and messed with his mind. Why would he even want to make Spider-Man stronger?

"Connors should know something about this." He shut down the microscope. "But then again, what could go wrong?"

Peter stashed the glove back to the backpack and took one last glance at the place his father used to work on. Pictures of when he was a kid were in some computers and equipments, even there his father always thought about him. He wondered what he could be thinking about the whole Spider-Man thing since it's his own work that made it that happen.

"Goodbye, dad." Peter smiled weakly. "Take care of mom and say hi to Uncle Ben for me." He pressed a red button in the metallic wall, turning the lights off as he leaved the compartment.

**10 minutes later..**

Spider-Man calmly swung through the city of opportunity, doing the usual routine which was looking for any possible occurrence. He tightely hold himself onto the web as it eventually brought him close to the side of a huge building. He ran against the wall while still holding the web with his right hand, before jumping off and letting the gravity push him back to the ground as he fired another web-line in the last possible moment. May had called earlier and requested his presence for some reason she didn't revealed, and that got him curious.

A very strong and loud sound coming from the streets under Spider-Man started to get more intense as the seconds passed. He stopped his web-slinging and landed on some wall to observe the stir which was coming from his left side. Two fire trucks and four police cars quickly avoided the traffic to reach the accident's location.

"They don't need me." Peter said frustrated, remembering the day at Union's when the cops tried to arrest him.

He crawled the building upwards to reach it's highest point, but the siren's started to get even more intense on his head, like if it was a calling.

"Damn it!" He abruptly punched the concrete, leaving a small hole on it's place. He jumped backwards with his arms open, before firing a web-line as he started to follow the cars, fulfilling his duty.

* * *

**Oscorp**

"Why is this bastard eve here?!" Toomes furiously asked as he entered the room, seeing the whole group minus Harry sat on their respective seats. He stared Quentin with eyes full of rage.

Fiers calmly stood next to him, watching the situation's development.

"Woah, calm down..." Quentin raised from his chair at the sight. "What are _you_ doing here?" He inquired rather confused.

"I'm going to kill you!" Toomes took one step forward before being interrupted by Fiers who placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from going anymore further.

"You aren't going to do that." He now looked to Quentin with a serious expression. "You two better learn to move on or else that door will be always open."

Quentin insisted, "But-"

"I won't repeat it again." He stated, coldly. "You all are here because of one purpose and that purpose won't be put into hold because of personal grudges, period."

Toomes stared Quentin for one last time before walking to the only available chair while mumbling something to himself. Quentin tried to avoid any eye contact with him as he started to feel more and more uncomfortable with each second that went by. His ex partner obviously still blamed him for leaving him to be arrested at the bank's rooftop.

The tension was spread all around the air.

"Where's that Osborn guy?" Herman questioned, while cracking up his cold sofa. "Haven't seen him in a while."

"What Harry does is none of your concern." Fiers snapped, approaching the table.

"Ouch..." Aleksei chuckled cheekily.

"What are you laughing about?" Herman stared the once mob thug.

He shook his head with a grin. "Nothing."

"I swear one day I'll kick your sorry Russian ass..."

"I dare you-"

"Enough! Fiers exclaimed, before changing subjects calmly. "Max...I heard you killed one of Oscorp's highest employees." He said in a discontent tone.

"Yes...is there a problem?" Max deadpanned, staring Fiers with emotionless eyes.

"He was one of Oscorp's top researchers, don't do that again...it was a big loss." Fiers was now controlling the corporation indirectly from the shadows since everyone thought Harry was still locked.

"Hmm...We'll see." Max looked away.

"You all have bee gathered for a reason; I could have chosen any normal thug that Spider-Man locked behind bars...but I didn't, each of you have your own specific abilities and that's what makes you unique. So, go out there and bring me Spider-Man's bloody corpse." He ordered. "Give him hell, boys..."

Fiers turned on his back and walked out of the room, leaving the team staring at each other. The whole concept of working with such special people was new for them. And now there's something that Fiers will finish once and for all, Harry Osborn.

* * *

**Manhattan - In flames building**

"Hold on!" Spider-Man shouted, evading the falling pieces of debris while holding an injured woman on his arms. He hurried towards the only exit available which was a now shattered window.

The woman with her leg injured noticed his plan "Please..don't!" She hold Spider-Man even more tightly and released a yelp as he jumped towards it, breaking the window with his shoulder, before firing a web-line to slow the fall. They landed on the street which was currently crowed with people.

He quickly walked to the nearest ambulance, and gently laid the woman down into the medical stretcher. "You are gonna be okay." He said reassuringly.

"T-Thank you..." She replied, still recovering her long lost breath.

Spider-Man turned on his back and informed the paramedic team that recently arrived and were now standing behind him, "She was the last one."

"Thank you, Spider-Man." The leader nodded thankfully , for living such unique day of meeting New York's favorite hero. "We are glad for always being able to count with your help."

"Yeah..." Spider-Man rubbed the back of his neck. "Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood -"

"Hey!" A police officer accompanied by others, called from behind the medical team as they quickly hurried towards them. "You have to come with me, Spider-Man, now." He ordered as they slowly cornered the Web-Slinger.

He sighed heavily. "Couldn't you just let me finish...ugh, why...?"

"Orders, you are wanted for obstruction of justice." The officer explained.

"And you think you can simply arrest me, cop-boy?" Spider-Man challenged. "You think the Avengers are going to handle situations like these if I'm not present? You're a fool then."

"Don't make this go harder than it already is..."

He snarled, "You gotta be kidding me..."

"Unfortunately, no...I disagree with them, but orders are orders..." He retrieved a hand cuff from his pant's pocket and went to grab Spider-Man hands. "I'm sorry-"

"Hell no!" Spider-Man quickly webbed the incoming hand to the asphalt as the other cops around the hero tried to grab him but he quickly jumped over the stuck cop, making them crash against each other in the process as he started to swing towards the building where he left his backpack with all his stuff so that he could later catch the train to Queens.

_Idiots... I'm freaking Spider-Man, nothing stands on my way, period._

* * *

**Queens**

Peter unlocked the front door of Aunt May's cozy house with the keys she gave him, so many memories he formed in the space around him. He eventually stepped inside, before receiving a warm welcome from his family and friends.

"Happy Birthday!" May, Gwen, MJ and Flash cheered happily, all of them standing in the living room with a small coffe table which contained the cake at the very middle.

"Um..." Pete was lost on words. He had completely forgotten about his own birthday with everything that was recently going on. "T-Thanks." He placed his backpack down onto the couch and approached his Aunt who was the closest one and hugged her closely.

"Twentie five years old." May smiled proudly. "Still my little boy, though." She hugged back who she considered to be her only son.

"I know...thanks for existing on my life, I love you." Peter kissed her forehead.

"Me too." May briefly closed her eyes at the couch. "What happened to your cheek?" She now eyed the little bruise on the area.

"Oh, that...erm...Gwen wasn't paying much attention to me while cooking and when she turned around, she hit me with the pot." He quickly came with an excuse, noticing his wife's shocked expression at the couch.

"Really? You two must be careful." She said concerned.

"I know...I surprised her, it's my fault." Peter laughed rather awkwardly. "I really appreciate what you did."

Peter hugged his Aunt one more time before walking towards Flash who stood with a huge grin spread across his face. He hold a red box with box hands. Peter never thought that they would become such close friends over the years. He had changed the way how Flash used to see the world around him.

"Thanks for being here man." Peter friendly hugged Flash

"There's no Thompson without Parker." Flash grinned while he patted his friend's toned back. "Here's your gift." He handed him the box.

"Oh..." Peter gently opened it, revealing a white T-shirt with Spider-Man's mask printed at the center.

Flash crossed his arms and smiled happily. "And...?"

"Thanks buddy." He gave him a gently and playful slap on the cheek. "Means a lot." He wore the shirt which turned to be quite snug.

"Looking good." Flash whistled teasingly. "Perfect way to charm your wife tonight." He winked. Peter just grinned and shook his head as he turned to MJ who was right next Flash and hugged her, gratefully for having one more friend on his life that he could trust.

"I'm glad you came." Peter sad friendly.

"Always here." MJ kissed his cheek before handing him a little white box. "Gwen told me you like to hear music when working out so..." She observed Peter undoing the box's tie.

"Thank you so much." He smiled, seeing the white earphones inside the box that would probably come in handy while swinging throughout the city. He thankfully kissed her cheek again before walking towards his wife who was sat in the edge of the couch, just waiting for him.

"Hey Bugboy." Gwen raised from the comfortable spot while Peter wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly.

"Hey, love of my life." Peter leaned down and kissed Gwen softly on the lips, caressing her right hand and feeling the golden ring slipped over her finger. "I love you." He whispered, so that only the woman he embraced could hear.

"Happy Birthday." She broke the kiss and whispered back on his ear. She retrieved a little gray box from her snug jean's pocket and slowly placed it on his hand.

"What's it?" He smiled, delicately touching it.

"Open it, duh." Gwen giggled as he chuckled lightly at the banter.

Peter undid the tie and opened it, seeing a golden locket that when opened, revealed a small picture showing him hugging Gwen from behind. The photo Helen had taken of them during their wedding.

"I decide to give you something special instead of anything that costs more money than sentimental value." She explained, resting a hand on his waist.

"It's perfect." Peter gave her a tiny peck on the lips and carefully placed the locket back to the box.

"No problem, honey." Gwen snaked her arms around his neck and hugged him.

He kissed her arm and enjoyed the endless hug for a few more seconds. He caressed Gwen's back before gently releasing her and walking towards the table where the cake was over. He grabbed the knife and cut a slice, eventually placing over the plate.

"Who wants the first slice?"

* * *

**Harry's Apartment**

"We have everything that we need." Fiers approached the couch where Harry was currently sat on. He watched some movie on the large LED screen.

"That's...um, good." Harry replied, without paying that much of attention to Fiers, but just focusing on the TV.

"They wonder why you are not often appearing there." He walked towards the balcony's door, seeing New York's tallests and lluminated buildings on the horizon.

"I've been busy." Harry grabbed his beer that was over the coffe table and opened, drinking the cold liquid.

"So it seems." Fiers turned on his shoulder, seeing Harry not really caring at all. "Can I know why?"

Harry turned on his shoulder and raised an eyebrow by the unexpected question. "Personal stuff." He replied, before standing up and heading towards the kitchen. "Did you ever know my father?" He questioned as he opened the fridge, searching for something to eat that wasn't frozen food for a change.

"Why are you asking?" Fiers stepped inside again.

"Just a simple question." Harry sighed heavily and grabbed a frozen pizza of pepperoni and placed it inside the stove and regulated the recommended temperature.

"Sometime ago, yes." He nodded.

Harry could tell he was hiding something from him. "Do you know why Oscorp was spying on Peter?" He crossed arms and impatiently waited for the stove's timing to over.

"Probably because of his blood." Fiers replied calmly. "The answers died with your father, as you know."

"Yeah." Harry exhaled sharply, tired.

A silence that lasted minutes, filled the apartment as they looked at each other, finding something to say.

Fires eventually broke the uncomfortable silence, "I will be going now...just wanted to warn you." He walked towards the main door.

"Why couldn't you just call me?"

"Wanted to see you in person." Fiers opened the door and finally left the apartment without any more words.

"Um...right..."

Harry filled a new glass with whiskey as he waited the pizza to be ready. He knew Fiers was hiding something from him. He always seemed confident about everything and determined to fulfill his goals.

Meanwhile, Harry still thought about what to do with Peter, who he considered to be his brother. Tell him the truth and try to live a normal life, or follow Fiers' plans.

He brought the glass close to his mouth and drank the strong liquid which he was already getting used to it.

_What do I do?_

* * *

**Queens - May's House**

Peter and Flash were walking sat in the grass of May's garden which was located in the backside the house. They silently gazed the countless stars in the sky, sharing some refreshing soda during the moment. MJ, Gwen and May were inside the house, talking about stuff that only them could understand.

"It was great, we loved it." Peter took a sip of his drink.

Flash stretched his arms, and moaned lightly. "Any specific locations?"

"We went to Eiffel Tower." He smiled to himself. "It's a very beautiful city"

"It looks that way." Flash elbowed his ribcage gently. "I recently went to Australia for another military training."

"What can you tell me?"

"Dude..the women there are...like perfect." He revealed rather amused, before finishing with his own soda and continuing, "That accent..."

"That's Flash..." Peter chuckled. He changed subjects, "Did you hear about that the cops are again after Spider-Man? "

"These guys are idiots...they owe him a lot." Flash stated firmly. "Everything good that happened in this city is mostly due to his efforts, he's always present, always helping."

Peter smiled by Flash's loyalty towards Spider-Man. "Yeah...it's unfair if you ask me."

"Agreed." Flash accurately threw his empty drank at the nearest trash can next to the back door. He once again stared the beautiful and clear sky above them. "It's crazy, eh? Years ago we're in highschool, I treated you harshly for awhile, and now we're here..."

Peter nodded in agreement. "Everything happens for a reason...that was then, here's to now." He offered his right hand to his friend.

Flash took it with his as they friendly shook hands. "Thank you bud." He later sighed heavily, aware it was time to go. "I'll be going now, or my sergeant will go nuts."

"Right," Peter patted him on the shoulder. "I'm going to check on the ladies, thanks for coming."

* * *

It was already late and Peter was feeling somehow exhausted as he entered the peaceful living room, seeing Gwen curled on the couch, sleeping calmly while resting her head over ome pillow, a blue sheet covered her slim and delicate frame.

The fireplace just made the sofa even more inviting. He could just snug with her and completely forget about the world's problems for a certain amount of time, and send some time with his beautiful lover.

He sat besides her and kissed her pink cheek. He ran his right hand on the delicate skin of her back, caressing the area of her perfect body.

"Careful to not wake up your wife." Aunt May said gently, approaching the couple. "MJ just left." She sat on the opposite chair, facing them.

"Don't worry." Peter gently moved a lock of his wife's blonde hair behind her ear. "I didn't want to wake her up so can we stay here tonight?"

"Of course." May replied, happily. "You two can sleep in your old room." She paused. "Actually, if you two want to live here, I won't mind it." May chuckled lightly. She would be more than fine if they indeed did that.

"We like to have our own place." Peter smiled, thankfully. "But thank you."

"I understand." She nodded. "Oh, before I forget..there was this young man looking for you, some days ago."

"Really? How did he look like?" He inquired.

May frowned. "The boy was using dark glasses so I couldn't see that much, he had his hair combed to the left, almost your height, and green scars on his neck." She tried to describe from what was possible.

_Green marks...H-Harry? No...he's definitely locked._

Peter cleared his throat. "Wow...that's..unexpected."

She continued, "I think I know him from somewhere, though."

"Me too..." Peter looked down to the carpet, thinking about the unexpected visitor.

If such person was really Harry then that meant he's out of RavenCroft and that his family is now in danger again. Connors was right after all, for some unknown reason, people were after him.

"I'm going to sleep now." May raised from the chair and approached Peter, before kissing his forehead. She placed something cold and metallic on his free hand, Ben's old pulse watch. "Happy Birthday." She headed upstairs.

Peter glanced the silver watch which his Uncle used to use before his unfortunate death. He placed it around his pulse and smiled to himself by the sight of such meaningful object. He carefully raised from the couch to not wake his now fastly asleep wife and observed her for some seconds. She was his main source of happiness in such huge planet and he would do his best to protect her, no matter what it takes.

"Okay, honey." He gently slipped his arms underneath Gwen, and brought her closer to his chest. She mumbled something before leaning her face close to his neckline as he felt her warm breath on his neck. She wasn't heavy by any means. "Let's go catch some sleep." He softly kissed the top of her head.

Peter carried Gwen upstairs and towards his bedroom that after all these years still was pretty much the same thing. Just a little more organized than he used to remember. His old bed was already prepared with pillows and covers, probably when May leaved him down there. It was small but the couple could fit on it by snuggling closely. They had already slept on his bed together, in highschool times.

Peter gently laid Gwen down into his old bed. He slowly started to remove her jeans and later unbuttoned her blouse so that she could sleep more comfortably. He took off his own jeans and shirt and placed over the computer's chair before lying next to her in the bed, adjusting his body with hers in the small available space. She instinctively placed a hand on Peter's chest and rested her head close to his cheek. It was something natural for them after all these years of sleeping together.

"Goodnight." Peter leaned down and kissed her tiny nose. "Thanks for the little locket, loved it."

* * *

**Fiers' Apartment**

"He's abandoning the project? " The dark figure coming from the holo screen at Fier's office asked, without a hint of emotions at all.

"Looks that way, Harry is spending more time digging Oscorp's old files instead of planning the first phase." Fiers explained.

"Hm..." He stroked his chin, thinking. "Well, no turning back now...you know what to do." He paused. "I'm getting out of the shadows soon, everything must be ready when the time comes."

Fiers raised an eyebrow, surprised. "You really want to do that with Harry?"

"If he's turning back now...yes." The man suddenly coughed heavily, before inhaling large amounts of air. "That's the price, and everything...comes with a price."

"Well...that's what will happen then."

He mumbled something in contentment. "How's Peter Parker going?"

"The symbiote is apparently working like we planned, so when the time arrives, I'm pretty sure it will fill it's main porpuse." Fiers replied reassuringly.

"Good...keep me updated." The holo image disappeared, leaving Fiers alone at the dark apartment. He opened a surveillance camera which showed the chamber containing the now finished power armor and glider.

_And then it finally starts...the end, for everyone's sake._

**The next morning...**

Gwen lazily stirred under the sheets and opened her eyes, hearing the sound of the bird's calmly rhythm during the sunny morning. She felt pressed against something in the little space available. She looked up, seeing the most important man on her life fastly asleep while holding her with his strong arms in what she recognized as his old bedroom.

Gwen leaned closer and slowly kissed his lips, before escaping from his grip and sitting over the small bed. Peter surprisingly managed to remove her clothes without waking her. She noticed their clothes were spread over the chair.

"You are learning." She said to herself, proud of his organization.

Gwen raised from the bed, careful to not wake up her husband. She walked towards the bathroom, before opening the circular mirror and picking her old brushteeth she had left there during highschool years. After brushing her teeths, Gwen combed her golden hair and adjusted a ponytail around it.

She closed the mirror, seeing her own reflection in the glass. The reflection made her think about what happened on her life over the years, dating a cute and handsome guy that wore spandex and protected the city, losing her father who helped her - in the time - boyfriend to save the whole city from Connor's madness, breaking up with Peter more than once, almost dying because of Harry's seek for revenge, moving to England and finally marrying Peter.

So little time lived, but so many things had already happened with her. She thought.

After splashing some cold water over her face and cleaning it with the towel, she stepped outside the bathroom and wore her clothes. She kissed Peter's forehead before walking downstairs to have some breakfast since she was absolutely hungry.

Aunt May was already on the kitchen, preparing the table for the morning meal.

"Good morning." Gwen smiled, standing besides the wall as she took in the scent of the coffee being prepared.

"Good morning, my dear." May placed the homemade bread over the table and looked up to her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yep." Gwen approached May and helped her by doing the table. "Sorry for passing the night here without any kind of warning."

"You don't need to apologize." She replied gently. "The door is always for you two, you're family."

"Thank you." Gwen always thought that Peter's Aunt was one of the nicest persons she ever met. She could see why their connection was so strong and unbeatable.

May turned to the stove. "Want some coffee?" She filled the cups.

"Oh, yes, please." Gwen nodded contently.

"How's your work going?" She handed the warm cup to Gwen who gratefully smiled.

"It's great, I really couldn't wish for better job." She replied, enthusiastic. "It's a welcoming, professional and comfortable area - sure, the pressure is always up there, but the rest makes up for it."

"I'm glad you think that way, we really need to like what we do for living."

"Agreed." Gwen took a sip. "And Peter is always helping me with some work stuff so it's even better."

May smiled, imagining the brilliant couple discussing stuff about Gwen's job. That would be something to see. She opened the counter's drawer and retrieved the box full off eggs which Peter always had trouble to buy it when she asked for them.

"He's still sleeping?"

"Like always." Gwen giggled accompanied by May. "Was his father like him too?"

"You've no idea, Ben slept like a rock too." She chuckled lightly. "Peter had the habit of waking very late, does that still exists?"

Gwen cut a slice of bread and replied, "Yes, but he does wake me sometimes-"

"What are you two ladies talking about?" Peter appeared behind Gwen's chair, wearing a short and long sleeved shirt. He leaned down and kissed her neck. "Good morning."

"Good morning." She looked up and quickly kissed his lips since they weren't alone. "Girl tal." She winked teasingly. May smiled by such affection between the married couple.

"Hungry, Peter?" Aunt May asked, finishing his infamous eggs.

"My stomach is calling so badly..." He sat on the chair besides Gwen. "I wouldn't mind the house's special."

May laughed briefly. "Of course, special..."

"Sleep well?" Gwen asked, concerned about his latest nightmares."

"Yes, mom." Peter used the short knife to cut a slice of bread and placed over the table while the eggs aren't ready. He turned to Gwen and smiled.

"Good to know." She intertwined her fingers with his, underneath the table.

May approached them with the frying oan containing the eggs and put them over the already cut slices of bread, before sitting on an a chair in the opposite side.

"Well...enjoy the breakfast, kids."

* * *

_Standing over the glider, Harry slowly approached the now locked ballistic gate wich was made of glass, seeing everyone running away from the building in the other side, scared by what they just had lived. The SWAT team was completely obliterated after Harry flew out of the elevator coming from the Special Projects section. He violently stabbed with his knife, one officer after the another, just leaving Menken alive with his leg injured. He was leaning against the wall not far way, watching the ex CEO's descent._

_Felicia stopped to run towards the main entrance after seeing Harry using the power armor and glider approaching the gate with so many bodies laying in the ground under him while the glider's green smoke filled the room. She got shocked from the terrible sight, her ex boss was completely lost of control and desperate for revenge._

_Felicia carefully walked to his direction, before trying to reassure with him, "Harry?"_

_Harry, who was lost on his mind, got brought back to reality and instantly looked up to the calling as he saw his own terrifying reflection of what he just had become with scared and angry eyes, realizing the monster he was, what he feared the most. His body screamed in pain. It was too late._

_"Get out..." Harry ordered, containing himself, but Felicia didn't move at first. "Get out..!' He shouted on his last act of mercy before completely embracing his other persona._

_Felicia took one last glance over the person who always treated her well, like nobody ever did aside from her father, before urgently walking away from him._

_After seeing that Felicia wasn't anywhere to been seen, he slowly approached Menken who was leaning against the wall, avoiding the glider's blades that were getting closer to his neck. He looked up terrified, seeing the old Oscorp CEO with a huge grin spread on his face. _

_Harry grabbed Menken by the collar and quickly flew toward the highest position inside the building, before threatening to let him fall._

_Menken begged, "Please...!"_

_"You were right!" Harry aggressively placed a hand on Menke's chin and hold him tightly. "The fall is fast and steep..." He said sarcastically, before releasing Menken off his grip, letting him fall down into the first floor. He laughed manically as the once enemy plummeted to his death._

_"Now - now. where's my Spider-Man?" Harry grinned. He flew away, laughing manically._

* * *

**Harry's Apartment**

Harry abruptly slipped off the couch and fell into the cold floor after living such terrible moment again. He looked up, searching for something out of place around him, later being assured that everything was alright. He lay on his back and glanced the detailed and fancy ceiling.

The balcony's door was open and the wind entered the room while Harry struggled to decide what path he wants to trace on his life, if it's worth causing chaos for something he helped to create which was destroying the friendship with a long time friend or try to redeem himself and restart again.

Peter didn't know what that the symbiote is and it's slowly killing him, and later he's going to fight the most dangerous fight of his entire life, his family is even in more danger because of the project.

Harry raised from the floor and grabbed his phone that was lying on the TV stand, and scrolled down the list of contacts using his fingers, stopping when Peter's number appeared on the screen, He hold the phone tightly, struggling on his self consciousness. Harry glanced the balcony, seeing the light of the sun reflecting on the front glassed building close to his own building, and finally made his choice.

* * *

**Building's Gargoyle**

"I was thinking." Gwen said sofly, observing the city as they were sat on the gargoyle, with her back leaned agains't Peter's chest as he hugged her from behind.

"About what?" Peter leaned on Gwen's shoulder and met her deep green eyes.

"It's crazy how much we've been through, after what? Seven years..?" She replied, receiving a kiss from her husband on her left cheek.

"Yeah...we had a good ride." He smiled and slipped a hand underneath her blouse, caressing her bare belly.

"Still having." Gwen leaned her head against his shoulders. " I don't regret anything." She turned her head around to see him and slowly moved her lips against his and started a kiss full of passion and desire, before partying to recover her breath and asking, "Do you wonder how things are going to be in the early future?"

"Well...we are going to be at our house, cuddling on the couch, happily married like nowadays, and probably with one kid...or two, or three...?"

"Three, oh my god...are you already planning that far ahead?" Gwen giggled, the sound that Peter could hear the entire day and never got bored.

"C'mon..." Peter gently bit her left ear.

"I'm not confirming nor denying anything, right now." She affirmed.

"Liar." Peter teased. "There's something I regret, though." She fixed him a cold glare. "What? You don't even know" He smiled.

"Fine...what is it?"

"I regret landing on your fire escape." He grinned playfully. "You would discover who I was because of that, even if you wasn't caught on my web."

"What?" Gwen shook her head indignantly. "You webbed my waist! It's your fault!" She tried to remain seriously, but she couldn't hold, and giggled shortly.

"Yeah...I couldn't ignore Gwen Stacy hitting on me, could I?" Peter buried his face on Gwen's neck and kissed the soft skin. "The kiss..."

"That kiss got you married with Gwen Stacy so don't complain." Gwen teased. "And don't tell me that you didn't like it because you reciprocated it very aggressively." She moved a hand on his hair and caressed it.

"You have a point Mrs Parker." He pressed his wife even more closer to his body, like if they were missing pieces of each other's puzzles. "I need to pass on the Bugle, so I presume you want to stay at home?"

"What are you going to do there?" She asked rather curiously.

"Give Jameson some couple of photos and finish the website's new design." He explained. "I could it tomorrow, but if I did now, I would get extra free time...that I could spend with you."

"Okay." She nodded. "By the way, how's college?"

"I'm doing well, sometimes I have to come up with some good excuses to explain why I get late, though." Being Spider-Man while having duties at the Daily Bugle was a challenge, but nothing that Peter couldn't handle.

"You were getting on track back at England." Gwen smiled.

"Yeah...but you know me." Peter chuckled." Should we get going then?"

"Fin." They stood up as she handed him the suit's mask. "Did you check what is it?"

"It's some kinda of symbiote, a living organism, I think." Peter replied before wearing the mask made of spandex and placing an arm around Gwen's waist to prevent her to not fall if she lost her balance.

"Symbiote? Peter.. that doesn't really sound good." She stated worried about his health. "Who knows what it's doing to your body?"

"I feel good, more than good." He assured. "Connors should know something about it, don't worry."

"J-Just..stay alert for anything, okay?"

"I will." Peter fired a webline to the opposite building and brought Gwen close to his chest as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Ready?"

She exhaled deeply. "Just hold me tightly because-"

* * *

After arriving back at home following to webslinging moment, Gwen stepped outside the bathroom with a bathrobe wrapped around her body and her hair still locked in a ponytail. She eventually got used to enjoy the feeling of the wind brushing against their clothes and the enormous distance from the ground, but it wasn't easy at first. How her husband managed to be okay with that she would never understand.

She wore her usual set of clothes and headed towards the living room, spotting Peter standing upside down in the ceiling, with arms crossed while his feet holding him back, and he was still wearing the suit. "What are you doing...?"

Peter opened his eyes and turned on his shoulder and without landing on the floor, like if it was the most normal thing in the world. "Oh, relaxing myself."

"Are you doing Yoga during break time?" Gwen joked in disbelief, receiving a tiny grin from him. "And why don't you take the suit off? And by the the sight is kinda creepy."

"I gotta be ready for anything." He replied, before landing back into the ground and stretching his shoulders.

Gwen cocked her head at him. "You don't need to swing towards the Bugle, you know? Seriously, Peter, just...take it off for awhile."

Peter sighed in discontentment. Suddenly, his phone which was on his suit's hidden pocket fired and interrupted the exchange. He shrugged his shoulders at her and retrived the devic. "Private call...?" He raised an eyebrow once he read the caller's name in the screen.

"Don't ask me." Gwen crossed her arms.

He brought the phone close to his ear and observed Gwen who was waiting to know who possibly could be. "Yes?"

_"Peter?"_ The very familiar voice called rather weakly as he realized who it was. The person who attempted to kill his wife years ago, almost ruining the present he was living right now.

"Harry...?" Peter asked confused. Gwen widened her eyes, hearing the name that once gave her so many nightmares.

_"I...I don't want to cause any fear..."_

"How did you get out of RavenCroft?" Peter turned to a more deadly expression." What do you want?!" He turned to gaze the open balcony.

"Peter?" Gwen tried to calm him by placing a hand on his shoulder.

_"I know that you hate me, but I need to talk to you...just...please."_

Peter walked away from his wife. "Just like that?" He closed his hand roughly. " Where are you?"

Harry passed the adress to Peter , already expecting the worse involving both of them._ "I don't to cause any harm to you or Gwen or even your Aunt, this is urgent."_

_**He's lying...**_

"I don't believe you." Peter ended the call and walked towards the balcony's direction while Gwen followed him closely.

"It's really him?" She asked concerned.

"Yes." He nodded, emotionless.

"What does he want?"

"I don't know, vut you aren't coming with me." Peter snapped.

"Peter..Peter...stop!" She placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him around. "It's probably a trap!"

"I have to go there!" He stated determined. "I'm going to finish this once and for all and you're just going to stay here." He resumed his walking while slipping his mask down his entire head.

"So you are going to simply kill him?" She questioned aghast.

Peter hurried, gaining momentum as he jumped off the balcony, completely ignoring Gwen. She leaned down, seeing the last glances of him swinging before he dissapeared from her sight.

"What's happening with you...?"

* * *

Harry nervously waited on his couch for Peter's arrival that could happen at any second. He wanted to fix things between them, maybe one day be friends again, even if that's almost impossible with the current circumstances. He need to warn the - if not - the only person on his entire life that ever cared about him even if that meant refusing to give the key which had the cure for his genetic disease because of the inevitable risks.

After days, Harry finally made his mind about all the things that were currently happening. He didn't want to live a murderer or wanted life if that was still possible.

"Harry..." Spider-Man appeared in the balcony, fully wearing his black Spider-Man suit which Harry already recognized it as the weapon that's supposed to kill him from inside.

"Peter..." Harry slowly rose from the couch, careful to not make any sudden moves. "I know what you are thinking, but I don't want to hurt you or anyone from your family, if there's anything I regret - is that night." He said. "I'd do anything to fix that...you're my little brother, were...and there's nothing... I wouldn't do for you."

_**He lies...**_

"You are lying." Peter stated firmly. "We stopped being that the moment you tried to kill Gwen."

Harry breathed sharply by his words. "I...I need to tell you something... I'm tired of this life."

_**He wants to kill Gwen...**_

"No, not now." Peter closed his fist and slowly walked towards him.

"Look..this suit you are wearing it's not what it looks like." Harry stood still.

_**He wants us away from each other...**_

"No!" Peter quicly fired a webline to Harry's chest and violently pushed him close to his position before raising his fist in the right moment, and punching with all his available force, Harry's face as he flew to the left side and before landing with his back over the small coffee table.

_I knew this woud be hard_... Harry cleaned the trace of blood coming from his mouth, noticing Peter's improved strength.

Peter jumped over the table but Harry quickly rolled to the side and raised from the floor before assuming a defensive position. The serum that was now combined with his DNA, made him more stronger and such punch in some way wasn't as painful as it would be for a normal person.

"Look...Peter listen to me..."

"You tried to kill Gwen!" Peter grabbed a shattered plank from the floor and threw at Harry as he protected himself with his hands from the incoming object. The plank shattered in half when it hit Harry who looked up, seeing Peter already running towards him with his fist now inches from his cheek. The punch made his head violently bounce to the right side, ripping a small part of his cheek's skin open.

Harry recovered himself, evading Peter's kick coming on his left ear's side but missing the punch that buried itself on his stomach. Peter used the advantage and grabbed his enemy by the shirt's collar and violently pinned Harry against the wall, hearing the concrete behind him being smashed during the process. Harry immediately fell to the floor as Peter accidentally missed him and punched the wall instead. He quickly stood on his knee and rolled away on the floor, stopping behind Peter.

Harry immediately grabbed his free arm that wasn't stuck on the wall and pressed it against his once friend's back, ready to break it if needed

"I'm sorry! Okay?! I'm sorry for everything!" He shouted close to his ear.

_**He's isn't!**_

"Not enough!" Peter violently leaned his head backwards, hitting Harry close to his eye as he moved backwards feeling the pain.

Peter finally got his stuck hand out from the wall, bringing some destroyed concrete and dust along and jumped over Harry. He landed right behind him, and before Harry could react, Peter quickly snaked one arm across his neck and another close to his forehead ready for the insta - kill.

_**Kill him!**_

Peter tightened the grip and started the broken neck movement, forgetting the consequences of what he was just about to do, but only caring to finally end the madness.

"No..!" He suddenly released Harry and immediately jumped to the ceiling, controlling the adrenaline. He brought his hands close to the lenses and later punched the ceiling heavily, trying to regain back the control. He breathed heavily, while calming himself.

Harry looked up, cleaning his face's wounds with the shirt he was using and realized what the symbiote had been doing to Peter's physical and mental state.

"Everything you know is about to change, Fiers and a whole team isn't gonna stop until they see your dead body lying on the floor; Gwen and your Aunt are in more danger than you ever imagined." Harry said urgently.

"What are you talking about?!" He demanded impatiently.

"My father had you, your Aunt and Uncle under surveillance for years,they planned this since we're kids; Fiers is going to kill you, and the suit you are using, it's made to weak you so that when the time comes..." He gulped. "If that isn't another lie by Fiers"

"You are lying!"

"I'm not lying... I know it's hard but- argh!" Harry felt a dislocated rib that just now started to cause pain. "Y-You have to believe me...it's the truth, I wouldn't lie to you now..."

Peter buried his face on his hands which were covered in spandex, trying to process all of what Harry had revealed to him. The headache started to flow on his head.

"Why...?" He asked, calmer.

"At first, was my blind search for revenge but I don't want that...Fiers has his own hidden agenda...Oscorp always had an eye on your parents, but I really don't know why...all answers are dead with my father, and the project wasn't started by me...Fiers was already planning the whole thing. I just know it.."

Peter paused briefly."Why tell me this?"

"I-I..just...fix things."

"There isn't anything fixable, Harry." Peter said coldly.

Harry felt guilty and weak by the last sentence. "Yeah...I know."

They stood in silence for a few couple of minutes, just glancing each other and realizing the point their relationship had come to, once best friends who just made each other bleed.

"Where do I find them?" Peter broke the silence.

"Oscorp... but you aren't going to easily enter there, it's five against one."

"I don't plan that,they are the ones coming after me." Peter crawled his way towards the balcony and dissapeared from sight as he swung away, leaving his once friend literally alone again.

"I'm sorry, Peter." Harry whispered, _"For everything..."_

* * *

Gwen was curled on the bed with the sheets over her body. She rested her head on Peter's pillow, feeling his natural scent. She was waiting for him arrive home and hopefully, free of any kind of injuries or bruises that could have happened during the tense meeting. He wasn't himself after Harry called, he had completely changed and that deeply worried Gwen because if it's really trap, and Peter is badly injured, she couldn't do anything, her heart was almost exploding of concern.

_Please be alright..._ Gwen hold the pillow even more closer to her chest.

A sound of a window being open in the room made Gwen slowly sat on the bed. She turned on the bed stand's lamp as Peter appeared in the window's edge, without wearing his mask, looking down to the lifeless floor, a very tiny cut could be seen on his right cheek.

"Peter?" Gwen waited for any reply, but he simply stared the ground, completely lost. "Hey..."

She got off the bed and approached her now confused husband. She gently pressed his head closer to her chest, trying to bring him back to reality. He closed his eyes as they made contact and fell to her embrace, hugging her back, and shocked by everything he had heard from Harry. The woman right in front of him was even in more danger then before and he almost killed someone minutes ago. Just the thought of doing that cursed him.

"I'm so sorry." Peter apologized." Please forgive me."

Gwen placed her thumb on his chin and made him look up, meeting his brown green eyes.

"Don't apologize." She said softly.

"I-I..almost killed him."

"We can talk about it tomorrow." Gwen whispered. He wasn't in condition to say anything right now, but whatever it was, she could see how it affected him. "It's okay." She kissed the top of his head." She continued to calm his now confused mind with the relaxing embrace that Peter gave himself to it.

After Peter took a long cold shower, he retired to their bed and instantly fell asleep, holding Gwen closely to his the body, being assured that she would be alright. Gwen caressed his hair while he rested his head on her shoulder and had an arm wrapped around her waist. Something was happening and she realized that the suit was affecting him and Peter needed to take it off, for better or for worse.

* * *

**A/N: While the Harry/Peter friendship wasn't that really explored properly in the movies, I really enjoyed it most of it, and I'll get deeper on that, because I see two kids who shares the same life story, it's much more complicated than what the movie tried to tell. I see the pair as brothers, and family doesn't end with blood. Harry can be such a deep character, and not really a baddie. That's the route I'm going for.**


	15. Inner Demons

**A/N: The last scene may be too sensitive for some people since it contain a rather violent transformation. It will be marked with the icon *. Proceed with caution.**

* * *

**May 29th - 2019**

Peter sat down into chair next to the dinner table taking a sip of his coffee which was concentrated in the small white cup. Gwen could be found sitting besides him, still wondering what happened during the past night with the whole thing involving Harry.

It heavily affected Peter's emotional side.

Ren was not far way from his owners, sleeping in couch fast and snoring lightly.

Her husband had barely said any words since they got up from bed besides quickly explaining what Harry had revealed about the whole plan to kill him and the suit's purpose which he wasn't fully believing it at all.

Gwen placed her hand over his and intertwined fingers. She asked softly, "You want to talk about it...?"

Peter was avoiding the subject about the man who was once his friend - he turned his head to Gwen's direction, glancing at the table without looking onto her hypnotic eyes.

"I-I...don't know what to say…"

Gwen, trying to ease things, raised from her chair and sat on Peter's lap and snaked both arms around his neck while bringing him closer to her neckline. "Take your time."

He did the same movement by wrapping his arms around Gwen's slim frame while burying his head against her neck. She could feel his warm breath reaching her delicate skin.

"It was so quick...for a moment I felt the urge of snapping his neck and end this once and for all." Peter felt ashamed for confessing such desire which he didn't felt since his Uncle got killed.

"You didn't kill him, and that's the important thing." Gwen caressed his now messy hair, trailing circles with her fingers.

"But is it wrong if - for a moment I wanted to end a life, because hate? Or even kicks...?" He paused briefly. "Maybe I'm not what this damn city deserves after all." He stated angrily, while felling guilty at the same time.

"Look at me." Gwen gently lift his chin with the her thumb and gazed his deep brown eyes. "Even with all your powers you still are a human, we make mistakes and we learn from them, don't blame yourself for experiencing such emotions, it's natural, and they don't make you any less of a great man I know you are." She moved a hand to his cheek and squeezed him reassuringly.

"I-I...I suppose you're right." Peter kissed her pulse.

"What about Harry? Is he alright?"

Gwen smiled gently at the act of love. He replied,"I think so...he wanted to fix things between us."

"Did you accept it?"

Peter shook his head. "Of course not." He said, conviced at his words. "Not after what he did to you, you know that."

"Peter...I know that deep here.." Gwen pressed the palm of her hand against his heart. "You want to forgive him, it wasn't him; after everything you told me about his life...he had every reason to have a breakdown, sure, some actions are unjustifiable, but I believe he can be forgiven."

"I...I can't Gwen." He insisted confused. "What if he's lying and later tries to hurt you again? I won't allow that."

"He wouldn't reveal those plans just to betray you later...it isn't healthy to live with a grudge against someone, he seems to be aware of that." Gwen softly kissed his forehead. "I...I'm willing to forgive him, your once best and only friend, who you told me it was your brother...maybe he still is."

He hesitated, not moving his eyes away from hers. "Maybe...I'll talk to him."

Gwen smiled kindly. "It's for the best, honey."

"Thank you for being on my life." Peter said gratefully. "I couldn't do this without you."

"Of course you could..not as stylish, though." Gwen kissed fixed his hair bangs on his forehead, raising them so that his usual style could be present. She spoke relunctly, "About the suit..."

Peter moved a hand to her thigh. "What about?"

"You heard what Harry said, it isn't helping you with anything."

"He wasn't sure and it supposedly porpuse isn't working at all, I can feel how much good it's doing to me and my body...trust me." Peter affirmed, trusting his instincts which weren't really reliable at the moment.

"You sure? It's better to not risk your health." Gwen placed the tip of her finger to his lower lip. He briefly closed his eyes at the touch.

"Gwen..." He mumbled.

"Okay, but at least don't be reckless with it, but if you feel anything different...anything, warn me." She demanded.

Peter nodded. "I will."

"Thank you." Gwen gave him a tiny peck on the lips, before raising from his lap and walking towards their bedroom. "I'm going to take a shower" She stated seductively while standing next to the door.

"Alright." Peter nodded on his seat.

"Alright...?" She raised an eyebrow, confused by his uninterested reply. "Not joining me...?"

"Sorry." Peter rose from the chair and grabbed the dirty plates. "I'm going to clean the dishes." He walked towards the kitchen's sink.

"Oh, you're really declining s-...okay, nevermind." Gwen took one last glance on Peter before heading inside their bathroom totally confused by the unexpected refusal.

_Cleaning dishes? I can't believe it...he better be sick._

Peter cleaned the plates with the yellow sponge while reflecting over the talk they just had. Gwen was right when saying that holding a grudge against someone would just bring more painfulness to their life, and he didn't want to give such life to the woman he cared most.

Meanwhile, Gwen faced herself in the bathroom's mirror, wearing her lacy underwear while placing a ponytail around her hair so that it doesn't get too wet by the water since she cleaned it recently.

The shower was already at full mode in hot temperature, making the small room feel more warm and cozy in the last days of spring before the summer finally arrives. She knew that wasn't being easy to Peter to handle all the stuff which was going on, people going after Spider-Man to kill him was never a surprise but this time Gwen noticed that it's something more personal than ever, yet, she knew he is going to stop them like he always do.

Gwen walked towards the opaque shower's door and slid it open, revealing the rather large area. She moved her hands into her back to undo her bra but Peter, only on his boxers, snaked his strong muscular arms snaked around her waist as she felt soft kisses coming from the back of her neck, while they eventually and slowly got close to her cheek, releasing waves of pleasure down her spine. She closed her eyes, enjoying Peter's lovely treatment while caressing his perfect hair.

_What have I done to deserve you? _She wondered.

Gwen turned on his grip, wrapping her arms around Peter's neck and leaned forward, meeting his lips and kissing them passionately, before it turned to a lingering kiss as the couple lost their way with the passion that emerged from the exchange of intimacy.

Peter slowly and softly moved his hand upwards over the pale skin of her back, reaching her bra as he delicately removed it, making them feel each together. They pressed their bodies together before taking off what they still had of clothing left, walking inside the shower while gently assaulting each other's lips just with the sound of the hot water falling over their warm bodies.

* * *

**Quentin Back's Warehouse - New York Docks**

After the bank robbery where Quentin and his crew surprisingly succeed even with Spider-Man's intervention, there wasn't that much to do besides finishing the last details of their equipment and wait for Harry Osborn's signal, and that was already taking too long to happen.

Quentin was on his personal office and sat in a chair with his legs lying over the table. He opened a folder that contained photos of when he worked at the old Illusionism House. He handled all of the special effects for the shows, but after accidentally failing a very important part, later getting beat up and fired by the owner, getting his entire reputation ruined because of the old man's madness, he decided to get revenge and use his talent to make some easy and good cash.

Before the whole project idea, a mercenary's life was what sustained Quentin and his crew, but Fiers proposed such offer that was impossible to refuse, and finishing Spider-Man was a good idea. He wondered where he would end up if things ever turned out in a different way.

_Isn't life a mystery?_

* * *

**Harry's Apartment**

Peter knocked the door of Harry's apartmen. He wore his usual and simple clothes when he wasn't using a certain spandex. He was rather anxious about how Harry would react after last night exchanges.

Gwen taken Ren to have some walking at Central Park with Mary Jane, but they would later re-encounter again in the Daily Bugle.

The door finally opened, revealing Harry with a surprised expression. He had a bandage carefully placed on his left cheek.

"Hi, Harry." Peter greeted with a shy smile.

"Um...w-what do you need?" Harry nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "Just came here to talk...if you want to.'

"Oh..of course. " Harry completely opened the door, allowing Peter passage as he stepped inside the apartment, seeing that the destruction from last night was still there.

Peter analyzed the huge apartment since he didn't paid that much of attention to the place when he and Harry fought. The place was pretty much very organized and he wasn't seeing any bottles of alcohol - unlike the last time he had been here to talk with Harry about his uncommon yet special blood.

_Maybe he changed after all..._

"I wanted to apologize for last night." Peter turned on his back, seeing Harry leaning against the wall and later crossing his arms

"You don't need to apologize... I understand."

Peter nodded. "Things got pretty tense and l let the emotions take control over my feelings and actions."

"I get it." Harry left the wall and walked to the kitchen, before grabbing a bottle of water. "Want something?" He asked.

"I'm cool.' Peter replied, sitting in the intact couch. "It was you at my Aunt's house, wasn't?"

"Yeah, your Aunt said that you were busy with your honeymoon...congratulations." Harry sat on the other side of the couch. "And I'm really sorry putting Gwen on danger years ago, that person wasn't me...I'm still finding myself."

Peter said calmly, "Gwen forgives you for that."

Harry widened his eyes, not believing Peter's words "For real...?"

"Yeah, and I do forgive you too." Peter continued gently, he wasn't searching for the old friendship, but just to remove apparently one more enemy on his agitated life. That's what he thought at least. "Honestly...? You...you are family, Harry."

"I...don't know if things can eve be like they were, no matter how much I want." Harry affirmed, faithless.

Peter nodded. "I should have gave you my blood when you asked, things would've probably been different, we wouldn't try to kill each other, and you wouldn't need to hide here." He confessed.

"You was concerned about my condition and I was selfish for not seeing that...I appreciate it." Harry said reassuringly.

"Yeah..." A pregnant silent emerged for a few seconds before Peter finally broke it. "Listen...what you said last night, was it true?"

"Of course, I discovered it when I finally read every content from the cube that my father gave me, but I have no idea why he had you under surveillance for so many years."

"Probably because I'm the key for my father's work and it seems he knew about that." Peter speculated, all the missing pieces were not getting together.

"It seems that way." Harry agreed. "How does it feel being able to do everything you can?"

"When swinging I free myself of the gravity that holds me onto the ground, it's somehow satisfying and liberating." Peter explained.

"Sounds like fun." Harry smiled and looked up to his open windows. The curtains were being impulsed inside because of the strong spring's wind.

"You could say that..." Peter smiled along, something he never thought that it would happen again if Harry was involved. "Are you cured from that disease?" He noticed the scar on Harry's neck.

"I don't think so...the serum just worsened my disease but the armor healed the effects from the venom." Harry explained. "Whatever the suit injected it's preventing me from transforming often, basically.'

"Anything that I can do to help?" Peter kindly asked.

"Nothing, but don't worry, it comes and goes." Harry replied, smiling weakly. "About the whole project...It includes six people counting with me, and Max Dillan is there as well.' He revealed.

"Max?" Peter couldn't believe the revelation. "I thought he was gone after the power plant encounter."

"And he was, but he slowly recovered himself trough the months...Max killed Smithe recently."

"Oh boy..." He buried his face on his hands and breathed heavily, frustrated for having such powerful and dangerous enemy back to action.

Max was one if not the most threatening enemy he had ever encountered, aside from Kraven during the second breakup with Gwen, that was deadliest and things escalated quickly. "I have to stop them...such strong group can't walk freely."

"Aleksei, Quentin, Herman and Toomes are the other ones. You already know them."

"I knew Quentin was involved but the rest? Not at all." Peter glanced the watch on his hand which belonged to his uncle. He checked what time was. "I should be going now...there's this thing I have to do at the Bugle." He stood up, accompanied by Harry.

"Again... I'm really sorry for the things I caused." He unlocked the door and opened it as Peter passed besides him. "My best wishes for you and Gwen"

"Thanks." Peter tried to hide an incoming smile. He was about to walk away, but decided to say one last thing, "I see light at the end of this tunnel, and I'm sorry for everything - I really am, I believe in you, Harry, so please... believe in yourself...and in me too." He stated soflty. Harry looked at him with understanding eyes. "Take care, brother..." Peter turned on his back and walked away.

"You too..." Harry said truthfully. He slowly closed the door and leaned his back against it.

He felt at ease for achieving the forgiveness of his once best friend and the woman so important to him who he almost got killed years ago, his biggest mistake. Harry wished he could move to Italy, dissapearing from the radar while restarting the life that he always wanted again without any silly selfish plans towards anyone, but Peter's words, the didn't meant an escape, but redemption and faith.

A sudden beep coming from the kitchen's counter interrupted his deep thoughts as he headed towards it. He grabbed the smartphone and unlocked the screen, seeing a message notification.

_**I'm returning to the city and when it's possible, meet me at Special Projects.**_

_**\- Fiers**_

Harry was going to come clean with Fiers as soon he arrives from whatever the place he came fron. That wasn't the life he's looking for...not anymore.

* * *

**Oscorp - Special Projects Section**

Toomes finally opened the chamber designated for his own use, seeing the green armor which had two large wings in each side, along with a helmet and it's opaque visor created to exactly fit his head.

He stepped inside the chamber and activated the 'free shackles' option in the small screen in the wall. The locks from the armor were released as the chest area opened, giving him room to settle himself inside the armor.

Most of the time, his life was always about jumping, running, gunfire and whatever else that comes with it. He was raised in the streets and stood there since times he couldn't even remember,joining gangs, committing crimes was pretty much everything that happened with him, before joining a more professional line of work with Quentin at his side, and lastly being betrayed by the same man just to later work with him again.

The armor adjusted itself over Toomes' rather small body as the helmet parts came from the back of the armor and finally covered his head. It was time to meet the good old webhead with the help of some special friends.

* * *

**New York - Daily Bugle**

"Did you talk with him?" Gwen asked. She was sat on Peter's lap, observing him working in the laptop while eating a small apple which she hold with her right hand while the other was snaked around her handsome husband's neck. There wasn't that much of people in the large place save for Peter and some of his co-workers who apparently decided to work some extra time like him.

"I did and I think that he indeed changed." He replied, typing and focused in the screen right in front of him. "Harry got very surprised when I said that you forgave him."

Gwen moved the apple close to Peter's lips as he took a bite. "You trust him?" She caressed his cheek with her free hand.

Peter stopped his activities for a moment and struggled to find the answer that could match what he was feeling after finally talking to his old friend. "I don't really think we are going to talk again like old times, he's not my focus...you are." He kissed her neckline, before focusing to finish the Daily new design once again.

Gwen smiled by his last sentence. "I'm supporting you with whatever you choose."' She moved her hand away from his cheek and rested on his thigh, squeezing it amorously.

"I know." Peter moved his left hand away from the keyboard and intertwined fingers with her, feeling the golden ring that cemented their love over each other on her finger.

Eddie approached Peter's desk where the couple was currently sat next to it. "Hey, guys."

"What's up?" Peter looked away from the screen and gazed his friend who carried a folder under his arm.

"I'm good." Eddie nodded with a grin. "What are you two still doing here?"

Peter rubbed the back of his neck and yawned, exhausted. "You know, some extra penny's are always welcome." He said friendly. "What can I help you with?'

"I need some of those photos of the bank robbery you took days ago, Jameson wants me to write an article about it." Eddie replied, well aware that his friend has a very solid and good opinion about the hero, and because of that he could be not really comfortable with the idea, but it was his job hanging in the line.

"No problem, I will send them you to your email, but what's the article about?" Peter inquired, interested.

_"Is Spider-Man responsible for the successful robbery?"_ Eddie quoted the title.

"What?!" Peter almost jumped out of the chair if it wasn't for his wife's weight remembering him she was present. "Is this a joke, right?"

Gwen felt his muscles getting tense due to the future negative article that Eddie is going to write, and since his indignation towards the police increased over the past werks, he wouldn't take this new in a good way.

"Just doing what Jameson wants, you know I have to." He stated calmly but noticing his friend irritation.

"Even if that means being unfair with the guy that saved everyone's lives more than once?!" Peter stated, annoyed, feeling his veins pump with anger.

"Peter..." Gwen whispered, trying to calm him.

"I'm sorry if that bothers you, I feel you, but it's what I'm being paid for." Eddie said reassuringly. "I can't jeopardize my job."

A cold silence lasted for some seconds as the present tension between them started to dissapear.

"Okay, Eddie." Peter pressed a button on the keyboard and opened his gallery that contained a huge amount of Spider-Man pictures. "I'm sending them to your email."

Eddie nodded thankfully. "I appreciate it." He smiled briefly, and walked away.

Even not liking what Eddie was about to do, Peter knew that a friendship shouldn't be wasted because of work problems, even more when his friend is doing what their boss told them to do.

"You did the right thing." Gwen rested head against Peter's neck while he wrapped his arms around her waist, taking in her scent. She was the only one who could disarm him, and he wondered what would become of him if they never had the opportunity to talk.

"No matter what I do for this city, people always want to put me down." He said, frustrated. "Maybe it's better if I just hang the suit, for good, then they'll see who needs who."

"That's not true." Gwen stated softly. "We need you." She kissed his cheek.

"Yeah...you're probably right..." Peter glanced the watch on his pulse and abruptly changed subjects. "Do you want to have some dinner?" He turned the screen off and looked up to the gorgeous green eyes of the Stacy sat on his lap."

Gwen teased, "With my bugboy?"

Peter nodded and grinned. "With the one."

"Then let's go." Gwen grabbed his hand, before raising from the chair and walking towards the elevator, lightly swaying her hips to her husband who she brought along.

**One hour later...**

Peter and Gwen were now sat close to one another in the circular table which had a large plate covered with a fresh pizza made of pepperoni right in the center, enjoying the time together they rarely had these days. Gwen herself didn't used to eat a lot, so they always asked for the biggest option mostly to satiate her husband's infinite hunger.

Peter himself wished everyday could be like the current one, just the two of them together, without the need to worry about something or any death - situations. Their life was a different one, but they complete each other in ways no one would ever thought. He needed her.

"Hmm..this is really good!" Peter mumbled while eating a slice of pepperoni.

Gwen widened her eyes, feeling rather ashamed. "Peter! Don't talk while eating!" She ordered in way he thought it was incredibly cute instead of mandatory as usual.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly.

Gwen exhaled quickly. "I don't know why I'm still sticking up with you."

Peter smirked. He teased, "Because I'm handsome, athletic, romantic and I always can make you-"

"Okay! I get it!" Gwen blushed. She wasn't really comfortable with the idea of talking about a potential intimate all in the sudden, aside from the moments when they're really alone.

Peter caught her blushing and leaned closer, kissing her now redder cheek. "Are you blushing?"

"No, I'm not." Gwen brought the glass that contained some wine close to her lips, taking a sip while Peter kissed her neck in a teasing way. "We aren't at home Peter...",

"Fine." He recomposed himself. "But I wasn't expecting, after all those years, this blush."

"We are having dinner and you start to talk about...about...you know what." Gwen turned to look at him, giving him a serious stare.

"What's the problem? We are married!" He grinned.

"I know! But currently we aren't at home so stop with those teases!"

"Oh, gosh..." Peter replied as if he was being chastised by his Aunt.

"Poor you, really, I'm almost crying here." Gwen joked. Peter just ignored. She said lovingly, "I like days like this, when it's just us."

"I know, babe." He leaned to kiss her, but Gwen slowly leaned her head backwards instead, avoiding his lips.

"Babe?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"Um...?" Peter smiled rather awkwardly. "I said-"

A vibration coming from Peter's pockets interrupted the incoming excuse, somewhat saving him from any retaliation from his wife. He retrieved his phone and unlocked the screen, checking what the notification was about.

_**Parker! There's some stir happening close to Times Square and apparently some flying guy is there! Go get me pictures NOW! ASAP**_

_**\- The 'Jameson' Devil**_

Gwen asked concerned, "Everything okay?"

Peter turned to meet her. "Y-Yeah...someone is causing a stir at Times Square and Jameson wants me to cover it."

"There's isn't someone else that can do that?"

"If Jameson wants me...then I suppose not." He sighed.

Gwen was disappointed, not because of Peter, but of their now interrupted dinner. She was very well aware he was definitely needed.

"Okay..." Gwen shrugged and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Be careful, and don't take too long."

"I won't." Peter kissed her lips one last time. "Let me pay this one." He opened his wallet where the locket Gwen had given him could be seeb and placed his credit card over the table.

Gwen wasn't going to use it. She found the idea of him paying all their dinners silly even if he insisted, so she would pay the latest one by her own. She said softly, "Get back alive."

"Don't worry." An understatement. He kissed her forehead, before raising from the chair and quickly heading outside.

Peter entered the closest alley and ran against the wall, reaching a rooftop where his backpack was webbed against the floor so that nobody besides him could grab it. He opened the bag and retrieved the mysterious suit, but as he touched it, the suit instantly slipped itself through his finger and hand, covering Peter's body entirely in matter of seconds.

_Wow! That's new!_

Spider-Man ran towards the edge and jumped off as he fired the now black webline, and proceeded to swing towards the location where some mess that required his intervention was going on.

_**This better be damn important**_

* * *

**Oscorp - Special Projects**

Harry stepped out of the elevator that just arrived at the Special Projects section and noticed how much silent and dark the place was. He gazed all the seven chambers which apparently his own father had created them when alive, for some reason no one knew.

Harry noticed the wings and Aleksei's armor for weren't there anymore, just the his glider and power armor, and the tentacles nobody ever touched it, even the opaque one which originally had some small blue compartment during the first time he got there with Menken was empty.

_It started? Now...?_

"Harry." Fiers emerged from the dark corner behind Harry.

"What the f-..." Harry quickly turned on his back. He exhaled deeply, "Argh...you wanted to see me?"

"I did." Fiers started to walk around Harry with his hands behind his back as usual. "Do you know the reason why these chambers were created?"

"Enlighten me." He raised an eyebrow by the sudden and weird question.

"They were never meant to the porpuse of killing Spider-Man nor Peter Parker...they are actually mine."

"What..this is my father's work...some of them were for the military, I saw the files." Harry affirmed. "Is this another one of your lies?"

"So naive..." Fiers grinned. "Oscorp was created with the only porpuse of curing Norman Osborn and it wasn't this billionaire company everyone knows since day one."

"You are making no sense." Harry cleared his throat. "Father found Oscorp with the objective of helping people."

Fiers chuckled lightly. "Right..." He paused. "After years of unsuccessful attempts, Richard Parker finally joined Oscorp, accompanied by Curt Connors and together they came up with one of the most ambitious researches that humanity ever aimed, but in this case, they finally succeeded."

"Cross Species."

"Precisely." Fiers nodded. He walked around Harry. "Oscorp eventually was broken after so many years of failures, and they needed money to support the new research that Norman bet his own life on it."

A holo image similar to the one Gwen showed to the internships years ago suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, displaying footage of Norman meeting Fiers on his office.

Harry widened his eyes at the date marked in left bottom part of the video. "This is twenty one years ago..."

"I offered an investor help with the only condition that every single successful subject should had been turned into biological weapons and given to me, Norman, desperate as he was, accepted without a heartbeat." He revealed. "Of course, I always had my own very goals that are beyond your capacity of understanding."

"You want Peter." The realization immediately came on Harry's mind.

"It's too late for that..." Fiers sighed. "Richard discovered those plans and destroyed the most of it, leaving Norman to die and his only son in this company's eyes until he finally grew up and become who he is now, a guardian of the needed... I admire that."

"I-I...my father was that ruthless? He ordered Richard's death?"

"Not for his death, but only to bring him back to Oscorp since his DNA is the key to all of this, literally."

Harry asked incredulously, "So everything was about Peter's DNA? Just for biological weapons? Why?"

"It isn't just that...before the spiders, Richard worked on the Symbionte project and the consequences of that are now in Peter's hands, it was the perfect cure for everything, and even the most powerful biological weapon off all time, but when the suspicious, emerged Richard destroyed what he could." Fiers explained, remembering the year, one full of frustrations.

Harry placed his hands behind his neck, trying to process all the words Fiers had said, everything just turned again to be lies, but in this case, they were much deeper than ever.

"My best friend's parents were killed because of your crazy stupid plans?!" He shouted angrily as the green marks started to appear on his neck more widely, getting close to his cheek. "Why keep brining misery to his life?"

"You don't know what's at stake...you was always meant to complete your father's work once and for all and that ultimately involves killing Peter Parker and retrieving the essential component, it's for the greater good, believe me." Fiers pressed a button in the green vial he was hiding from Harry on his back. "That's your path, it always was."

* * *

**New York**

"Come on guys! Can't we be best friends?" Spider-Man evaded the incoming sismic blast from Herman by jumping off the police car and swinging to the opposite building in the street as the car exploded and was consumed by the flames.

"Shut up, Webhead!" Herman shouted, standing on front of the bank truck that he ambushed alongside Toomes help who now flew over them just waiting for the appropriate open.

"I know that you are here to kill me while making some money and blah-blah...but we should hangout more often." He landed on the asphalt, once again evading again a new blast.

Spider-Man's special sense triggered, warning the hero that Toomes was flying towards him from behind at high speed, and with the knifes coming from his armor's wrist aimed to Spider-Man's throat.

"Die you bastard!" Toomes tried to stab his enemy, but his reflexes were faster and made Spider-Man calmly turn to the side letting Toomes pass besides him, before grabbing him by the leg to catch a ride. "Now you're getting on my nerves!" He stated, looking back and seeing the webhead holding him by the leg.

"I know you love it, honey-argh!" Spider-Man gasped in pain as Toomes dragged him against the building's windows that were now being shattered by his body, leaving a straight line instead, but Peter didn't let go of Toomes' leg.

Herman, observing the fight happening next close the buildings, later proceeded to grab what was left of the money that was intact and throw the bags inside to the sewers and down the manhole as the last wave of cops were agonizing in the ground.

Spider-Man growled, "Argh! Ouch! It hurts!" After some minutes of being pressed against the window, he released Toomes and landed on the closest wall just to instantly fire two weblines at both wings, before pushing Toomes back to his direction.

"Damn you! Toomes cursed as Spider-Man didn't let him go.

Spider-Man released himself from the wall and got impulsed towards Toomes. He raised both foots towards him and hit the helmet, cracking half of it's front glass visor. Peter passed besides his enemy on mid air, but he quickly fired a web at the armor's back so that he could later sit on it.

"And now the bird shall land, the God called Spider-Man demanded. " He punched the armor's back, destroying some of it's inside components, putting the wings to no use. "Nice flying with ya, cosplay Iron Man." He jumped away, before landing on a pole as Toomes violently stopped on the ground and close to Herman.

"Damn...now I have to carry your sorry ass." Herman raised his hands and fired a seismic blast at Spider-Man's direction and without any surprise, he just dodgde it. "Let's go!" Herman shouted, before opening the entrance to the sewers and throwing the rest of the bags down the hole.

Toomes slowly regained his consciousness, noticing Spider-Man meters above from the ground and swinging towards them just as a electric bolt coming from his right side hit the hero, making him fly inside of some commom apartment.

"C-Cavalry arrived." Toomes gasped.

"Yeah, it's Max." Herman looked up to the sky, seeing Max materializing himself in the thin air. " He will handle him for us." Herman descended the stairs, later accompanied by the injured partner in crime who automatically retracted the wings to avoid getting stuck.

Spider-Man slowly raised from the floor which was now full of destroyed concrete because of the impact. He stretched his shoulders and jumped close to the hole in the wall where he previously came from.

"I knew you'd get serious after stopping cracking those stupid jokes." Max's strong and cold voice echoed on the street.

Police cars appeared in each entrance of the large avenue and surrounded the long time opponents while a helicopter with it's spotlight stood over them.

"We shall meet again." Max said with his emotionless voice, before firing another bolt towards the helicopter's propelles, making it uncontrollably spin in the air as he disappearead again.

Spider-Man instantly fired a huge amount of weblines at the helicopter that was about to crash in the street with the risk of smashing people and getting the pilots killed. He hold the huge piece of metal with all his extra strength, trying to slow the fall. It crashed against the building's wall and stood still.

After making sure the webbing was strong enough, Spider-Man retrieved the pilots from the helicopter and lowered them on the ground with his webs. He analyzed the location one last time, checking if they were really gone since the cops would probably try to arrest him if he tried to enter the sewers.

_**Damnit!**_

* * *

"Yeah I saw that on the TV." Gwen paced on the living room, wearing a blue nightshirt while talking with her mother who was deeply worried about her husband.

_"Isn't Peter there?"_ Helen asked concerned.

"I think so, he's probably taking some photos for the Bugle, but he's always luckily enough to don't get caught on the crossfire...don't worry about it.

_"Alright, honey..sleep well."_

"You too, mom." Gwen turned the call down. She placed her phone back on the couch and looked to the now muted TV, seeing some footage from Times Square. It was slowly getting back to order, the cops were getting inside the sewers to search for the criminals.

Since there wasn't that much to do, Gwen turned the television off and decided to wait for Peter on their bed. Ren was already sleeping on his little basket with some old sheets which his owners didn't use anymore.

Gwen stepped inside the bedroom and turned the lights on, getting surprised after seeing Peter lazily lying on his back on their bed and fastly asleep. He wore just his red pair of boxers, no injuries could be see. The backpack which he always carried and suit were spread across the floor.

"Peter?" Gwen walked to his side of the bed, grabbing the backpack and suit, before placing them inside of his own part of the wardrobe. "Hey..." She sat besides Peter in the bed and moved a hand to his cheek, stroking it gently.

"Gwendy...I'm Spider-Man." Peter finally replied with closed eyes, probably dreaming. "No, not my pie."

Realizing he wouldn't wake up for hours even if a truck passed over him, Gwen kissed his forehead and brought the sheets up, covering his bare chest. That was a whole new situation that Gwen had just seen since they started living together back at England.

Whatever that happened with Peter during the confrontation, Gwen would ask him tomorrow and for now, she would just focus in getting under the sheets while snuggling with her unique and dorky husband.

* * *

***Special Projects**

"It's time." Fiers slowly walked towards Harry as the Goblin chamber's door opened and distracted him, leaving his back fully exposed to Fiers. "Bring the key that will make the world a better place."

"I...won't hurt Peter...not again." Harry stated, closing his fists while staring the armor. "That's my choice, I'm getting out of here and then start again."

Fires sighed. "So be it." He used the opportunity to stab the vial from behind on Harry's neck and pressed the button to release the liquid into his body as Fiers walked backwards and away from his reach.

"What did you do?!" Harry violentaly took of the vial out of his skin, bringing some blood along with it, and immediately fell on his knees, feeling his muscles being torn from inside.

_You are not going to bury me too..._

Harry's skin started to get more rigid with greenish marks spreading all over him, now feeling his ribs cutting his flesh as the transformation happened again. He screamed in agony and pain.

_You were my friend and you betrayed me!_

"I'm freeing you with the serum you wanted...you are the sixth member that will lead the others...this is your destiny."

Harry transformation continued with his shoulder blades adjusting itself as if they wanted to get off his body, joining each other just separate again, strengthening his resistance and backbones, making him scream violently. He kneeled on the floor and used his hands to support him.

_Harry's dead!_

"No...!" Harry took off his shirt that was already ripped apart because of the abrupt changes and threw it away as the fingernails started to grow. His skin opened on certain areas, especially on his chest.

"Don't resist child." Fiers watched the agonizing transformation that this time was much more aggressive.

"Why...!?" He shouted, supporting himself with his right arms, not feeling his legs anymore. His hair was already stirred backwards and spiked.

"If you don't use the armor you are going to die." Fiers stated, standing besides the glider chamber while facing the elevator and Harry who was crawling towards him.

"I'm going to kill you...!" Harry looked up to Fiers with his deadly and agonizing eyes.

"Harry..." A very familiar voice coming from the elevator behind Harry called.

"Who...?!" He replied angrily, before looking back and not believing who had just called him. "Dad...?"

Norman Osborn was sat on his wheelchair, but this time with a much better condition and appearance since the last time they saw each other.

"Son...look at you." Fiers walked behind the wheelchair and brought Norman close to Harry who achieved to stand on his knee again, while dealing with the infernal pain. "Why do you resist to become what you _really_ are...?" He asked gently.

"You died...I saw you die..."

"I did but only to come back again, death isn't the end." Norman placed both hands on his son's cheek as they touched foreheads. "You are the one that this world needs...not Spider-Man nor Peter Parker...you are the key for a better place to live." He caressed Harry's rigid skin.

"You are not my father..." Harry refused to believe his eyes.

"Son...it's me, it was the only way that I could survive the bond that slowly destroy us until we're finally dead."

"Why you had to hide?!"

"I was dead for a long time, but Fiers brought me almost two years ago using the Spider Venom in a controlled dose that started healing my body along with the side effects that were controlled to some extent since I was most of the time in coma." Norman explained without revealing everything on his mind. "I'm not perfect though...we share the same effects, son, this is bigger than you and me."

"I don't understand!" Harry growled.

"Everything that I did was for you...you are going to win this madness, our curse, placed by those who couldn't let us do what's best for everyone."

"I-I just want to be Harry Osborn and nothing else!" Harry stated.

Norman briefly closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. "You are not Harry Osborn..."

"W-Who am I then?!" He gasped.

Norman looked away from his son's blue eyes and pointed his head to the Seventh chamber which contained the glider. "What you really are is right behind you, a goblin."

"Peter-"

"Nobody ever cared for you but just me...I prepared this for such long a time because I wouldn't live forever, the cube containing my work led you to this, you can continue changing the world like I did by making it a better place for everyone...like you always wanted, but who you thought that was your friend, Peter, didn't allowed such marvelous thing to happen."

Harry remembered the day where Peter had refused to give his blood and save his life, which could later be used to benefit the world by curing diseases that so far were incurable.

"Bring Peter Parker to his limit with this group and after that you can finish what you didn't at the Clocktower...alright, my son?"

The new and demoniac version of Harry looked up to his father. "H-Harry...Harry isn't here anymore." He replied to Norman with an expression full of agony and rage, while receiving a proud smile back from his father.

* * *

**A/N: Again sorry for the delay! The reasons to why it's such a long time it's that I was already writing this chapter while deciding what's going to happen after the S6 and Osborn's arc ends along with the transformation scene, I apologize if it was too violent, but it was something I though that would make it more "special" while understanding what's going on the character mind and body.**

**I also focused a little more on the villains, adding the ddepth I thought it was needed, but for now on, everything regarding the members are done, going to focus even more on the three main characters.**

**Symbiote and Sinister Six are probably reaching it's climax in one or two chapters, so that more peaceful chapters can be written, almost every single plot point was explained, but not everything so don't worry about potentially missed explanations.**

**Thanks for reading and for the reviews! You all are my inspiration!**

**09/28/15 : Dialogue and descriptions were improved, mistakes were fixed and some scenes were extended, Harry and Peter's dialogue being the most noticeable one.**


	16. Love And Other Acts Of Courage

**May 30th - 2019**

Gwen Stacy Parker was already fully awake on Peter's strong arms. She now waited for her personal superhero to finally wake from his own sleep which - without her interference, he could sleep almost for an entire day.

His previous night was intense and tiresome since he tried to stop some new marginals who - apparently, can't give him a nice break. She wondered where people could find such powerful weaponry to throw hell over New York and later have Spider-Man around stop them every single time since the cops most of the time couldn't handle that amount of fire power.

Gwen turned her head to her side of the bed, glancing the alarm clock in the stand next to their bed and checked what time was.

_**09:32 AM**_

_Time to wake this sleepy head_. She thought, before returning to her previous position besides him. She placed an arm around Peter's bare chest, under the covers, and kissed his warm cheek which rarely managed to not get bruised after wearing a certain spandex.

"Hey handsome." Gwen said amorously, gently placing one single finger on his lips. "Had enough of sleep already." She buried her face on his neck and brushed her nose against his skin, trying resist the temptation of just getting back to sleep with him for the rest of the morning.

"Hmm..." Peter mumbled, still somewhat asleep.

"Yeah, bugboy." She continued, softly. Waking Peter up was for Gwen, a hard thing to do yet so loving at the same time. She wished every morning could somehow be always like that. "You have to do your final test today, hurry up." She leaned closer to her's husband face, giving him a Eskimo kiss before finally kissing his lips as he slowly reciprocated, clearly enjoying the waking up call.

Peter grunted lightly and eventually opened his eyes, seeing the woman whi stole his heart right besides him on his pillow, before also getting confused at the same time.

"G-Gwe...?" He gently placed a hand on her back, checking if she was real.

"It's me," Gwen replied, not understanding where his surprise was coming from. "Is everything okay?"

He quickly checked his surroundings. "Y-Yeah, but...how did I get here?"

"What do you mean?" She raised an eyebrow at the sudden question. "You arrived at home after fighting those guys from the past night."

"Really?" He was shocked. "I don't remember anything after landing against a wall-" He suddenly stopped talking after feeling some headache inside his head. He brought the hand that was caressing Gwen's back to the side of his head and then closed his eyes as he dealt with the intense ache.

Gwen placed a hand against his forehead and asked, "What's happening?"

"Just...feeling like if a bus passed over me." He explained, opening his eyes once again. "It's nothing." He moved the palm of his right hand to Gwen's cheek, before gently moving a lock of her golden hair behind her ear, receiving a genuinely smile from the such important woman as the ache cooled down.

"What do you have in mind?" Gwen smirked.

"Just thinking how much lucky I am to have you, here, with me." Peter placed his left free arm on her waist and brought his wife closer, staying inches from her lips.

"I do love you too." Gwen replied softly and wrapped both arms around his neck.

"I wish I could have all the time on the world, just be with you." His hand slowly traveled down her perfect body, stopping close to her waistline, teasing to adventure even more lower.

Gwen smiled in contentment for having such caring man that would do everything to make her happy and at the same time, saying the kindest words that only reinforces what he feels towards her. Though, some sadness came in her mind after understanding that they weren't immortals and there's a point, we're everything ends. Still, that time was far, far away, and they would make the most of their time together.

"We have to enjoy the most of it." She kissed his lips, battling his wet tongue.

After some good lovely seconds, he broke the kiss and continued saying what he was currently feeling "Honestly, you being here...means the _world_ for me."

"Aww..what's with you on this morning?" Gwen leaned inches and kissed his lips passionately,smelling his comfortable natural scent, before teasing, "I'm feeling like rewarding you for those words."

"I don't know...honestly? Something is bugging me...something bad." Peter confessed, gazing their open window. "But I _wouldn_'t mind a reward." He turned to Gwen's side, gently pressing his weight over her chest and gaining a giggle from her during the intimate process.

"I see someone is on the mood." Gwen snaked her arms around him, using a single finger to play with the hair in the back of his neck.

Peter smiled and leaned down, brushing his lips against her cheek. "Only with this sexy and beautiful woman.." He whispered close to her ear, making Gwen's spine shiver by the passionate moment that he was giving her.

"Dork." Gwen closed her eyes when his lips were inches from hers, and slowly kissed him once again, while being careful to not deepen the situation.

Peter hold her lower lip, before slowly and sensually releasing it. "I know you love it." He teased. "I also know your weak spot...one of them." He smiled playfully, before raising part of Gwen's nightshirt and revealing the pale skin of her stomach and waist.

Gwen noticed where he was heading for. "No, no...don't do it..." She pleaded, knowing what he was about to do with her.

Peter pressed both hands against her's so that she couldn't escape as he lowered himself down into her stomach, slowly trailing soft kisses against the skin, just stopping when he finally reached her belly.

"Please don't!" Gwen started to giggle as Peter slowly kept kissing her belly, tingling it and causing her to burst in countless fits of giggles. "P-Peter!" She tried to free herself from his grasp, but her husband was much more stronger than her.

Doing as she desired, Peter stopped to tingle her belly and moved himself back and close to her face again while she calmed herself. "See?" He kissed her lips softly as it later turned into a lingering kiss that could make them both lose their ways for the rest of the morning.

Feeling the situation was heated and that if they really went forward, Peter would probably miss his final exam at his College, she decided to break the kiss, recovering her long lost breath to Peter's passion.

She teased. "Geez...you are aggressive, aren't you?"

"What can I say? I'm Spider-Man." Peter leaned down to resume their lovemaking but Gwen gently pressed the tip of her finger on his lower lip, stopping him from coming any closer.

"I'm getting worried about you, Peter." Gwen turned to a more serious expression. "I'm your wife, I know you very well."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"You suddenly change sometimes, like - it's someone else, and that never happened before you...before you got that suit."

Peter sighed heavily. She couldn't ever drop the subject no matter how many times he tried to reassure with her. He bit his lip. "Honey...I told you this already, I'm fine, I'm still myself, and there's nothing going on with me due to the suit."

"That's getting hard to believe when you arrive at home, sleep without a single simple warning and then later you don't even remember what happened or how did you get here." She explained. "Did you ever stop to wonder that maybe that thing is affecting your judgement? That has a name, symbiosis."

Peter placed a hand on her cheek and gently drew circles with his finger. "Look.. Just trust-"

Gwen nodded. "I trust you with my life, but I don't trust your judgment regarding that thing which this guy called Fiers apparently created to kill you."

"It's helping me." He said bitter.

"How come? You snapped at Eddie , and I do understand your reasons but you know that not everyone likes Spider-Man as they should, you even ignored everything I had to say when Harry called you for the first time, you simply jumped out of our balcony without any warning, when have you ever done that?" Gwen stated calmly.

"It's not like that I just...I-I need to go." Peter released her and slid of the bed. He reaches his part of the wardrobe, totally confused about everything she had said about that him.

Gwen sat on the bed and observed Peter changing to his normal clothes with his back facing her. "I'm just concerned...because I love you, and I'm your wife, you're my responsibility."

Peter closed his eyes for a brief moment."I appreciate that but I can take care of myself, quit worrying about me, you're not my mom!" He replied with words that certainly hurt Gwen. He wore his blue jeans and stopped for a moment, choosing the shirt that pleaded him most.

Gwen stood up. "That suit is poison, Peter, look at what it's doing to you!"

He turned on his shoulder, giving her a not very friendly stare. She didn't moved back and remained still with arms crossed under her breasts.

"I didn't ask for your opinion; what do you know about wearing any kind of suit, uh?" He challenged. "Yeah, that's right; you don't, because you're not what I am, and you don't know what I know, so I'm damn sure I know what's better to me." He resumed his previous position, letting Gwen face his back.

Gwen opened her mouth to protest, but she thought better of herself. "Okay Peter...have a good exam." She kissed his shoulder from behind and hugged him, before grabbing a towel inside the wardrobe and heading towards the bathroom for her morning routine shower.

After seeing Gwen closing the bathroom's door, he pushed one of his drawer open, revealing the now infamous black suit that apparently was messing with his mind and approached his hand close to the suit feeling the desire to simply wear it and swing away.

_**We don't need them...**_

* * *

**Osborn's Mansion - New York**

"When will the suit be ready?" Norman asked on his wheelchair, facing the large window on his dark bedroom. He was tired. One could only get through what he went a single time. He proved death doesn't need to be an end, but for how long? He needed to live. There isn't anyone else out in the world who can do what he can, for a better world.

Everything had a cost.

Fiers replied emotionless. "Harry unintentionally is working on that." He paused, standing next to the man who allowed him many things which were originally beyond his reach, for a price. "If everything goes as planned, the suit is also going to be ready in a few hours, you won't need the boy's blood, the suit will heal you instead after absorbing his skills."

The ultimate cure and one of the greatest inventions of science would finally return to Norman's hands after years of setting this moment up. Richard Parker's work wouldn't be wasted at all like the man wanted after the disagreement between him and Norman. He only delayed the inevitable, and forever cursed his son, even if that wasn't what he had in mind.

"That's good to hear." Norman glanced his left hand, noticing the disease already doing it's damage on his body. "I won't be lasting any longer at this rate and my body won't resist another transfusion."

"It will be getting back." Fiers assured, with his hand resting on back like usual.

"And when it arrives, I will grant your part of the deal." Norman stated coldly, rubbing his chin.

"Fair enough." Fiers nodded. "By the way, why did Richard Parker abandon the venom project?" He asked, curious.

"It was promising, indeed...Richard was driven by such thoughts of conspiracy, he couldn't see how the world could benefit from his work, as scientists... I expected more from him." He replied, lamenting Richard's decision. All of this could have been avoided if he made the right choice.

"He didn't trust you?"

"That's one way of putting things... hs was basically, weak and a weak scientist does not have the will to do what's needed when asked, that's the truth." He affirmed, harshly.

"I see." Fiers nodded to himself.

"Meanwhile...let's see how Harry will handle things, get Ravencroft prepared to react quickly, just in case."

* * *

In the exercising area of Central Park, Peter took off his shirt, revealing his toned abdomen and muscular chest as he now stood on his dark short. He placed the shirt inside his backpack and retrived a small black accessory that had to be wrapped across his arm. After doing so, Peter adjusted his phone inside of the object, wore his earphones and selected his playlist.

Peter approached the tall lifting bar and held it with both hands. He exhaled deeply and lifted himself with his powerful arms, first allowing his head to pass the bar's level, then lowering himself without touching the ground and raising again but this time he leaned his head down as the cold metallic bar touched the back of his neck, repeating the process over and over again.

_Like I say - oh my - feels just like I don't try, looks so good I might die, all I know is everybody loves me..._

Following his exercises program, Peter now found himself doing pushups in a very calm face. His skin fought against the sunny day, and the result showed as he could been getting more sweaty with each second that passed. He kept focused. He needed to clear his head, alone.

_Head down, swaying to my own sound, flashes in my face now, all I know is everybody loves me_

Peter breathed heavily as he proceed with his sit ups, never moving both hands that were in the back of his neck away. He groaned lightly, while constantly leaning down his back but not touching the ground, before raising his torso once again. He felt his muscles become even more rigid, more powerful, he's at his best shape more now than ever.

_Don't need my health, got my name and got my wealth, stare at the sun, just for kicks all by myself, lose track of time, so I might be past my prime, but I'm feeling oh so good, yeah!_

Peter noticed at his corner a group of women with their roller coasters passing in the walkway next to the exercising area, looking at him with a eyes full of desire and appreciation. He just ignored them, not really interested in the group. They're not worthy of his precious time.

Minutes later, Peter stopped from lifting himself in the metallic bar once again and stood on his feet without opening his eyes, there's nothing like a morning workout. He stretched his shoulders and looked up to his front, spotting a brunette wearing her workout attire leaned against the support of another lifting bar. She eyed him with a simple facial expression, analyzing him.

"Nice." She smirked.

Peter smiled lightly and proudly, while still remaining quiet. He took off his earphones and threw it over his strong shoulder.

Noticing his silent, the women tilted her head to the side and took one step closer, gently grabbing his right hand and placing a small piece of paper over it. She winked and walked away, swaying her hips lightly.

Peter gazed her, briefly. He looked down to his hand and checked the piece of paper. She had given her phone. He chuckled to himself at the realization, before smashing the paper as he closed his hand and later threw it to the nearest trash can. He went to pick his backpack. The exam would start in a few hours.

* * *

**Helen's Apartment - Noon**

Gwen found herself in dinner room helping her mother to arrange the table which they were going to have lunch in a few couple of minutes. They're were now just waiting for Gwen's brothers to arrive from their school and Howard from college.

Helen couldn't help but notice that something was wrong with her - always so energetic girl. She wasn't talking too much since she arrived a few hours ago. Gwen's characteristic enthusiasm wasn't present at all, and that got Helen concerned, maybe something happened between them. She hoped not.

"It's everything alright, Gwen?" Helen finally asked, placing the plates on their respective areas in the table while looking at her beautiful daughter.

"Not really." Gwen replied from the opposite side.

"Want to talk about it?"

Gwen hesitated. "It's fine." She smiled reassuringly.

Helen ceased her activities and tilted her head to the side in suspicious. "C'mon now, you can say anything to me, I don't want to see you this down."

Gwen exhaled sharply. She crossed her arms and explained, "Peter and I had a minor disagreement today - Well, I think it's minor, and that's something we didn't had for a very long time, you know, argue." She knew that every couple had their dose of disagreements over the course of the relationship, but in this case, the stakes were a little more higher since his health was involved in the discussion.

"I see...mind if I ask why?" She said kindly.

Gwen couldn't say the real motive since it would compromise Peter's secret identity. She thought about twisting things while keeping the context of the disagreement. "He's acting different sometimes, his patience shortened for some reason...he's always super sweet and romantic, most of the time, but when I bring this up he gets somehow really annoyed at me."

Helen frowned. "Hmm...maybe is the daily stress that is causing that on him, he seems pretty busy with stuff like going to college and working for the Bugle every day at the same time, so he's not really caring about himself at all, it's like - there's more important stuff out there than himself, he thinks that way at least."

_And being Spider-Man, mom._

"It's probably something like that." Gwe sighed. "Was dad like him as well?"

Helen smiled. "Your father had his crappy days, I won't lie, being an officer was never easy, you know, dealing with bad people and solving conflicts, but he tried to keep those issues away from home." She replied. "Maybe it's something elsethat is affecting Pete, he's such a nice man, I doubt it's because of work."

"You know what, mom? I think you're right." Gwen nodded respectfully.

Hele approached her and took her daughter's hand on hers. "You two should go on a date just for yourselves, to forget about everything and just have a good time." She smirked playfully. "Have a nice dinner, talk, see a movie, and maybe later get some under the covers action-"

Gwen's eyes widened. Her face turning red. "Mom!" She said in a scandalized tone.

"Okay..." Helen raised her hands in defense. "Those things can help, though."

Gwen shook her head and leaned her back against the wall. "If it was only that simple..."

Ren hurried inside the dinner room with a little green ball on his mouth and stopped on front of his owner,he patted her legs with his paws wanting to play.

"Look who finally appeared." Gwen stood on her knees and caressed Ren's soft skin, before grabbing the little toy and playfully throwing back to the living room.

The puppy instantly hurried after the object which landed right under the couch. Now he had to find a way to retrieve it back, not an easy task.

"Oops!" Gwen giggled as she stood up.

Helen walked close to her only daughter and hugged her. "Everything reach it's expiration date, it's only temporary."

"I hope so, mom." Gwen replied, hugging her back.

The main door from the apartment opened revealing all of Gwen's brother together and with their respective school bags around their shoulders, besides Philip who was traveling with his school to some roller coaster outside city, he'd be away for a few hours.

"Gwendy!" Simon dropped his bag into the floor and hurried towards his sister who was the person he always looked up to since he learned to talk. His big sister.

Gwen kneeled so that she could be on his level and opened her arms before hugging her brother. He was much taller nowadays. "Hey buddy!"

"You won't believe what I earned from a girl on my school!" He pulled back.

Gwen smirked. "What's it?!"

Simon lifted a part of his school shirt revealing another shirt underneath printed with Spider-Man red mask right on the center.

"That's a very good gift!" Gwen smiled "Have you been treating this girl nicely?"

"Of course!" He grinned. "Where's Pete? I wanted to show this to him."

"Peter is doing his final exam at college so he will be out for almost the entire day." Gwen explained, squeezing his hand gently.

"Okay." Simom replied regretfully.

"Don't worry." Gwen kissed his forehead and stood on her feet once again. "I will bring him here some other day so that you two can talk about Spider-Man as usual."

"Awesome!" Simom exclaimed, excited. He heard a little bark coming from the living room and close to the couch. "Is Ren here?!"

"Yup, He's trying to get his little toy back, you should help him."

"I'm going." Gwen's ten years old brother ran away and left the dinner table.

"Don't break anything!" Helen stated from the kitchen.

"I thought you wouldn't have time for me." Howard approached his sister and wrapped both arms around her waist while Gwen did the same but with his neck, letting him support all her weight.

"Poor you." Gwen teased. "I miss you too."

"You better." Howard grinned. "After all, I'm the most handsome brother."

Gwen tilted her head to the side. "What's with you boys? Is this a tournament now to see who's the most handsome one?" She joked.

He shrugged. "It's nature."

"Right." Gwen muttered in disbelief.

"So...me or Peter?"

"What?" Gwen tensed. "I'm absolutely not going there."

"I won't tell him."

"Sorry not sorry." Gwen winked.

_"It's ready!"_ Helen announced from the kitchen.

"You heard the General." Gwen gently patted Howard's back.

For a moment, Gwen forgot about all the daily problems of her life and just enjoyed the moment with her other family besides Peter who was currently away. She couldn't help but think of what her husband could be actually thinking right now, and if he was alright. He wasn't totally like the Peter Parker she know since garden's days. A person that despite having such special super powers, wouldn't decline help coming from her and she was sure that the suit was behind the sudden changes on his personality. She had to find a way to help him.

* * *

**Empire State University**

Peter tried to focus on the paper lying in the table right in front of him, but what Gwen had said hours ago couldn't get out of his head , and it even started to make him have seconds thoughts about the suit and what it was really doing besides strengthening him.

He also felt guilty for shutting Gwen down back at their apartment. She was just worried about him and he didn't care at all. It's rare to have someone that cares so much for him and Gwen is one of those people. He now regretted treating her the way he did. It wasn't her fault.

_Focus. _He thought while interpreting one of the exam's questions which looked surprising easily. Too easy.

Peter shrugged his shoulders and went forward in doing the exam that would or not approve his knowledge over biochemistry and certificate him to exercise any function related to the chosen category. If he had a choice, he'd have finished the course much earlier, but his took longer than Gwen's and later being back as Spider-Man surely slowed down his predictions.

Almost three hours later, Peter chose his last alternative, placed his pen inside his jeans' pocket, grabbed the test and headed downstairs. He gave the compilation of papers and handed to his teacher, Casey, the man wished him good luck and Peter nodded in return, before walking around the table to reach the door that'd led him to the corridor.

Peter eventually arrived outside, seeing New York's usual intense traffic and horde of pedestrians passing next to him. He walked through some squares thinking what to do regarding the lately infamous black suit which his wife kept trying to alarm him of it's possible risks.

Since he couldn't stop thinking about Gwen and his actions hours ago,Peter retrieved the phone from his backpack and scrolled down the list of contacts stopping when Gwen's icon showing a photo of her sleeping peacefully,popped on the smartphone screen.

_I'm such an idiot..._ He though, feeling guilty for dumping Gwen on the morning.

Peter was about to call Gwen but his special sense crazily triggered on his mind, like the sky's bolts, this one actually caused him some brief headache.

A green flying figure that once caused him nightmares appeared on the corner of the opposite building across the street as it headed towards his direction.

People stopped to walk for a moment to see what was happening up in the sky and got terrified after a mechanical orange device slipped from the figure's armored glove to it's hand as he tossed it to Peter's direction on the sidewalk.

Peter pushed two people standing next to him to his left side so that they wouldn't get caught on the bomb's range of explosion. He closed his arms, protecting his face as the device finally reached him, exploding inches from his almost covered face with the black goo that slipped from the openings on his backpack.

A cloud of fire took now was located in Peter's original position. He couldn't be seen through the dense smoke that covered the area, forcing people to ran away.

As Harry's glider slowly descended close to the ground, he closed his eyes in regret, he was now aiming to kill his only family, at least it's what he used to think, his brother, the man who always was there for him during their childhood.

Harry's thoughts were mixed with anger, hatred and guiltiness. He couldn't figure out who he was. He acted on impulse. He was lost.

The fire finally lost it's strength and evaporated in the hair, revealing Peter standing on his knees and wearing nothing but the black spandex that had protected himself to a certain extent from the bomb's explosion.

Peter looked up to Harry's direction. "Why, Harry? I thought...you're back..."

Harry stood emotionless. "Last time I wanted to be Normal, this time I know I'm a freak." He paused. " I'm sorry, it's how things should be, and I don't blame you."

Spider-Man raised from the floor and closed his fists, containing the incoming rage. "I don't know who you are now...what happened to the Harry Osborn that once was my friend...? What happened to him?!" He shouted his last sentence.

Harry stood quiet. He suddenly turned his glider around and quickly flew up to the buildings, well aware that Peter would follow him without a heartbeat. There's no espace. How can you run from something that is inside you? Harry thought to himself.

Peter followed him through the buildings while trying to come up with plan to stop him in mid hair so that he doesn't cause any more damage in the city. He also had to be careful to not hurt him badly. "Why are you doing this, Harry?!" He shouted from behind.

Harry moved his feet on the glider that caused three sharp blades to appear on it's front. "I don't have a choice!" He suddenly turned the glider with the blades pointed right at Peter's direction.

_He's brainwashed_. _He must be._

Taking advantage of his much faster reflexes, Spider-Man had to fire a webline to the building on his corner and pushing the biocable closer to him as he was pushed away, avoiding the blades. He landed against wall and instantly saw Harry already aiming his fist at him. He acrobatically spun upwards in the wall, seeing his enemy bury his hand inside the wall.

Peter instantly asked, "What do you mean?! You forgot everything we talked?"

"You don't understand!" Harry shouted angrily, before placing another bomb that came from his armor's sleeve inside the hole. He thrusted his glider backwards and away from the range of explosion.

Peter, noticing what Harry did, jumped out of the wall as a small explosion now filled the place where he previously was. He managed to land over the glider and on front of Harry. He kept his balance firm and went to punch him on the chin and later brought his right knee against his stomach, causing little damage due to Harry's now stronger body.

Harry quickly recomposed himself and blocked the incoming punch towards his cheek with his left arm, leaving Peter briefly exposed. He took advantage of the opening and grabbed him with his single free hand by the neck and started to choke him.

"This suit isn't helping you anymore...?" He asked. "I warned you...!"

It was hard for Peter to breath since Harry's hand pressed his neck so strongly that it could even break it at any second. He constantly kicked the armor's chest, trying to free himself from his grip but Harry still wasn't letting him go while he flew somewhere else.

A transparent short green blade emerged from the glider and jumped straight to Harry's free hand. He grabbed the blade and quickly stabbed Peter's left shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain as his flesh was cut open.

Peter howled and punched - with all his available strenght - Harry's face, causing him to spat some blood through his lips. He swallowed what remained inside his mouth and pressed the blade deeper, torturing his once best friend.

"Stop!" Peter ordered, figuring how he would get out of the death situation.

Peter again grabbed the hand that Harry was holding the blade and pressed itself deeper on his shoulder, almost causing it to pass through him, but he now regained solid ground since he was touching the glider with his feet, meaning that he could finally start the retaliation.

Without a second thought, Peter violently twisted Harry pulse and finally freed himself. He jumped out of the glider and dove back into the thin air with a bleeding wounded shoulder.

Harry shouted in pain. He held his twisted hand close, seeing Peter falling back to the buildings level and with a hand on his wounded shoulder. He stopped mid-air and closed his eyes to avoid seeing what he was about do and with a quick movement, he placed his pulse back at it's former place.

Peter on the other side, managed to fire a biocable with his good at the closest building, lowering his fall speed and accidentally colliding his back against a solid window, causing him to crash inside of some apartment's living room.

He gasped as he removed the short blade from his shoulder and tossed the weapon aside, before lying on his back while staring the ceiling. His vision started to fade out after some couple of seconds. His shoulder was still bleeding uncontrollably.

_**You have to keep going...protect your family and...kill Harry**__ \- what?!_

Peter sat straight up, shocked of having such poisonous thought which contradicted everything he and Spider-Man stood for.

_Where...how.. ?_

An orange device coming from the window where he came through suddenly landed just besides his hip, beeping quickly, before finally exploding itself and destroying the whole apartment that was now getting consumed by the flames.

Harry descended his glider close to the huge hole on the wall and entered the - in flames - place, seeing Peter unconscious body lying on the floor with gaps on his suit which the goo was slowly trying to cover it. He lowered himself close to Peter and retrieved a little knife with a glassed vial on it's base from the back of his right leg's compartmen. He touched Peter's chest skin with the tip of the knife, before pressing it inside and filling the vial with his blood.

He achieved what his father wanted him t, and Peter was one step closer to meet his fate. He had finally accomplished everything that Norman Osborn expected from his son without the help of the stupid member that Fiers had recruited along the months. He would cure the Osborn's curse, and an entire era.

The vial finally completed the transfusion as Harry placed the small object back to it's original place. He rose and grabbed his blade from the ground.

"Now this is when things are finally over." Harry prepared to give the final blow. He was lost. "I'll tell Gwen how quick and painless death I gave you."

The mention of his wife's name made Peter instantly open his eyes, filled in adrenaline as he quickly spun on the floor and to the side, evading the incoming blade that got stuck on the floor.

He crawled the wall besides him and quickly ran against it on circles, only stopping when Harry was on his front as he jumped towards him, carrying him out of the glider with his arms wrapped around him while they went through the windown as they dove into the air, punching each other during the whole painful process.

Harry hit Peter's stomach with his knee in mid air, making him slightly fly away of reach, but Peter quickly reacted by firing a biocable at Harry's waist and later bringing him closer as he punched his chin, spoiling some of Harry's blood against the mask's white lenses.

Together, they both crashed ontop of an empty taxi parked in the streets, possibly breaking some of Peter's back bones. He slipped from the automobile and landed on the ground, breathing in pain, the same happened to Harry seconds later.

Harry dragged himself away from Peter and slowly stood on his knee. He pressed his finger against the screen located at the armor's glove and called for his glider that wasn't anywhere to be seen, but it never came. He turned to his side and saw Peter with his fist inches from his face, causing him to stumble into the ground again.

Peter quickly walked over Harry and straddled him, giving him a full section of punches that delivered all the anger he was holding back, stopping for nothing as he frequently punched him.

"You are not going to threat my family anymore!" Peter raised his fist in the air, not noticing the sirens and police cars already surrounding him and Harry across the street.

"Spider-Man, stop!" A officer ordered using some voice siren.

Peter stopped for a moment and checked his surroundings, seeing the street was now closed with police cars, blocking any path while they aimed their guns towards him. A Ravencroft truck could be seen meters away. They were all shocked for seeing Spider-man beating someone to death since that never had happened before.

_**Kill him...don't waste this opportunity...**_

Peter furrowed his eyes inside the mask made of spandex. He had to end this once and for all and finally live the life he deserved with the woman he cared most without the need of getting concerned about her safety every single minute because of some plan put forward against him and the ones he loves.

"Do it..." Harry whispered. "Please..."

Peter breathed heavily. He was tense. He felt a hand gently lay on his right shoulder._ "Son...don't do it."_ An old familiar voice said softly.

"Who-" Peter turned his head to the side, seeing Uncle Ben standing behind him as everything around him around them ceased to move.

_"You don't want to do this...it won't bring you anything more than misery and regret."_ Uncle Ben's transparent Aurea affirmed, wisely.

"I...are you real..?" Peter asked,confused from seeing such important person on his life who died a long time ago standing right behind him. "I got some many questions..."

_"My time already passed but yours have not." _He squeezed Peter's shoulder. _"Don't do this."_

Peter insisted, respectfully. "He needs to be stopped."

_"But not this way." _Ben said. "_This isn't the way Peter Parker do things, you know that."_

"W-Where are you?"

_"I'm always with you."_ Uncle Ben gently removed his black mask, revealing a face full of bruises and cut._ "Here." _He placed his hand inside the jacket's pocket, retrieving a red mask Peter used to wear before bonding with the new suit. He masked his nephew again and smiled proudly, _"Much better now, don't you think?"_

"I...need you..."

Ben smiled and patted Peter on his good shoulder, before slowly fading out and bringing him back to reality. He was still with his fist armed. Harry was beaten up.

Peter opened his fist. "I'm not like this..." He gulped ans slowly raised from Harry while groaning in pain. Basically, his whole now torn body screamed in pain alongside an invalid shoulder. Peter managed to fire a webline to the closest building and swing out of anyone's sight for a long time.

* * *

**Empire State University - Gwen's office**

Gwen couldn't focus on her designed task without thinking about her husband. She came to work after having lunch with her family, something that she missed for a long time.

The computer's screen was turned on and currently waited some command coming from it's - in deep thoughts - user. No matter what he chooses to do, Gwen would always be at his side. She thought.

Sure, she wouldn't always agree with him, they'd have their differences, but she wouldn't simply give up on him. He was to precious for her. He's the man she chose to live the rest of her life with. They had to stand there for each, even if one didn't want the other to be.

Gwen sighed heavily. She wanted to go out and find him and sort things out. She felt frustrated, helpless. She wondered how he felt at the very current moment. They didn't talk for hours now. Something that barely happened since they started dating once again years ago.

Deciding to break the silence, Gwen grabbed her phone and started to write a message to her husband.

_GS: Hey hon, I'm going to arrive late this night so you shouldn't wait for me, and Aunt May is doing the favor of bringing Ren to us after they're back from their walk, so you might meet her. I hope you had a good exam, love you._

Gwen finished to type the message and resumed to analyze the test she realized with two molecules separating from each other. She never thought that something she always loved could become such a chore to get through. Chemistry.

* * *

**New York - St. Patrick's Cathedral**

After swinging towards the nearest location where he could deal with the suit without any intervention or peeking, Peter landed over the colossal Church's gargoyle and walked inside the tower, limping just like when he got shot by one of Captain Stacy squadmates years ago when he was alive.

The tower and it's huge bell at the center was in total dead silence, nothing could be heard besides the strong wind of the last night of spring. He was feeling guilty, guilty for dumping the ones who cared so much about him, and for having murderer thoughts more than once which he never had before after becoming a symbol of hope.

Peter glanced his both hands as he brought closer to his torso, feeling the suit tightening itself over his body after noticing his not favorable intentions. He howled angrily and closed both hands furiously, and moved them over his mask, trying to remove the goo but it was now fully attached with the rest of his body, his super-human strength wasn't enough to fully push it away.

The spandex and his skin were now one thing. His arms were shaking as he forced the suit open, he could hear the ripping sound, but he was already feeling exhausted. The goo briefly snapped open a high pitch scream coming from the symbiote and due to the amount of force he was dealing with, his hands released the mask.

Peter once again grabbed the spandex covering his face as the ultimate attempt and violently pushed to the sides, starting to see the bell with his own very eyes. Not focusing on anything else, he accidentally hit the bell with his injured shoulder, causing a loud vibration to fill the tower's void. The symbiote was temporarily weakened.

He was taking the devil off him, inside a church.

The symbiote, refusing to let go of his host, tried to make him unable to move any further by tightening the suit even more to his skin, in response, Peter punched the bell with his right fist, noticing the goo that was covering his face and the arm he used to punch the bell split itself in small parts, exposing his body while parts of the symbiote fell into the floor.

Peter took advantage of the opportunity to push a huge portion off his left and tossing the sticky substance aside, before moving both hands to his chest, gripping the spandex tightly with his fingers and pulling the material away from each other, revealing his torso.

It was like someone was ripping his skin apart from his body. The pain was monumental. He was struggling to not faint at any second. He was too damaged, and the symbiote was already recomposing itself over his body again.

Feeling weak and defeated, Peter kneeled down into the floor and let the symbiote slowly fill the now thousands of gaps spread on his torso and arms. The parasite was also slowly heading back to his head through his neck.

He gazed the ground, ashamed for losing a battle for the first time after years of protecting people with his gifts which his father helped to develop. He never thought he'd ever give up on his cause, let down a whole city, but his body betrayed his will.

He caught eye on something on his corner. It was the golden locket, the object was open and it showcased a small photo of him and Gwen during their after wedding reception. He hugged her from behind. They both seemed so happy.

A recordation of what it was, and what is still to come.

_I can't..._

After realizing that he couldn't give up on their future together, Peter violently landed his right fist against the floor and instantly raised from the ground. He punched the bell with each hand, causing an even more stronger vibration around him. He howled furiously and violently pulled out the spandex close to the now big spider logo on his chest to the sides.

Seconds later, Peter moved his arms over his head and down his back and held the spandex of such area, pushing it upwards and successively rippping out a large proportion of the symbiote. Once again he landed both fists covered in goo over the ground, forcing the parasite to crawl it's way off him through his hands until he was finally free.

The bell only made the process much faster.

Only on his boxers, Peter lay over the cold floor and on his chest. He held the locket closely, feeling his wounds even more than before, and somehow free of any angst that could influence the way he would act or think when judging things.

He slowly stood on his kneesonce again, blinking lightly as he panted in exhaustion. The symbiote had dissapeared out of sight. The area was dead quiet.

His shoulder wound was still open. He needed to get out of there before the worse happens.

* * *

**One hour later...**

May unlocked the front door of her nephew and his wife's apartment with the keys Gwen had given her after they met earlier, and took a quick peek inside, everything was dark. She stepped inside while Ren hurried inside his house, searching for his owners that apparently weren't currently present.

After turning the lights on, May noticed some small puddles of what looked to be a dark blood over the carpeted floor, it formed a trail towards the corridor meters away. She carefully placed her bag over the kitchen's counter and slowly followed the puddles, worried that someone could've invaded the house and got hurt in the process, or something worse she refused to think.

Before she arrived at the trail's end, a small set of clothes with marked with name 'janitor' on its back was clumsily spread across the floor. She shocked her head and went forward.

The trail ended on Peter and Gwen's bedroom which was emerged in darkness. She the turned the lights on, getting emotionally scared of what she was seeing.

"Oh my god.." May placed her hand on her mouth terrified for seeing her nephew in such horrible condition.

Peter was unconsciously laid over the bed, bloodied bandages were clumsily placed around his chest and shoulder. He had done all of them by himself. His cheeks had little cuts, purple stains covered bits of his torso.

May quickly walked inside the bathroom and grabbed a med-kit. She returned and sat next to Peter, before gently turning him around so that he could lie on his back. She had redo all of the bandages.

"Gwen...?" Peter slowly opened his eyes, unable to see almost nothing because of the heavy headache and fever.

"It's me, sweetie." May placed a hand on his forehead, noticing he was indeed febrible. She then went to clean his chest with a small soaked white towel which quickly got filled with blood.

Ren jumped onto the bed and observed the process.

It all made sense for May. She had watched the news and Peter apparently shared the same type of injuries the flying guy caused upon Spider-man from the footage she had seen.

The suspicion of her nephew being Spider-Man since the day he arrived all bruised after stopping Connors was finally confirmed. She wasn't feeling betrayed for Peter never telling her the truth, but actually proud for him being the lonely figure that causes a smile on most people who live in city and across the world.

Though, the fear of losing such important person in her life got her even more worried. She was afraid. How many times did he arrive at home on the very current state and poor Gwen had to treat him? She thought, heartbroken.

"Stay with me Peter." She grabbed a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide inside the kit. It would disinfect the deeper wounds before she could clean it.

"I'm...s-sorry" Peter fought the urge to not fall asleep.

"Don't be." May caressed his cheek. "Peter..this will hurt a little."

He didn't replie, but just nodded still with his eyes closed, well aware of the fact that the substance would burn his flesh like hell.

May lowered the bottle close to the shoulder with a deep cut and made the liquid fall over it, seeing Peter instantly raising his chest while holding himself to not scream and wake the entire neighborhood. He could feel the pain he was feeling for him.

"It will pass..." May assured, almost tearing up while removing the liquid with the towel. "One last time." She repeated the process, this time receiving a painful grasp from her nephew.

The sound of the door opening coming from the living room instantly got Ren's attention who later jumped off the bed and hurried towards the source.

Turns out it was Gwen. She was already alarmed since she had heard the scream outside the door. The puppy patted her legs with his smalls paws before hurrying back to the bedroom.

"Peter...?" Gwen followed Ren's path to their bedroom and recognized Aunt May sat besides Peter with blood stains spread over her clothes. "God..."

May turned her head to face her. "Honey...calm him so that I close this or else his wound isn't going to stop from bleeding out." She asked, holding a small black line and needle with her free hand.

Gwen looked at May, terrified from seeing her husband in that horrible condition and for the possibility of May knowing Peter's secret identity. She was in panic.

"O-Okay..." Gwen sat on the other side of the bed, she lay on her shoulder and next to him. She caressed his hair while he rested his head against her chest. She kissed his burning forehead. "I'm here, try to get some sleep." She whispered softly.

"Don't go." He replied weakly, placing a hand on the soft skin of her cheek.

"We won't leave you." Gwen moved her own hand over his, holding it as he finally fell asleep. She exhaled deeply and looked up to May. "Do you-"

"Just now." May interjected calmly before Gwen could finish what she was about to ask.

"Peter wanted to protect you during all this time." Gwen continued.

"I know, a silly move regardless." May finished the last points over his cut. "But I'm proud of him like always...just..a little scared." She paused briefly. "I never had seen him like this before."

"I understand...it isn't easy for me too." Gwen slowly caressed his soft hair. "I just...try to get used to it."

"How long do you know?" She asked careful.

Gwen gulped. "Um...since our first kiss..."

"Really?" May managed to crack a kind smile while trying to imagine the cute situation. "Just reinforces the idea that you two are meant to each other." She cut the line with a scissor and cleaned her hands with the clean part of the now bloodied towel.

"Thank you." Gwen kissed the top of his head, holding his hand on hers. "I saw the news, they're were crazy about Spider-Man fighting Harry so I hurried here to see how he was."

"Osborn?" May inquired, shocked.

She nodded. "The one..I don't know why he attacked Peter though, hopefully he's locked now."

This was still all new to May, but she slowly started to get used to the new way of seeing things after being sure her Peter is Spider-Man. It sounded crazy that Peter had fought so many special people before like Max Dillon and Curt Connors.

She shocked her head lightly. "He just need to rest now." She rose from the bed, still glancing Peter who was fastly asleep and covered with new bandages spread across his chest and shoulder.

"I think so." Gwen covered Peter with the bed sheets as Ren crawled his way towards the space between his right arm and his cagerib. He lay there, brushing his skin against Peter's, protecting his owner from anything bad that could happen.

May went for the bathroom to fully clean her hands from her nephew's special blood. Her hands were trembling in fear as the cold water fell over them. She later closed the sink and returned inside the bedroom.

Gwen thanked, "I'm really glad for what you did with Peter...if you weren't here he could've..." She furrowed her eyebrows, avoiding to think of the worst case scenario.

May placed a hand on Gwen's cheek, reassuringly. "He's going to be alright...you know him, nothing can bring him down." She smiled before gently hugging the woman Peter chose to take care of him.

"Thanks for being here with us." Gwen hugged her back for a few couple of minutes, before saying gently, "You should sleep here tonight, it's very late now and Peter might need your help later."

May nodded.

"I'll sleep in the couch, you can sleep next to Pete-"

"No, no, that's your place." She said disapprovingly.

Gwen tilted her head to the side. "But I don't mind-"

"You are his wife so that place is yours." May insisted. "I will be taking the couch instead."

"Are you sure?"

May nodded.

Gwen smiled, the Parker's stubbornness was indeed a thing. She picked two blue covers, a pajama since they were both almost the same height, Gwen was a little taller. She handed them to May alongside a comfy pillow.

"Thank you." She said gratefully "If anything happens, just wake me up."

"I will."

After May had gotten to sleep, Gwen closed the door of their bedroom and changed to her white camisole and underwear minus her bra, feeling a lot more comfortable. She crawled into the bed and made her way under the sheets, getting cozier as the time passed.

For the first time ever, she didn't snuggle with Peter when sleeping in the same bed. His injuries were more important. She just kept there, observing her husband, before finally falling asleep till the rest of such scary night.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter was a challenge and very fun to write. I took inspiration from many sources like Spectacular Spider-man, Spider-man 3 and some comicbook issues so I hope that it turned good like my initial intention.**

**Regarding Venom, he isn't coming now, and I didn't decide if he ever will, but whatever might be my decision, the symbiote's destiny will be addressed in the incoming chapter. The story is already very crowded so I'm now focusing on the S6 showdown in the next chapter.**

**Scene regarding Aunt May finding Peter injured was based on Amazing Spider-Man #37-38, volume two, written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by John Romita Jr.**

**There's an explanation for Uncle Ben's sudden appearance, he's part of Peter's mind that the symbiote hadn't influenced yet, the part struggling to not allow let Peter be totally taken over and that still knows about the 'With great powers,comes great responsibility' dilemma.**

**Hope everyone enjoyed it and till next chapter! **

**11/17/15 : Full revision. Extra scenes and dialogues. Fixed mistakes.**


	17. An End, Once And For All

**July 25th - 2006**

**Parker's Household - Queens**

"I think that's pretty awesome." Peter affirmed as he ate bits of popcorn that were inside the curvy plastic bowl his mother had given him earlier. He watched the cartoon on the small TV from his bed.

"I...yeah." Harry replied, not really focused on the screen. His mind drifted somewhere else.

Peter noticed the unimpressed tone. Harry wasn't being much enthusiastic over the course of the past days. "You okay, Hare?"

He sighed. "It's just that...I don't know, father doesn't really appear at home anymore, I'm not sure if he even likes me being around him."

"Why would you say that?" Peter asked, concerned.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "He just isn't around, and when I talk to him, he finds some excuse to keep me away." He explained. "I try to impress him, you know? Maybe do something he likes, but I don't know what he likes, sometimes I wonder if he even considers me his son."

Peter began carefully, "Maybe he's busy with work? My dad rarely has time to play with me as well, but he does when he can."

"Your father play with you?" Harry came off as surprised.

"Sometimes, yes...mom doens't want me going downstairs, so I wait for him."

Harry broke eye contact. "Wow...that must be really cool, I guess."

"It is." He nodded.

"I wish things could have been like that for me like they are with you." Harry confessed. "I even caught my father talking with that ugly Menken guy about sending me to boarding school..."

"Oh...you are...moving away then?"

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "It looks that way."

"What if...what if your father allows you to live here with?" Peter questioned, innocently. He didn't want to be away from the only friend he had.

Harry was like a brother to him.

He smiled thankfully by Peter's support."i don't think he would let that happen." He knew Norman would most likely refuse such foolishness notion on his eyes.

"You should ask him." Peter grabbed more popcorn. "It would be super awesome."

"You think?"

"Yeah! We could share the same bedroom and do a lot of things together." He grinned, excited.

The door of Peter's bedroom opened with Mary Parker leaning inside the room, seeing her son and his best friend bonding together at the bed.

"It's already getting late guys, you two need to take a bath before getting some sleep." She smirked.

Peter groaned. "Okay, mom! Just a few couple of minutes."

"You said that ten minutes ago!"

"Five then." He raised the five fingers of his right hand at Mary's direction. "I promise."

She rolled her eyes, before narrowing her eyes at him, playfully. "Five minutes, and you better not extend that again." She closed the door gently.

Peter chuckled. He turned to Harry's side.

Harry asked, "Would you continue being my friend if I did leave?"

There weren't many people on Harry's life that actually cared about him, and he didn't want to lose to such life. Not after all these years they had been together.

"Best friends." Peter corrected him with a joyful smile. He wouldn't let the friendship they had simply go away, ever.

* * *

**May 31th - 2019**

**Osborn Manor - New York**

Harry jolted awake, eyes snapping open instantly. He immediately checked the place around him, noticing that he was inside his old bedroom where he hadn't been for years since leaving for boarding school.

He groaned as he properly awoke, realising that it had only been a dream where he relieved a part of his childhood.

_Best friends..._ Harry rubbed his eyes. _What am I doing...?_

Harry got off the bed. He wore his black short and white shirt. His room was dead silent, and his old belongings like - miniatures of cars and planes were still on the same spot in the stand against the wall.

Motived by curiosity, Harry opened the large wardrobe with both hands, seeing a mirror that reflected his now temporary unhealthy condition. He touched the glass that reflected his cheek. He felt anger at such disease which turned his life upside down more than once.

No matter what he did, misery would always find its way inside his short life.

His father was somehow back from the dead and apparently behind everything he thought he had planned with the liar called Gustav Fiers.

Days ago, everything seemed to be fixing itself, but something happened and stirred things up all over again, and that was getting Harry emotionally drained and tired of being everyone's puppets.

The door from Harry's room suddenly opened by Matthew - The Osborn's faithful butler, who he hadn't seen in years. He was much older now, and he continued using the same suit that Harry remembered since he was a little kid.

The old man was always nice to him. He has more presence on his life that Norman ever had.

"Oh...my sincere apologies, Mr Osborn." Matthew stood next to the door, seeing Harry already up. "I came here to check on your condition but it seems that you don't need my assistance anymore."

"You don't need to apologize, and please...just call me Harry." He smiled.

Matthew nodded professionaly. "It's been a long time, I'm glad to see you again, you look handsome as you could ever get, despite the bruises." He grinned.

Harry chuckled. "You don't look too bad yourself either; are the ladies still throwing themselves at you?" He joked.

Matthew smirked. "Like you wouldn't imagine."

Harry couldn't bring himself to ignore one of the nicest persons he ever met, a person who often placed him into bed when it was late, and even ride him to school. "Um...how did I get here, Matthew?"

"I didn't question your father about his plans, but some medical team brought you here some hours ago." He replied.

Harry exhaled deeply. "So...you know already"

"I always knew your father would return after some years." Matthem revealed. "He told me that on his last hours after you returned; Norman asked me to keep it a secret and I'm sorry if that offends you, but...being loyal to the family that sheltered me is something I will always be."

"It's no big deal - well, kind of..." Harry said. "...but you're just respecting his wishes, we all keep secrets."

"Very wise, Harry." Matthew smiled sympathetically. "I know things are being hard for you over the recent years, like losing Oscorp and being locked at RavenCroft but I know that you never meant those things to happen...you're a good person." He paused. "If you need anything...I'm always here."

"Thank you, I appreciate that."

"You're welcome." He nodded. "Your father is having breakfast, maybe you should join him?" He slowly walked backwards, before turning around and returning to the hallway. "I'll be dusting off the statues."

"Okay..." Harry slowly closed the door, seeing the mansion's butler descending the spiral stairwell.

Now that Peter's blood was recovered, everything could finally end, but at what cost? What Norman would do with the special substance? Was that the right decision? Those are thoughts that cursed him.

He punched the door.

* * *

**Parker's Apartment - Manhattan**

Peter slowly opened his eyes. He eventually saw the bedroom he shared with Gwen, it was emerged in darkness. He still felt weak due to his body's injuries caused from the confrontation against Hareu Osborn.

He carefully turned to the side, expecting to find his beautiful wife. He spotted her fastly asleep under the covers and next to him by some tiny distance.

If Peter concentrated, he could even hear Gwen's slowly and relaxing breathing which he never got tired to experience by himself. He moved his left hand over Gwen's cheek and gently drawn circle's on the soft skin, noticing the golden ring was still firmly stuck on his finger.

After all, Harry's entrance pretty much destroyed everything he carried aside from the symbiote which was no more, thankfully.

Not feeling like sleeping again, Peter slowly raised and sat over the bed. He immediately spotted the many bandages spread all over his torso and arms, some were stained by blood, while others didn't have to retain any blood from coming out.

Peter scratched his head, thinking. He barely remembered what happened hours ago, realization finally kicked in.

_Aunt May was...here..._

The thought of she seeing how badly he looked and also discovering the other side of his life was unsettling. He didn't want to bring her into a life only Gwen knew about it, and she barely could handle all the things he went through.

"Honey..." Gwen called from behind, softly.

Peter turned to her side. Her golden hair fell into her shoulders as she slowly stood up from her pillow. He actually preferred that way, but she always looked mystical regardless. "You okay?" He whispered.

Gwen approached him as they brushed their bare shoulders against each other's. "You know I'm the one who should ask you such question."

He looked down at the covers over his legs. "I'm just...confused, everything happened so suddenly."

Gwen kissed his shoulder. "Tell me."

Peter sighed heavily. "I dont know what do about him." He confessed, frustrated. "And you need to be somewhere safe in the next couple of hours."

"What do you mean?" Gwen squeezed his hand before they intertwined fingers.

"It's happening...Harry was the first move, and now the rest of the six will go after me since it's their only goal; there's even the possibility of him revealing my identity." He looked back to Gwen.

This certainly wasn't the life he wanted to give her when they got married, always living on a high alert condition was never on his list.

"We aren't going anywhere." Gwen shook he head.

He raised a single eyebrow. "We...?"

She nodded. "Aunt May took care of your wounds while I wasn't at home; she knows...everything."

"Oh god... Peter buried his face on his hands moved his head back to the pillow, fearing the consequences of such knowledge. "What have I done...?"

Gwen lied down and besides him. She gently wrapped an arm around his toned chest and kissed his cheek. "You did nothing, and she's practically your mother so May deserves to know it."

"But-"

She continued, "May suspected it for years; it was just a matter of time before you told her yourself."

He gazed her once again, trying to understand her reassuring words. He began, "Now she got dragged to this life of constant danger which you have been living for years, and I almost lost you because of that."

"Peter..." Gwen moved herself even more closer as they touched foreheads. "May understands everything that you've ever done with the suit and your reasons for keeping it away from her knowledge, but she chose to be part of this life, and she deserves to be even if you think she doesn't; May took care of you since you were six, and she wants to continue doing that, no matter how old you get." She grinned.

Peter chuckled. "I think you are right."

"I'm always right." Gwen replied, playfully. She could only improve the mood after yesterday.

"Thank you for these bed talks." He leaned closer and slowly kissed her lips in gratefulness.

She reciprocated the kiss, feeling a little cut on his lower lip. It would probably vanish in a few days due to his advanced healing. She broke the kiss and regained her breath. "I love you, more than anything else on this entire world, you know that, right?"

He cupped her cheek. "More than my spaghetti?"

Gwen frowned in thought. "Hmm, maybe...not as much." She teased. He laughed shortly and stole a quick kiss from his wife. "There's one thing that gets me wondering, though."

Peter retreated back and fixed his gaze with Gwen's. "What is it?"

"What happened to the black suit? I haven't found it yet."

He hadn't told her what happened at the church. It's not like he had the chance anyways. Taking the symbiote off might just be one of the hardest things he has ever done. What allowed him to keep fighting was a memory of better days, and the ones to come.

Peter replied, "When I fought Harry, I considered killing him - which is something I would never ever think of doing so." He cleared his throat. "I realized the suit was influencing my judgment of things, it was changing me into something I can't be...so I took it off at the cathedral, and I'm so very sorry for ignoring you all this time." He roamed her back with his free hand.

"Don't be," Gwen hugged him, and buried her head under his chin. "You did the right decision...could've called me, though."

He chuckled as he moved his right hand her inner thigh. "My phone got destroyed, and that _**thing**_ wasn't on your level, it could even hurt you if you were close enough, I can't allow that." He explained his reasons, feeling Gwen's warm breath against his skin. "I don't know where it is now, it escaped before I could do anything; I'm going to see Connors later, maybe he knows something about it."

"Can I go with you?" Gwen asked, innocently. "I won't say a word, I'll be a good girl."

Peter smiled. "You sure?" He knew she didn't like Connors that much. She had reasons for that.

"Yup." Gwen caressed the back of his head.

Peter kissed her lips again. He slid away from her and into the bed's edge. He instantly felt his arm scream in pain.

"You should rest a little more." She suggested.

Peter touched the cold floor with his feet and managed to balance himself - despite his leg's sorry state. "Once I'm up...I'm up." He groaned while limping towards the open part of the wardrobe.

He spotted the unique and classic Spider-Man suit he often wore over the years to protect the citizens of New York City.

Gwen kneeled on their bed. She could see every single tiny scar and bruises over her husband's muscular back, marks from mortal situations he always managed to get out alive despite his enemy's best efforts.

He's the only one who can stop such threat. It had consequences, and it showed all over his perfectly shaped body.

"Simon is crawling the walls to see you." Gwen broke the silence.

"Really?" Peter turned back to Gwen, surprised. They always got along, but he wasn't expecting such kind treatment towards him, even now after he stood away from everyone due to his arrogant attitude.

"Yep, hegot some Spider-Man stuff that he wants to show you."

He groaned in pain and replied, "We should drop there someday them."

"We will." Gwen smiled happily. "Aunt May is probably sleeping on the living room." She raised off the bed and picked a white ponytail that was over her bedstand and adjusted it around a small part of her blonde hair.

He slowly wore a brown short and blue T-shirt over his bandaged torso since they weren't alone. "I have to explain things, if anything...I'll take cover behind you."

* * *

**Osborn's Mansion**

Sat on the opposite side of the large horizontal table that spanned across the enormous dinner room, Harry faced his father by some distance as they ate breakfast in a uncomfortable silence.

He noticed his father's skin was more greenish than before, and that his right hand was slightly shaking as he tried to eat his warm soup.

Norman was currently the completely opposite of Harry in terms of health condition. He couldn't believe his father was really back after all those years of being declared death, and that he always planned everything, like forcing him to use the unfinished deadly serum and going after Peter for the ultimate achievement which he failed to gather years ago.

Harry didn't know how to feel about him. In the end, Norman Osborn was the only family he had, whatever that meant.

"So...you want to get cured, but what happens next, father?" Harry broke the silence and asked coldly.

Norman looked up to the son he barely knew. "The good I've been planning for everyone's sake, will continue as planned."

"And Peter?" Harry inquired.

"He's not needed anymore now that you've retrieved his blood, but he knows too much." Norman replied.

After Harry was recovered shortly after the encounter with Spider-Man, the vial in the armor was sent to Oscorp for analyzing porpuses. A cure could now be fabricated, and not only that, Peter's matrix was the key for a better world. At least that's what Norman thinks.

He continued, "Fiers will be dealing with him in a matter of hours, and I'm expecting you to help him."

Harry chuckled, sarcastically. "Still trying to use me as your marionette, father?"

Norman stared him deadly on the eyes. He spoke weakly, "Why you don't valorize everything I've ever had done for you?"

"Besides pretty much messing up with everything, you never did anything to me, at all." Harry stated.

"So...you preferred to die in the worst way you could ever imagine...?" Norman inquired, incredulously.

"I never asked for any of this, you basically ruined my life the moment you stepped into it, you let mom die, you let my friendship die, you took everything from me because of some stupid disease you told me in the very last moment possible." Harry arguered with eyes filled with anger.

He ignored the remarks. "Half of that would never happen if you supported me in the beginning."

"Support what? Your ridiculous cause that is moved by 'the end justifies the means' speech? You ruined Oscorp by yourself; how could you run away from everything you initially constructed?"

Norman snapped, "Me? All you ever done was run away!"

"And I was wrong! Every single time I did!" Harry abruptly raised from his seat. "Keep in mind I'm not talking about you, I never ran away from you, but from the people that truly cared for me, and you're not those people." He turned around and walked towards the main door, grabbing his jacket on the hanger and leaving Norman alone to his thoughts.

Norman looked down to his plate, struggling to find the correct solution that could solve the situation problem with Harry. His son wasn't someone he could trust after such questions. His ultimate goal required some dirty work, and nobody was willing to execute what was needed. It was for humanity's best interests, the advancement of the human species, what Oscorp always stood for, whatever it takes.

He just needed to finally craft the weapon that would fight all deformities. His own survival was supposed to be the proof that death shouldn't be a thing, but coming back from the dead by methods that many would consider unethical, and dealing with a selfish son was even more harder than he had in mind.

He could see how much Harry scared for Peter, and that could become a problem if that wasn't dealt with.

_For a better world, you have to let some things go._

Regardless of such problems, Oscorp stil had to continue perishing with its researchs for the greater good, and the key for all of that was already in hands. The symbiote would be soon recovered from its host's body, opening doors for even more possibilities, and one of them was the recently started cloning project.

Norman was suddenly cut short from his thoughts as he began to cough violently on the chair, causing Matthew to fastly approach the table. "Is everything okay, my lord?"

"Not really..." He slowly calmed himself. "Just my little time that is now reaching its end." Harry benefited of his young resistance which Norman didn't possess anymore for a very long time.

Matthew nodded. "Mr Fiers called and asked me to warn you this thing called 'Symbiote' was localized, it was hiding in a church, and a containment team was already on its way to recover the material." He informed.

"That's very good to hear, indeed." Norman managed to smile despite his state." "Tell him that I'm on my way, and that he should check on Dr Warren regarding the serum."

"Will do." He grabbed Norman's plate and walked towards the kitchen.

_Peter Parker have to accept what I will offer, for his own __good_

* * *

"And that's basically how things happened since the spider my father created bit my neck." Peter finished explaining to Aunt May everything that happened over the years after meeting Connors, discovering the truth about his parents, and the whole thing with his blood and the black suit.

"I...you could have told me this before." May said from the chair besides Peter at the dinner room table. "You have too much weight on your shoulders, and there's a point where this weight becomes impossible to support."

Peter placed his hand over May's and gently caressed the skin. "After what happened to Uncle Ben - because of my actions, I didn't want to lose one more important people on my life, and revealing my identity would just put you in even more danger." He paused. "I almost lost Gwen because of that, and nowdays, I keep fighting even harder to avoid that."

"Ben's death wasn't your fault. He stood for what he believed so he decided to stop the robber because he felt it was his responsibility." May replied, reassuringly.

"I could have stopped that from happening, though." Peter stated, feeling guilty. No matter what people would say to comfort him, he knew that his Uncle's death was his own fault, and for that he couldn't forgive himself.

May placed both on his cheek. "Everyone makes mistakes and it's our duty to evolve into something greater because of them, Ben is not among us anymore, but we carry his memory and lessons along," She explained wisely. "You are the man that Ben always wanted you to be."

"Thank you, Aunt May." He kissed her pulse.

She moved her hand to the inner pocket in her pants and retrieved Peter's locket which he had forgotten inside the janitor's set of clothes he wore to get home. She gently placed it over her nephew's hand. "You can always count on us for everything."

Peter briefly eyed the locket before closing his hand. Means a lot."

"I also have to thank you for taking your time and explaining this to me as confusing as it may be." May raised from the chair, bringing along her empty cup of tea. She went towards the kitchen's sink. She finally understood the whole story regarding his parents, she could now move on from a previously unresolved mystery.

"Trust me, even I have a hard time figuring all this stuff out." Peter admitted.

Suddenly, slender arms wrapped themselves around his neck from behind. Gwen kissed the top of his hair. "Good morning." She smiled.

Aunt May turned on her shoulder. "Good morning dear."

"Slept well?" Gwen asked, grabbing Peter's cup and taking a sip from his coffee, standing behind him.

"You do have a very good couch there." May cleaned her hands with a small towel. "I really need one like that." She leaned on the kitchen's counter besides the wall that separated the dinning room from the cooking area.

Gwen placed the cup back to Peter's hand and replied, "We can go look for one like that someday if you are interested."

"We sure will." She smiled kindly.

Peter, on the other side was very happy for seeing the two most important persons on his life talking and laughing together despite the recent events.

"Have you checked his bandages?" Gwen played with his right ear.

"Not yet, Pete was explaining things to me, I completely forgot about them." May opened her purse over the table and retrieved her phone. She checked what time was. "I would, but I have to be on the hospital, I'm late as of now...can you do that favor for me, sweetheart?"

"Of course I will." She nodded, determined. "It's part of my job."

May placed her purse around her shoulder and approached the couple. "I have to go now."

Peter raised from his chair and hugged his Aunt for few couple of seconds, thankfully for what she did to him during the past night and for understanding why he needs to be Spider-Man and his reasons for keeping the truth away from her.

"Thanks for everything." He affirmed.

"Don't thank me; you can be all grow up, but you still are my responsibility." She replied. "Be careful out there."

"Eh, I'll try. Peter kissed her forehead. May later faced Gwen and embraced her ad well.

"Please continue taking care of my clumsy nephew. May said somber. "He's lost without you."

"Don't worry." Gwen whispered, sympathetically.

"See you guys later." She walked to the main door and later stepped outside, disappearing into the hallway after closing the door.

"She's lovely, isn't she?" Gwen asked. Peter kissed her cheek. She grabbed his hand and led him to the couch. "Let me take a look at your bandages, sit down in the couch." She ordered.

He did what she wanted. "Do I receive a free kiss if I behave?"

"Maybe." Gwen approached him and helped him lift his T-shirt, exposing his defined chest that she never got tired of seeing.

"Seeing something that you like?" Peter teased.

"I've seen.." Gwen sat next to him and tilted her head to the side. She said faux-annoyed. "...your chest in a better condition."

"Sorry ma'am." He apologized.

Gwen took her time to scan his bandages spread all over his chest and back. "Just some very little blood stains, but nothing to get worried about; you aren't suiting up for quite a time with that pierced shoulder."

He groaned in disapproval. She had a point. "Fair enough." He continued gently, "I have to recover the suit and go after Fiers so that nobody gets in danger _again_, and we can live our lives without somebody trying to kill me..._again."_

Gwen looked up to his big brown doe eyes that she could lose herself just by staring it. "Maybe one day things won't be so difficult for us, maybe one day we can take comfort in just knowing of our existence." She said softly.

"I would love that. " He leaned closer and kissed her lips, making Gwen lie down as he pressed his weight over herdown on the couch causing the remote controller to fall into the floor and turning the TV on. He said, "I want to take you on a date."

"With summer arriving, and you finishing college, maybe we could spend some days at my mom's beach house at California? Just the two of us." She suggested.

"Deal." Peter sucked her lower lip. "I would also get to see you using a lovely bikini." He smirked, playfully.

"Such a dork you are." She wrapped both arms around his neck. "Maybe wouldn't go that far."

He arched an eyebrow. "Don't pretend that you don't like when I admire you."

"Well, as long as your eyes don't move off your head, then I'm good." Gwen caressed his messy hair. Noticing some disturbance, she slightly turned to the TV's direction, seeing some news about Spider-Man. "That's about you for sure." She gestured to the device.

Peter returned to his previous position on the couch, accompanied by Gwen and grabbed the remote controlled back from the floor and raised the sound's volume.

_"Last night New York's citizens got alarmed by seeing the city's protector battling what many are now calling the "Green Goblin". The flying figure that resembles an old Oscorp project for the military got defeated. We couldn't identify the man in time since he was transported to one of RavenCroft units on the city, people are now demanding investigation over the now infamous big corporation, Oscorp Industries."_

Peter muted the TV again and looked to his wife. "I wouldn't mind seeing this corporation going down...most of my problems come from there."

Gwen's eyes were fixed at the device. "It looks like they can come up with some good stuff, but everything they touch gets somehow corrupted."

"Exactly." He agreed. "...my father did the right decision by leaving it."

Gwen finally met his gaze. She asked softly, "Do you wonder how things would be if your parents were alive?"

"I haven't really thought about that." He glanced the open window on the wall next to the couch. "What is done...is done, but I'm sure they would love to have you around."

"I understand, honey." Gwen kissed his good shoulder. She decided to change topics. "What's up with Harry?"

"Honestly? I don't know, he seemed so true about asking for forgiveness, and then he shows like that and attacks me?" Peter replied. "That wasn't Harry, something happened to him...something bad."

"You are going to figure it out." Gwen hugged her husband closely. "I'm going to change into some casual clothes so that we can buy you a new phone and go to Ryker's."

"Can I watch?" He bit his lower lip.

Gwen stood up and gave him a cold glare, before walking away. "Perv." She muttered.

Peter laughed and gazed TV which was showing some amateur footage of his encounter with Harry. Ren appeared close to his feet and jumped over the couch to lie himself over his owner's lap.

Peter caressed the puppy's skin, but he couldn't stop thinking about Harry. He needed to discover what really happened with him.

* * *

**Oscorp Tower - New York**

"I'm getting bored." The Russian stated. He desired nothing but just to get inside of the Rhino mech and shoot some things, causing some destruction in the "beloved" city was one of his main goals. He couldn't express in words what he really felt about the country.

"The armor is already fixed so I'm good as ever." Adrien informed.

"So we have everything that we need? Can we finish the spider and vanish?" Herman wondered, anxious.

"You know what? I'm kinda liking this team idea." Quentin replied.

Ambitious as he was, a team would come in handy for his future plans after killing Spider-Man. Breaking into the unknown, it will happen. He then thought.

"Are you serious?" Aleksei asked, now curious about it. "We would need a proper name."

"Don't let it go to your empty head." Herman joked.

Aleksei, choosing to ignore the insult, continued, "We are technically six with that Osborn guy so..."

"Sinister Six!" Quentin quickly interjected, pointing his finger to the Russian's direction and receiving an amused stare from everyone. "What? I like it."

"That's cheesy as hell." Herman sighed.

"I like it too." Aleksei agreed. "What about you sparkles?" He turned to Max's side. He was calmly standing besides him.

"It's stupid." Max replied through his burned voice.

"That's some kind of yes, then." Aleksei shrugged.

Fiers unexpectedly walked inside the room, surprising everyone. "If you all stop acting like a child, can we talk about today?"

"Shoot." Quentin placed his legs over the table.

Fiers stopped in front of them and explained, "The time arrived; go out there and bring Spider-Man's body to me, and after that is accomplished, you are going to receive a good paycheck and passports to go out of the country." He reminded, "I want the body intact, that's not up to debate."

"Well...sounds good enough." Herman nodded.

"Then let's go kick some ass." Toomes stood up as everyone headed towards their respective chambers to gear up for the grand confront.

* * *

**Brooklyn's Bridge Park - New York**

Harry approached the edge of the east river. He was now close to the rocks where he and Peter skipped rocks after they firstly saw each other again, it had been eight years, far too much.

Now, Harry wanted to just stop for a moment, and catch some fresh air which was something he hadn't done for quite some time. The location was the perfect place, and the sound of the river running in front of him only collaborated to a more tranquil experience.

He looked down to the water, seeing his now rather pale expression combined with a bruise under his chin.

_You ain't gotta explain anything for me man...we both got dumped_.

Those words perfectly reflected their lives, and why their friendship was so strong. The kind of a bond Harry never experienced after his mother died and before meeting Peter for the first time - when Norman had brought him to Richard's house so that they could get to know each other.

Maybe things wouldn't ever get better for him, maybe he would always live on emotional misery, but he was now sure that he needed make up for his mistakes, and stop committing more by being his father's puppet. He wasn't his family, never

He would start today, things would finally reach its ending, once and for all.

Harry grabbed a rock among the others and adjusted his aim, before throwing at the river with the goal of beating Peter's _worldwide_ record, but failing by a few inches.

_If only I had more time..._

Harry moved his hand inside his jacket and retrieved his cellphone. He opened the list of contacts, and scrolled down, searching for Peter's number. He began to record one and final message to his old friend.

* * *

**Oscorp Industries**

Fiers stared the pod in the seventh chamber that contained the symbiote which was recently tracked it down. Spider-Man last sightings led the containment team to the church where he somehow took of the sticky material.,

The black goo floated and stirred itself inside a small sphere made of reinforced glass. It searched for the nearest host so that it could bond again after being removed from it's original host. The symbiote was everything Fiers ever wanted since he made a deal with Norman Osborn.

The perfect creation that just needed to copy the Spider's abilities, but that got put into hold when Norman desperately went to great lengths to find the cure. The deal was simple enough, he financed the symbiote and the rest of the weapons that would eventually return to him once the Osborn's personal goal was realized by using such weapons.

Peter Parker's greatest battle was about to end for good, but Fiers' was only beginning.

* * *

**Ryker's Island**

After being escorted by security guards through half of the prison, Peter stepped inside the small visitor's doom along with Gwen who accompanied him all the way through.

A single rectangular could be seen. Connors was sat in a chair in the side that faced the single entrance, while two others seats in front of the door for the pair were empty.

Peter greeted, "Connors." He let go of Gwen's hand as they both sat down next to each other.

"Peter...Ms Stacy." Connors looked up to Gwen who was surprisingly calm despite the fact that she was standing in front of the man who killed her father a few years back in time. "What happened with you?" Curt moved his gaze to Peter, noticing dark bruises on his cheeks and lips.

Peter placed both hands over the table. "Harry."

"I see...before you tell me what's your reasom to be here, I wanted to thank you for taking care of my son...means a lot to me." He said gratefully.

"No problem." Peter smiled and looked to the woman besides him. She was quietly listening their conversation without actually saying a single word. He returned his eyes back to Connors and asked, "Do you know something about this material scientifically called 'symbiote'...?"

Connors widened his eyes by the name's mention. It had been ages since he heard it for the last time. "Y-Yes, I do...me and your father created it, but we later archived the whole thing since we thought it was too dangerous, Norman Osborn wanted us to focus in the spiders." He revealed. "Why? I thought it had been archived for good."

Peter shook his head. "No, it isn't, before we fought, Harry told me they planned the symbiote to bond with me so that it could get me weaker over the time till the day when they are going after me." Peter explained.

Curt frowned. "That was never its objective, but absorbs the host abilities making them even better - like a DNA imprint, it enhances the host in ways you can't even imagine...but there's was some side effects due to such quickly development cycle." Connors clarified. "Did you get in touch with the substance?"

Peter rubbed his neck rather awkwardly. "Yeah - I did...but I took it off the past night after seeing my-" Peter suddenly stopped what he was about to say. It was too much personal, and he wasn't feeling good by telling Connors that, even Gwen didn't know about it. "I just realized it was taking control over my thoughts, so I decide to take it off my body which was something incredibly hard to do, it should come with an warrant."

"Wow...the symbiote wouldn't want his host to go away after that much of a time, you were like a drug to it. Connors questioned, "Is the thing with you?"

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "It escaped and I need help to track it down, it's too dangerous to give the liberty of crawling freely around the city."

"I don't know how to help you, it's probably hiding somewhere high in the city, waiting for the perfect host to bond once-"

A officer opened the door, interrupting Connors. He annocunte, "Time's over."

Peter nodded to the guard, before looking back to the ex scientist in front of him. "Thanks for the info." He raised from the chair, holding Gwen's hand and gently bringing her along.

"Anytime." Connors observed the couple walking towards the door. "Gwen?"

She turned on her shoulder. "Yes?"

"I never had the opportunity of saying this, but now that I have...I'm truly sorry for what I did to your father."

"Yeah..." Gwen stood quietly on her spot, thinking. She nodded and stepped out the room with Peter as they holded hands.

* * *

**Oscorp Industries - Manhattan**

Harry's elevator arrived into the Special Projects section as he stepped out of the small space, seeing every chamber opened and empty besides the seventh one which was always opaque, making hard to see what was on the other side.

The group was already out, and it's just a matter of time until a huge showdown goes down in the city. Peter would need help, and that was the opportunity Harry could use to make things right.

_He is not going to make it..._

Harry walked to the seventh chamber and tapped the security codes in the small screen next to the door. It opened and revealed what looked to be a pod containing the black goo which Peter was supposed to be wearing it. He scrolled down the files in the screen, searching for answers.

Apparently, it was never meant to weaken Peter, but just to copy his gifs while making them even more powerful.

Fiers had lied all this time behind his back.

Frustrated and determined, Harry grabbed a goblun vial from the spider chamber and stopped in front of his armor. He had to destroy the venom vials and the symbiote along with everything else that could harm someone.

That would help in exposing Oscorp's true colors.

"Kari?" He called the VI and removed his jacket, dropping it into the floor.

_"Yes, Mr Osborn?"_ Kari responded throught the room's speakers.

"Is the recorded message sent to its destination?" He inquired.

_"Affirmative."_

"Thanks, that will be all."

Kari said_, "Logging you out, have a good evening, Mr Osborn." _

Harry opened his chamber, facing the huge glider. He injected half of a vial into his left arm and quickly entered the armor before the side effects could do something to his. The armor locked and adjusted itself over his body as it started to heal him at the same time. The neural headset was set close to his ear. It slightly entered his flesh.

Between the commotion happening inside the chamber, a sound of door opening came from the elevator as Fiers and Norman stepped out of it, wearing confused expressions all over their faces. "What are you doing, Harry? Norman asked from hs wheelchair.

"I'm ending your legacy." Harry aimed his glider to the chamber containing the spider venom behind Norman. He fired a small missile towards the target. It passed right next to Norman and stopped inside the chamber, causing a small explosion and making Norman fall off his wheelchair and into the ground.

Fiers' landed against a wall. The fire quickly began spreading across the room.

"That's our cure!" Norman exclaimed desperately, seeing the last vials that needed Peter's blood being incinerated.

"Yes...it is" Harry slowly flew out of the chamber, stopping in the middle of the room. He spoke, "Your bloodthirsty desire for power brought you this...your time is over by a long time now, father." He turned to the symbiote's chamber and fired some couple of bullets at it.

"No...no, stop..." Norman tried to stand up, but he didn't possessed the necessary strength to achieve that. His vision began to slowly fade out because of the smoke that was getting inside the section. The fire was destroying everything he had battled for.

_"Don't try to stop me."_ His son creating a hole in the wall that led into the city was the last image that Norman saw before finally blacking out.

* * *

**Parker's Apartment - Manhattan**

After getting back from their trip at the general store and buying what the apartment required among a new cellphone for Peter, the couple stepped inside the kitchen, carrying plastic bags with their, before placing them over the countertop set in the middle of the room.

Peter noticed Gwen was rather quiet. She looked to be lost in her thoughts when they're not interacting with each other. No doubt, seeing Connors again certainly opened a few closed wounds on Gwen. It showed on her behavior.

While Gwen unpacked their purchases, He approached his wife from behind and wrapped both arms around her waist and rested his hands over her stomach. "Is everything alright?" He brushed his cheek against hers.

Gwen relaxed herself on his grip. She leaned her head back to his shoulder, feeling a delicate kiss being planted on her neck. She began, "Seeing Connors was...I felt anger and hate for what he did to me and my family, it's a feeling that I'm not used to." She explained, ashamed.

"Hey, cheer up, you're human." Peter nuzzled her cheek. "I know what you mean, it's a natural process, and I felt the same way when my Uncle got killed - but at least here, Connors apologized and regrets his actions, even if that won't ever bring your father back."

"I suppose you're right." Gwen placed both hands over her husband's which were set over ber stomach. They stood like in silence, just enjoying each other's warmth.

Some minutes later, Peter slowly started to move on a rhythm Gwen instantly recognized. He gently spun her around so that he could meet her deep green eyes. He placed a hand around on the back of her waist while the other held her right hand.

Playing along, Gwen gently laid her left hand over Peter's shoulder as he recreated the silent dance they made during the wedding's reception. She could imagine the song playing for them.

Gwen let Peter slowly guide her through the living room. "You surely have this talent of making me like you even more after every day."

"Is that even possible...?" He tilted his head to the side, curious.

"You're proving it right now." She leaned closed and slowly kissed his lower lip. She hugged his neck, bringing him even more closer.

He released a low a moan as the kiss deepened. Peter slipped his hand under the back of Gwen's shirt and began trailing circles on the soft and creamy skin.

"Peter..." Gwen mumbled, being assaulted by his lips. Against her desire, she broke the kiss and saw Peter with a hurt-mock face that only made her chuckle. "Look, you aren't healed enough for such activity, wait some days and I will be all yours." She winked.

"What are you insinuating, Mrs Parker?" Peter questioned, playfully.

"Me? Nothing, I meant as of all my Spider-Man plushies."

Peter smirked. As he leaned closer, he heard a snoring sound coming from not far away from them. He turned his head to the side and spotted Ren snoring heavily from the L-shaped couch.

Gwen chuckled. She played with the hair in the back of his head. "So, the puppy do becomes his owner's image after some time, myth confirmed."

He narrowed his eyes at Gwen's. "I don't snore."

"You actually do when you are very - very tired, but it's a rare thing to happen anyways so I let it slip."

"Does it bother you...?" He asked, rather seriously.

"Of course not." She shook her head. "I hardly ever notice it."

"Well then, I'm glad so." Peter sighed, relieved.

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "We should see what we're cooking tonight."

"Sure, I just-" Peter was cut short after a painful tilt triggered inside his head. He closed his eyes and gasped in pain. He released Gwen and took a few steps away from her as he moved his hands to his hand, trying to contain the pain.

"Hey - Hey, talk to me!" Gwen grabbed his arm, gently.

Peter panted heavily. He exhaled deeply and finally looked at her. "I...I felt something...and when this happens, it's because something bad is about to happen, but...this was one of the most intense ones I've ever had, since I saw you falling down." He explained.

"So, danger?"

"More than that." Peter carefully took her arm off him and walked towards the couch, grabbing the remote controller and turning the TV on. Peter couldn't believe what his eyes.

Footage of a chaotic New York was being covered through a helicopter point of view which was far away from the battle zone. Cars were destroyed and were also covered by flames, parts of some buildings were totally ruined along with the asphalt which was totally damaged in some portion. A crashed police chopper could be also seen burning in the ground close and next to a mechanized mech Peter instantly recognized.

Some guy wearing yellow jacket and mask along with brown pants was firing blasts towards some random cars. The sky was contrasted by an intense orange light coming from the flames which only increased as the group caused even more destruction.

He never though that they would cause such huge event just in order to kill him. It was just bait.

_"This is the latest report, a group denominated 'The Sinister Six' is causing mass destruction from where they walk by, leaving thousands of innocent civilians and police officers injured on the way. It's been almost twenty minutes and there isn't any sighting of Spider-Man yet on this violent night, the national guard is yet to comment on the event._" The reporter inside the helicopter informed, _"We also received an information that some part of Oscorp Tower suffered a small explosion and it's currently under heavy fire; the fire department along with an Anti-Bomb squad are already on their way._

_I arrested all these guys, now they're out, and after me. Harry was right._

"I need to go." Peter turned on his shoulder and walked past Gwen and towards the bedroom. She was shocked at the news.

She tagged along. "B-But you can't even walk without limping and your shoulder is..." She stopped on her words, desperation began to affect her thoughts.

Gwe knew Peter wasn't in any fighting condition by any means, and the confrontation would be six against one. The odds of him overcoming those threats alone were unlikely, and Gwen didn't want to lose him after everything they had been through together since they met for the first time. "I don't want to lose you..!" She stopped behind him and hugged herself.

Peter turned on his back and approached her. He gently placed his hand on Gwen's chin and made her look back to him. "Those people need me, they won't stop until I arrive, and there isn't anyone else that can stop them besides me."

"What about the freaking Avengers?!"

He shook his head. "If they were here, we would know; it might be a suicide encounter, but that never stopped me before, you have to understand." He could see through her eyes how much in pain Gwen was, and that surely didn't ease things for him.

She bit her lower lip. "Promise me you're going to get back to me - alive, promise me, dammit!" She tried to force him by slightly pushing back his good shoulder.

"You know it doesn't work that way, I can't promise that but only that I will give my best try to stop them." Peter moved a lock of her golden hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead, reassuringly.

Gwen instantly hugged her husband without any kind of warning . She didn't let him go for a few couple of minutes, his words were indeed true and such promise doesn't depend only of him. "Please be careful." She whispered.

Peter nodded and squeezed her hand one last time. He resumed his original destination and eventually reached their wardrobe. He opened it and moved his many formal suits to the sides, spotting a more specific one.

_There it is..._

The sensation of just seeing such meaningful piece of spandex was overwhelming. A piece he abandoned for a long time in exchange for more power and predominance over the enemies he encountered, and that wasn't what he wanted people to think when seeing Spider-Man swinging through the skyscrapers.

He too his shirt off and tossed it inside the wardrobe and grabbed the suit. He slipped it's chest part down his torso, feeling somehow rejuvenated and more powerful.

Gwen observed his changing from the edge of their bed. Peter Benjamin Parker was a unique person who's willing to sacrifice his body for people he never met before, and never ask for something in return. She couldn't wish for a better husband.

Now fully under the suit and mask, Peter closed the wardrobe and turned back to Gwen. He kneeled in front of her. "Don't follow me, okay?"

Gwen hesitated at first. She placed both hands against his neck and slowly pulled the mask up until his lips were fully exposed. She leaned closer and kissed them briefly, before breaking the kiss and covering his mouth again. "I will be waiting for you."

Peter stood up and walked towards their window. He opened it and felt the cold wind brushing against the suit's fabric, making him feel lighter than ever. "We still have a dinner to cook." He leaned down and jumped off the apartment, feeling his shoulder but totally ignoring the pain as he left Gwen back at their home.

She curled on the bed's covers, afraid of turning the TV on and seeing him getting injured as the time passed.

_Please be okay._

* * *

**New York - Fifth Avenue**

The streets were merged in darkness, the only opposition being the burning light of the flames that were spread across the street where Aleksei passed by with the robot he worked for quite a time. The colossal structure was currently standing on it's legs. It had been carried to the street inside of a truck's compartment he destroyed so that any clues couldn't be found in case their primary objective failed.

Herman stood behind him, protecting himself from any danger the police could cause while they keep stirring chaos to bring Spider-Man's attention. "Watch your flank." His ears were already screaming due to the amount of bullets his partner kept shooting.

Some SWAT truck among with some police cars suddenly stopped some meters away from Aleksei who keep firing at everyone besides civilians, they quickly formed a barricade and pointed their guns towards the unstoppable mech.

_"This is your only warning! Stop firing and get out of the mech!" _The chief ordered through the speaker.

Aleksei found the situation as a whole - funny. He raised his mechanical arms to open fire but changed his plans after some blue figure materialized itself above and behind the officers and fired dozes of bolts to each one of them, severely injuring the opposition, if not worse.

"They were mine...!" Aleksei stated through the armor speakers.

"Too slow." Max replied coldly began consuming what was left of energy inside the light poles.

Herman interjected, "Calm down or you won't be of any use for us."

"Any sighting of the bug?" Toomes asked, using the armor's mic while flying above them and close to the buildings.

Someone suddenly landed on his back and formed a web-line across Toomes' neck like if he was riding a horse. "You mean this bug...?!" Spider-Man pushed the web back to him, causing Adrien to accidentally fly backwards and smashing themselves against the building's windows, getting inside and crashing over some work tables.

As they clumsily rolled against the floor, Adrien quickly recomposed himself and began running towards the window since he couldn't do anything at ground level. He jumped out just to get his feet stuck in a biocable as he once again fell into the floor.

"Where do you think that you are going, honey?" Spider-Man jumped over him so that he couldn't escape. He punched the helmet over and over again, trying to shatter it's reinforced and opaque glass.

Arriving through ceiling's lighters, Max quickly wrapped his electric and powerful arms around Spider-Man's neck from behind. He released a full charge of his power over his enemy who felt his muscles and bones getting torn. He moved violently moved his back and headbutted Max, causing him to move backwards, freeing the hero from his electrifying grasp.

"Ouch! That hurts!" Spider-Man stood up, fighting his muscles which were heavily contracted.

Noticing the advantage over Spider-Man who was still stunned, Toomes raised from the floor and grabbed him by the neck. He flew out of the building and carried him along. After gaining a considerable speed, Toomes grabbed Spider-Man's collar with both hands and used him as shield as they collided against some wall and cut through the building like a sharp scissor can do to a paper. Peter held his opponent's hands and tried to push them away, but with each collision, he lost the required strength to achieve such thing.

They eventually exited back to the city through the other side, but Toomes didn't want to cool down and flew upwards into the sky till there wasn't any reachable building while punching Spider-Man all the way above.

Once high enough, be freed Spider-Man from his grasp and observed him plummeting to his death.

Down in the streets, Rhino fired three missiles towards the falling spider and hoped to blow it into tiny meat pieces. Spider-Man evaded the first one by spinning himself to the side and in the air. He precisely jumped over the second one just to fire a single biocable at the third missile which passed right next him. He pulled the missile back with all his strength and directed it at the robot.

_Son of a.._. He sighed from the cockpit as the missile approached him and finally exploded right onto of the armor.

Through now the cracked lenses of his mask, Spider-Man saw Rhino being engulfed by a cloud of smoke and fired down in the streets. When he began falling in the buildings levels, he fired a single webline at one of them and held it tightly inside his hand, hoping that it would slow his fall down, it did, but he still fastly reached the ground and rolled over it until his back collided against a taxi.

He slowly shook his head, feeling as if his brain was loosen inside his head. He took some short time to analyze the suit, spotting a sharp opening on his ankles and right fist, along with a cracked left lense and a tiny bit of his chin uncovered. "Mother Hubbard..."

Spider-Man's break was interrupted once the taxi behind was violently tossed to the side as Rhino appeared behind him, and angry. "This is the last time you mess with me...!" He used one pawn to grab the stunned hero and lifted him into the air, before repeatedly smashing him against the concrete over and over again -literally trying to break the beloved hero.

Electro landed in front of them and observed the hole that was being made on the ground with his rival's body. Herman watched everything with arms crossed. They all witnessed what would be remembered as the death of The Amazing Spider-Man.

As the seconds went by, Peter could feel his backbones getting crushed - there wasn't anything he could since the robot was much more stronger and it currently had the advantage over him. With every landing, the more strength he lost.

When they least expected, an orange device - in format of a ball - suddenly landed exactly inside the mech's blind spot which was its back, and exploded from within, causing Aleksei to lose his control over the armor for a few couple of minutes and release Spider-Man into the ground.

The hero's suits was now totally damaged, especially on his back.

Harry appeared high above in the sky. He aimed the glider at Max and fired a couple of bullets, making him disappear out of sight through the city's light poles. Herman ran away and hid himself behind a car while he tried to come up with a plan to deal with traitor.

Harry used the glider to descend to ground level and close to Peter who was having trouble to stand as his body was already starting to betray his wishes. "Peter..."

He looked up, surprised for seeing a more healthier Harry saving him from Aleksei. He moved a hand across his abdomen and slowly stood on his left knee, part of his right eye could be seen through a hole in the lense. "Harry...? What do you want?"

"I figured you would need some help, and I guess I was right." Harry replied.

"Why now...?" Peter stood up.

Harry said sincerely, "Because...in the end, I still have to take care of my little brother, whether you like it or not."

Peter stood in silence. He was back. "Harry, I-"

"What did you do to my armor...?!" Aleksei raged from the torn cockpit which was currently recovering its power.

Harry looked back to Peter and replied,"I know that I did bad things to you, and you are certainly right for hating me; my father is back, controlled everything all this time, I don't want to be like him and I want to help you with this, one last time. "

"Your father? He isn't dead...?"

"There's no time to explain right now, but I sent-" Harry noticed Toomes circling around some building as he flew towards them. He quickly ordered, "Grab my hand!" He offered hand.

Peter struggled for a few seconds. He didn't know if he should trust him or not. "No kills...!" He grabbed Harry's hand as Harry quickly spun the glider around and threw Peter towards the incoming threat.

Spider-Man raised his fist on mid-air and violently punched Adrien, causing his mask to shatter in half. Unconsciously flying past him, Spider-Man fastly fired a webline at the armor's back and pushed himself towards Adrien just to kick and destroy its left wing. He precisely landed against a building's wall while Adrien crashed over a unoccupied car in the streets.

He saw Harry fastly flying through the street as Max chased him with incoming bolts. He also noticed Herman sprinting towards the closest manhole, before removing it and jumping inside the hole.

Peter evolved Toomes inside a cocoon of webbing over the car and followed Herman while he could. Harry bought him some time, and that's all he needed.

_I'm getting all of you son of a kittens._

* * *

**Oscorp Industries - Manhattan**

Norman Osborn regained his consciousness, his eyes opened themselves to a destroyed room filled with smoke and fire. His work was gone by the hands of his own son, Harry Osborn. The cure was no more, and what was left of the spider-venom was totally gone for good. He gasped and slowly turned to the side. He noticed that Fiers wasn't inside the room anymore, and the pod containg the symbiote was also gone for good.

Norman began to accept his failure as he allowed the exhaustion take over his body, and before his vision finally faded out, he saw saw a small and shiny green vial lying in the ground just a few inches from him.

That was the last vial which was going to prolong his life for a few more couple of hours, and it would give the possibility to get the key for his salvation. Norman dragged himself over the floor filled with burnt debris and finally reached for the via. He pressed it against his shoulder and injected the substance inside his body as it mixed itself with a much worse developed disease than Harry's.

His skin got even more greenish as his muscles abruptly expanded themselves, strengthening his once fragile body. Claws replaced what once was a hand, and his eye's pupils changed into a glowing and fiery red tone. His shirt got ripped due to his increased muscular mass. He was now becoming the ultimate monster that was locked inside him, the Ultimate Goblin.

* * *

**Parker's Apartment **

"Just stay at home, okay?" Gwen begged MJ through her phone while she curled in the bed sheets, waiting for her husband to arrive. To say that she was nervous would have been a monumental understatement.

_"Okay...I will; is everything alright, Gwen?"_ MJ questioned, noticing some concern behind her friend's voice.

Gwen sighed, tired. "Peter is out there, taking pictures of the whole confusion, and I'm deeply concerned because of that." She hugged his pillow, feeling his natural scent.

_"I'm sure he will be alright." _MJ said reassuringly. _"Spider-Man is already there taking care of these guys; the police isn't interfering so far, though."_

"I hope you are right." Gwen glanced their open window that illuminated the dark room through the star's light coming far - far away in the galaxy.

MJ suggested, "_Have you talked with his Aunt? Maybe she knows something. _

"I tried, but I think her phone's battery died or she must be really busy at the Hospital right now." She replies. "With what's happening tonight, that's very likely."

_"Just wait for him, don't get too stressed about this." _MJ paused. _"You know your man, nothing can stop him, right?"_

She smiled. "I guess so."

MJ chuckled. She said gently, "_I have to go now, beautiful."_ She continued, _"Try to catch some sleep, he will be back before you even know it."_

"I will try, night Mary." Gwen exhaled deeply.

_"Good night, much love."_

Gwen turned the call down and placed her phone back to her bedstand. She laid herself on her back and kept glancing the ceiling in deep thoughts. That's a life she should had been already used to, but the fact is that she can't ever get used to this sort of situation. Sometimes she wondered if having a fully good night sleep wrapped on her husband's strong arms without worrying about anything else would ever be possible.

_Husband..._ She smiled by the word. Since they met at highschool, Gwen had never expected they would become a married couple and stick together for such long time. She loved him since day one of their relationship, but that was a situation she hadn't thought of before moving together to England with Peter Parker, that was certainly a different experience, a experience she loved and she would always wish to continue for the rest of her life.

There still is so many things she wants to accomplish with Peter at her side. She wanted to celebrate their anniversaries, travel together, make love at some deserted beach, maybe start a company that could sustain them, sat down next to each other at their porch when they're old, and one day, maybe have the result of their love - a beautiful baby that shared their best traits; a family. She knew he wanted that, and she also did.

Determined and against Peter's wishes, Gwen got off the bed and picked her black jacket and quickly wore it. She walked to the living room, caressed Ren's soft skin and grabbed the apartment's keys. She stepped outside and headed towards the elevator.

Gwen was unable to just wait for Peter while he fought the most dangerous criminals on the world that wanted to kill him.

* * *

**Abandoned Subway - Fifth Avenue**

After descending a rather long stairwell, Spider-Man carefully walked next to the metallic lines. He searched Herman who apparently was trying to hide in the place. Everything was pretty much dark but, Peter was actually seeing most objects - probably because of his powers coming from the modified spider.

He panted heavily. His right arm was full of cuts along with the ruined spandex that covered his back. Peter suddenly fell on his knees, lifted his mask just enough to expose his mouth and spat some blood into the floor. He took a quick breath and lowered the mask back to his neck.

As Spider-Man stood up, he noticed a dark small figure running across the lines far away from him, before disappearing inside of a very small abandoned train in the tracks.

"Hey!" Spider-Man called. He began following what looked to be a kid who seemed to be sobbing. He stepped inside the train and carefully searched for the child. The lights started to blink as he passed by, checking every corner. He noticed that someone was crouched and hiding besides the seat with her head buried on her knees. "Hey, little one, let me help you." He extended his hand.

The mysterious blonde girl looked up to the man crouched in front of her. "You can't help me...everyone around you dies."

"What...?" He asked, surprised. How could a random kid reach such conclusion? "Look-" Peter got interrupted when his special sense abruptly fired, warning him of the incoming seismic blast coming from outside and towards the compartment.

It violently made the compartment roll over with Spider-Man inside and later crashed against a wall - debris fell from tunnel's ceiling and landed over the train and tracks.

"Bastard..." Spider-Man cursed and groaned in pain. He slowly got up and began searching for the kid who wasn't present anymore. "Am I seeing things...?"

After feeling a sharp pain coming from his ribcage, Spider-Man looked down to his torso and spotted a little piece of metal carved inside his flesh. _God...! _He panted heavily and proceed to remove the piece of metal. The pain only increased with every inch that was slowly brought outside.

"Herman...!" He shouted angrily, before violently removing the sharp metal. He limped his way out of the train and saw nothing but a green cloud around him. He kept turning in circles - suddenly there wasn't anything more to be seen.

Spider-Man was standing over grass and he faced dozens of graveyards set next to one another, forming a horizontal line across the cemetery that didn't seemed to reach the end.

His eyes widened once he began reading the texts that were written on the stones._ Gwen Maxine Stacy Parker - Benjamin Parker - May Reilly Parker - Richard Laurence Parker - Mary Terese Parker_

Peter felt his legs get weakened and his heart to rose in panic. He fell down to his knees and touched Gwen's stone which was the one in front of him. "No...this is not true, I..." He embraced Gwen's stone. "I didn't fail you...I...I am so sorry..."

He felt the surface of a cold glove touching the back of his head. Why don't you join them?" Herman asked, ready to fire at the target.

Quentin surged from the cloud in front of Peter, wearing his mixed green-purple armor along with a small white helmet. "Haven't you done enough, Spider-Man? It's time to rest."

Aftee gathering his confused thoughts and piecing them together, Spider-Man finally realized what was going on. He slowly leaned his head back and against the glove. He quickly tilted his head to the side, grabbed the glove, charged and pointed it at Quentin who was standing in front of them. The blast hit the illusionist's face who fastly flew against the wall and collapsed into the dusty ground.

Herman escaped Spider-Man's grasp by jumping backwards. He furiously started to fire blasts towards the vigilante. Spider-Man had to jump wall to wall as the place began to crumble.

"You are going to get us killed, you stupid moron...!" Spider-Man exclaimed. He landed behind him.

"Shut up...!" He turned on his back and directed both hands at Spider-Mam who spun to the left, causing the blast to accidentally hit inflammable pipes which held the gas and affecting the whole network inside the abandoned tracks.

"Goddamnit, Herman!"

Overloaded, he pipe behind Herman's back exploded and quickly filled with fire station where the three fighters were. The orangle blaze was reflected on the shattered lenses of Peter's mask as he began to run away. He fired a biocable near the manhole he came from, trying to escape such unstoppable force.

* * *

**Fifth Venue**

After taking a taxi to the closest area possible, Gwen sprinted through the enormous crowd that observed the fight happening some meters away from them. Only a police fence kept them in check. Gwen approached one of the officers in front of the barricade. He already assumed a defensive position in case if the blonde woman tried to walk past them.

"This is the limit, ma'am." The man wearing his klevar set stated while raising his hand at the woman.

Gwen could see from miles away what looked to be Harry ontop of his glider, fighting Max and avoiding his energy blasts. Rhinowasn't making any moves and Aleksei was locked inside the cockpit - unable to get out.

"Where's Spider-Man? " Gwen asked the officer blocking her path. "Why you are not helping him?"

"We have direct orders to avoid engaging and contain the area in order to preserve lives while Spider-Man is handling those guys, a response team are already on their way." He informed, professionally.

Gwen said aghast, "So you are just gonna stand here and do nothing? He's in danger!"

"Ma'am, please..." A tremor coming from underneath the asphalt stopped the officer from completing his sentence as the ground where the battle was happening violently began to crumble, forming a small crater and causing every single manhole in the whole avenue to suddenly jump as fire came out from them.

Some people fell onto the floor because of the tremor while others just kneeled down, fearing another occurrence. Gwen managed to stay up and following Harry with her eyes as he flew higher to avoid being caught on the blast.

The officer recomposed himself and instantly received an information coming from the radio on his suit.

_"All units, an unidentified green creature is jumping building to building and is apparently heading towards the Fifth Avenue. He has destroyed one of our choppers; do not engage, I repeat- do not engage."_

Terrified by the possibility that the explosion could have caught Peter, Gwen tried to sprint past the guard but he quickly wrapped one arm around her waist and kept the desperate woman from going any further.

"Let me go!" Gwen demanded, still trying to free herself but the man was physically much stronger.

"This is for your own security...!" He stated, resisting her aggressiveness. She suddenly calmed herself after seeing a small glimpse of hope.

Harry ceased from dodging Max's attacks and descended back to the streets and began searching for his partner. He looked down to the hole's location where debris covered a huge portion of the street. A small ruined and covered by spandex hand pushed some rocks to the sides as the figure slowly emerged himself from the destroyed rocks.

Spider-Man crouched over the pieces of concretes with his suit totally open in many areas. The left lense wasn't there anymore, and the right one had a much more noticeable crack in the center. His right cheek and hand were fully exposed along with his suit's back which was filled of cuts, parts of his skin could be seen bleeding.

Breathing became something hard do since he got pierced by the piece of metal. He felt as if his entire body was read to fall dead on the ground weren't for his strong willpower that now carried his broken body.

Peter looked up and saw Harry Osborn not far away in the sky as he stopped and also glanced him. After everything they did towards to each other, they still managed to reunite and fight together despite their differences. They defeated everyone together - even if Peter wasn't able to actually save both Quentin and Herman.

Another failure on his shoulders.

Everything suddenly happened so quickly as Max materialized himself behind Harry and violently released two blue blasts at his back. Harry fell off glider due to the impact and crashed against a destroyed car before slipping to the side and reaching the firm ground.

Harry wiped the blood coming from his mouth with his thumb. He stared Max as raised his hands ready to fire the final blow. "In the end, you surely need my mercy, but I don't feel merciless." Max stated.

That's when Harry's body froze in horror once he saw the green and spiky monstrosity jumping from building to building before finally throwing himself over Electro as they both fell together onto the floor.

The huge green figure - almost as the same height as the Lizard, but a little more higher and stronger - stood over Max. He tried to free himself by charging electricity into the monster, but it wasn't really feeling anything.

The visitor placed both hands against Max's head and pressed them together with a huge grin spread across his deadly face. Max screamed in agony for a brief time before exploding himself into a huge amount of sparkles that vanished within the cold air.

"Pathetic..." Norman grinned. His facial features were totally changed, a much more larger build, longer chin among with the short spikes on the sides of his head, not mentioning the huge and powerful claws.

Harry stared the monster's flaming eyes, causing the realization of who he was instantly trigger on his mind. Those unmistakeable eyes - eyes that ignored his presence for a long time, his own very father.

'Harry...?" Peter appeared next to him, covering the cut set on his ribcage with his hand. "What is that?" He glanced the monster who slowly began walking towards them.

"That's my father." Harry leaned down and grabbed the green blade from the floor that had fallen from his now destroyed glider. He masterfully spun it with his head. "He's after you, again."

Peter coughed heavily. "Me?" He asked through his cracked voice.

"Your body to be more precise." Harry added.

"I thought he already had what he wanted." Peter panted, exhausted. "...story of my life."

Harry looked down, ashamed for doing such thing. "I destroyed every sample, but he probably managed to inject himself with some venom that I've missed; his condition is much worse than mine, and without the armor..that's probably why he became such abomination."

Peter focused back to Norman, seeing that wherever he stepped, a small hole was formed. "What do we do?"

"The only thing we can, we fight to the end...or we die." Harry replied coldly.

Peter widened his eyes, surprised after hearing Harry wanting to kill his father. "That's not right..."

"It's the only way!" Harry snapped. "Do you want to live your life always running? What about Gwen? Would she want that?"

"But-"

He continued, "My father won't stop at nothing until he gets your DNA and if he does, everything will be lost!"

"Harry!" Norman shouted angrily. He grabbed a random car on his way and threw it at them.

"Watch out!" Harry quickly pushed Peter to the side before rolling under the flying car, drawing his blade and running towards Norman Osborn.

When inches from his father, Harry jumped on the air, raised his blade and stabbed Norman's shoulder. They both exchanged a deadly stare. He tried to remove the weapon but it was stuck on his flesh.

"You are right, I never was present on your life, but now? Maybe I can do something for you." Norman grabbed Harry's neck with one hand and removed the blade from his shoulder with his free one.

Harry was unable to compete against his father's strength so he slid a bomb from his glove and into his hand. That wasn't fast enough as Norman quickly stabbed him on the stomach, causing the blade to slightly pass through him and the armor.

Terrified and scared, Gwen watched everything fromfrom a safe distance. She covered her mouth with her hand once she saw Norman Osborn hurting his son in a way beyond any treatment.

As much painful as it was to see Peter on that state, watching Harry being stabbed that way was terrifying. She was aware of the problems on his life and she didn't want anything bad to happen with him again, but he was now about to die in the creature's hands.

Peter's blood froze in shock as time slowed down. He couldn't believe his sight. _"No...!"_ He screamed and began sprinting towards them.

Harry activated the bomb he was hiding and threw at his father as his last attempt to make things right. The blast made him fly out of his father's hand and backwards until he collided against his friend.

Peter recomposed himself and moved besides his Harry. He was struggling to don't close his eyes "Hey - hey," He sat down and made Harry stand on his knees. He cuppped his cheeks with both hands. "It's okay, it's not even that bad, right?" He moved his hand to his back and felt a thick substance coming from inside the armor. "You're fine, May will patch you up, you will be as good as new, okay?"

Peter observed him slowly lose his consciousness on his arms. His mind was now getting filled by panic. "No...Harry! Hey..." He gently patted his cheek in order to wake him. "Hare, hey...! No - no...no," He made Harry rest his chin over his shoulder. His eyes were half closed. "Harry...?" He called lowly. "I got you, I'm gonna take care of you..." A single tear moved down his right eye. He suddenly shut his eyes and tightened his grip on his friend. "Harry...?!" He shouted as harder as he could.

They stood in silence as Peter buried his head next to Harry's and caressed the back of his hair. He didn't say what he wanted to say, that they were friends - brothers, and that he would always watch out for his back.

"Parker...!" Norman surged from the flames that previously engulfed him and glanced the two friends that weren't paying any attention to him.

Peter sobbed slightly as he forced his eyes shut. He took a deep breath and slowly lowered his fallen friend down to the ground. He raised from the floor and turned to Norman's direction who stopped a few meters from them.

Peter furiously closed his severely wounded hands and stared the man's glowing red eyes. "You die now..."

* * *

The door from the fancy apartment was bust open with the officer's foot as he entered the room accompanied by his teammates who entered carrying guns similar to the ones Captain Stacy used to capture Spider-Man years ago.

"Clear!" The leader informed to the other teams using his radio. "Getting in position" He approached one of the windows and armed the electric gun over its support while the other heavily armed troopers did the same but on their own spot. He activated the weapon's green laser and aimed at the Goblin's back.

"Delta Team is in position, Alpha Team confirm?"

_"Roger, Alpha Team is on the opposite building and ready to engage on your command, Wolf One."_

"Roger that." He adjusted the aim. "Let's bring this ugly son of a witch down, people!"

* * *

**Fifth Avenue - Ground Level**

Norman approached Peter and started to reveal his offer. "Harry was weak, but you?" Norman began serious, "You are special, you were always meant to become who you are, or doyou think that what happened to you was a merely accident? It was orchestrated for years; we waited for such long time for the day when you finally entered Oscorp." He revealed. "You wouldn't manage to enter the chamber by your own, Ratha helped you with that; you are the perfect specimen that everyone should become."

"Shut up..." Spider-Man stated.

Norman insisted, "Join me and we can not only save lives with your gifts, but also change the world for good, isn't that what you fight for? Isn't that what your father wanted?"

"Shut up...!" Spider-Man jumped forward with his fist raised at Norman. He punched the Goblin's face and caused some blood to be spilled from his mouth. His own fistbones felt like nothing at the contact. He didn't feel them anymore.

Norman quickly reacted and grabbed Spider-Man by the chest and on mid-air and violently smashed the hero against the concrete. He held him closely, before raising Spider-Man once again, releasing him and quickly punching his stomach - making Peter fly away and only land close to the barricade made by the cops.

Norman surpassed meters with a single jump as he pressed his feet over Peter's chest, making him scream in absolute pain. "Don't be selfish like your father was, or are you willing to commit the same mistake that led to his death...?!"

Spider-Man webbed Norman's face with the web shooter that wasn't damaged. Norman instantly walked backwards, trying to remove the sticky substance. "You are just as stupid as him!"

He pushed the webbing to the sides, finally taking it off him - just to see Spider-Man sprinting towards him as he carried some car's door he pulled while Norman was busy.

He violently hit Norman's face with the piece of metal, making him to bounce around and ultimately kneeling down into the floor. He jumped over him and landed against his huge back. He wrapped his arms around the Goblin's neck and formed a small web-line to each hand of him and began to choke him.

"I offer you an opportunity to make the world a better place to live, and you selfishly refuse it, you pathetic brat!" Norman stated, grabbing the web across his neck to rip it.

"Not like this!" Spider-Man reinforced his grip. "You pass the limits when creating something, and you kill whoever that gets on your way, just like you did with my father and Harry!" He pushed the line even more closer to him, aware of the fact he could kill the man.

"So be it..." Norman moved his hands over him and to Peter's back as he pierced his claws against his flesh. Spider-Man gasped in pain and - against his wil - released the web-line as his body was carried and propelled against the hard concrete.

Norman punched Spider-Man face over and over again, starting to fully rip his mask off with every blow. He smiled contently once he saw half of Peter's face and the damage he was causing to it.

There wasn't anything Peter could do. His body had reached its limit. He actually managed to avoid the next incoming fist towards his cheek by fastly tilting head to the side and counter-attacking with a headbutt that did more damage to himself than to his enemy.

"You are weak...!" Norman affirmed. Peter coughed blood. He wasn't seeing anything at all, but he managed to notice some green lights coming from the near buildings and at Norman's back. "And for that you must die." He moved the palm of his claw over Peter's heart, before slowly pressing the tip of his sharp nail inside the flesh.

"Wait..." Peter challenged.

"What?" Norman stopped. Peter smirked.

One small blue metallic stick was fired at Norman's. He slightly turned his head on his shoulder, seeing some bright light glowing from the device - and without any warning, more devices suddenly carved his back. They activated and caused his whole body to be charged by a huge amount of energy. He released Peter and covered his head with both hands from the incoming shots, anothee one landed on his leg and arm, continuing the immobilization process. He knelled into the floor and roared in pain.

Peter slowly raised from the floor, seeing that Norman was still resisting the attack and that he could recover anytime soon. With the functional functional web shooter, Peter evolved his right hand in webbing so that the blow could become even more powerful.

He slowly limped towards Norman, before running towards him and when mere inches from him, he gave Norman an uptpercu against his chin so hard that some of his teeths shattered.

Norman fell on his back, still being electrified as Peter stood over his chest and proceeded to repeatedly punch his face, reciprocating what he did to him minutes earlier.

Each punch became more painful to Peter, like if some of his fistbones were also being shattered, but he didn't cared. That was the moment he needed to give all of himself to stop this madness because the city and its population counts on him to bring peace to their lives; the police team that helped him was a proof of the city's gratefulness.

Norman lost his consciousness after experimenting the spider's strength which he tried to domain, but failed miserably.

Peter looked down to his defeated nemesis while breathing urgently. He was about to fall at any second. He spotted a small pole that was made of steel laid on the ground next to him. He shot a single biocable at the pole and retracted the biocable back to his hand, holding what was now a weapon tightly on his hand.

Peter raised the pole above him with both hands. He watched Norman with deadly eyes, he took a quick breath and violently lowered it down. He panted heavily, observing what he just did. He eventually turned on his back, seeing the crowd behind the barricaded, cheering for their hero's accomplishment.

The strike team inside the buildings around Spider-Man complimented each other for helping him defeating the most menacing person he had ever met, a battle that cost him a great deal.

Peter looked down to his deep wound on his ribcage, seeing how much blood he already had lost. He wasn't even feeling his hands and legs anymore.

That's when he caught a glimpse of an important blonde woman observing him close to the civilians. She had tears moving down her cheeks. He managed to smile, but not because that Gwen was there, but because he had granted her a future without anymore menaces running after her.

She would now live the life that she deserved for years.

Without any strength left, Peter fell on his knees, taking one more last glance at his beautiful wife that was the person he cared most, before slowly collapsing his torn body down into the destroyed ground.

Shocked, Gwen noticed the guard distracted by demanding an ambulance through his radio, she quickly sprinted past him and the fence, running towards Peter while being careful to not step in some small hole in the asphalt.

The guard tried to accompany her but he recklessly stepped ovee some hole and clumsily hit the ground.

Gwen finally reached Peter. He was lying on his chest. She desperately knelled besides her husband. She gently turned him around and placed his head over her lap. His mask was mess, she could only fully see his right eye and cheek while the other portion of the mask was still on the other side of his head.

She carefully removed his mask, seeing his face filled by cuts and bruises along with blood traces coming from his mouth. His eyes weren't open, they looked really bad.

"Peter?" Gwen called as tears slipped down her cheek. "Peter...?" She caressed his hair, trying to get some response."Hey, don't go..!" She begged, leaning down touching his forehead with hers. "I can't go on without you..." She closed her eyes. "I need you besides me...don't you dare leave me now..." She said, weakly.

Gwen looked up to the sky, pressing her husband's head against her chest, unable to accept what was happening. She heard an ambulance approaching them while followed by five police cars. It stopped close to the couple as its back doors were fastly open with paramedics hurrying to the fallen hero.

One of the paramedics knelled in front of them, seeing the gravity of the wounds on his whole body. "Oh my god..." He whispered.

"Don't let anyone take pictures!" A cop ordered the others present on the area. They formed a circle around the pair while a small team checked on Norman Osborn who was blacked out. The pole was stuck on the ground and next to his head.

"He isn't breathing!" The man desperately informed.

His partner crouched besides him. He didn't waste time amd asked Gwen to release Spider-Man. She reluctantly obeyed as the paramedics quickly started the reanimation process. The first attempt was trying to stimulate his heart to bump again by repeatedly pressing the area.

A female paramedic leaned down and close to Peter's heart, checking for any miraculous sound but nothing could be heard.

"Peter.." Gwen hold his bare hand while watching everything. One of them urgently demanded for a defibrillator as his partner hurried back to the ambulance and handed him the device.

They ripped the spandex that covered Peter's chest and placed the two small devices against the skin. "One...two...three!" He activated it, causing Peter's chest to raise before returning to its previous position.

A strong spotlight coming from a chopper appeared in the sky above them and focused the light over the group as ropes were threw off. The police team descended and stopped next to them. They carefully went towards Toomes who was still unconscious while the other team surrounded the incapacitated robot.

"Again...one...two...three!" He repeated the process, but nothing happened "I-I...we have little time left." He quickly raised from the floor and went to the ambulance to retrieve a medical stretcher.

Devasted and scared, Gwen moved his hand close to his lips, trailing soft circles with the tip of her finger under his lower lip. She couldn't contain her tears. She couldn't afford to lose him, she wouldn't accept his sacrifice. Not tonight, not ever.

_"Stay with me..."_

* * *

**A/N: It's not over.**

**02/06/16 : Chapter went through heavy revision. One part was fully removed and added to a single line. Small unnecessary bits removed. Word count reduced. Fixed errors. Fixed punctuation. Rewritten dialogues.**


	18. Hold On To Hope

Light.

_"Oh my god, I bet his own mother wouldn't even recognize him."_

Heaven?

_"Shut up! We can't waste time...!" _A mysterious voice demanded.

Light, was the only thing that he could see.

_"Sedate him!"_ Another unknown voice ordered.

Darkness, was now the last thing he had seen.

* * *

**June 14th - 2019**

After waking up very early on the morning, Gwen splashed some cold water - coming from the bathroom's sink - around her exhausted face. She closed the faucet and looked up to the mirror, seeing her tired expression being reflected by the glass. Sleeping became something difficulty for Gwen, a hard thing to achieve during the most recent days. She removed the water from her face with a pink small towel, before walking back to their silent and dark bedroom, finding their large bed empty.

Gwen was used to wake up inside Peter's arms while smelling his soft natural scent, but that didn't happen anymore since the night he fought his last battle. Life wasn't being easy to her, never was, but that's how things turned out and she needed to accept them, even if she didn't want to.

She opened the wardrobe, seeing Peter's part in the exactly same way he left it two weeks ago, that still gets her everytime as she held back the incoming tears. She turned back to her side and picked a blue jeans among with a light pink blouse she often used during her times when working at Oscorp. After wearing the selected clothes, Gwen picked the golden ring which was in the middle stand and next to her shirts, and slipped shiny object down her finger like she always did during each morning. It was a small object that reminded her of the person she chose to spend the rest of her life with.

Gwen walked out of the bedroom and into the hallway, before reaching the living room. She looked for the puppy Peter had given her since it was hour for Ren's breakfast. The open window let the morning's wind enter the apartment while refreshing its ambient. For the first time that Gwen could remember, the city wasn't louder like any normal day at New York, there's only silence, a silence that had its reasons.

After finding Ren and carrying him on her arms to the kitchen, she placed her puppy down into the floor and next to his small plate and loaded it with his dog food. She caressed the little pug's soft skin and went to prepare her characteristic coffee before finally heading out for one more day of waiting, waiting for things to get better.

* * *

**New York - Presbyterian University Hospital**

Gwen's taxi arrived to the closest position it could reach since the street in front of the hospital's main entrance was overcrowded with people and reporters who were waiting for any medical updates regarding the condition of their beloved hero.

Pictures of Spider-Man were placed against the building's wall by the citizens along with candles on the floor. The city showed their gratitude for everything that Spider-Man ever did for them in such a beautiful way which made Gwen get even more emotional by the whole situation. They didn't even know his face or how he was from outside the suit, and people didn't care about that, but only about his health's condition, everyone got surprised when the news spread that Spider-Man could die at any hour because of his injuries.

Gwen strolled past through the huge crowd in front of the main entrance before showing a security card she was given some weeks ago by the police officers to the guards who were guarding the doors. She was authorized and proceeded towards the reception where a young brunette focused on the television that was up in the wall.

"I'm here to see Doctor Adams, he knows about me." Gwen waited the woman to authorize her clearance to the upper levels of the building. Adams was the one who was handling Peter's situation at the hospital and organizing the necessary surgeries.

"Name?" The brunette asked.

"Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy." Gwen replied, being careful to not involve her husband's name to anyone she couldn't trust.

After checking on the computer, the woman said, "Okay, you can take the elevator on the hallway before turning left to his office." She explained.

Gwen knew how to get in there since that night on Fifth Avenue. "Thank you." She smiled rather weakly before heading towards the elevator. She wanted nothing but hear that Peter would recover and to finally be able to see him after four days without entering his room because of the most recent surgery.

After arriving on the right floor, Gwen stepped outside and walked through the very quiet corridor full of offices of the most talented doctors that lived in the city. She knocked on Adam's door. It didn't took long for it to be open, revealing the doctor wearing his white suit characteristic from any hospital.

"Hello, Gwen." The tall young man with short hair smiled while raising his hand at hers.

"Dr Adams." They shook hands. Adams fully opened the door so that Gwen could enter the large room with a huge window where it was possible to see the city and its skyscrapers. "Please take a seat." He gestured to the comfortable chair that faced his desk.

Taking a seat and seeing the doctor doing the same thing but on the other side, she finally asked, "How's Peter doing?"

"As you demanded, I registered your husband with a false name and identity, nobody besides you and me knows about Peter." Adam's informed.

"Thank you so much." Gwen said grateful and relieved.

Adam smiled briefly before returning to a more serious expression when about to reply to her initial question. "Peter went through four surgeries so far, and I'm happy to inform that they were all successful."

Gwen smiled truthfully for the first time after weeks. She exhaled deeply and nodded. "I'm so glad, you have no idea how tense I've been lately. "

He continued carefully, "But...there's still some risks about his recovery, when we got him for the first time after the fight, the way his body was... I'm going to be honest with you, Peter shouldn't even be among us after what his body went through, I don't know what happened to make him resist, I don't believe in miracles but...this could've been one."

Gwen tried to process everything that he had reveaed. Peter got so close to death and lived, but it was like if she had lost him. She just wanted to be with her husband and nothing more. "How were his injuries?"

"Bad, like - really bad, Peter had a heavy concussion and trauma on his head, some of his left ribs and backbones were internally dislocated, his back was pierced more than once, some small bones on both hands were shattered and his left arm's shoulder was also dislocated among with some internal burns on his organs, his legs didn't suffer anything major." He revealed. "We did what we could to guarantee his survival even if it was very unlikely... now it's up to him."

"Will he fully heal from this?"

"We took him out of coma during the past three days, but before that, his healing factor was already doing it's marvelous job, so if everything goes as planned, he probably will." Adams replied sincerely.

"C-Can I see him?"

"Of course." Adam raised from his chair. "He's in a private and guarded room, please follow me." He reached his office's door accompanied by Gwen as they got back to the corridor and headed towards Peter's room. "I have been personally following his results so you don't need to worry about someone knowing his identity."

"I really appreciate what you are doing for us, it means everything.'

"It's an honor to treat the man who saved my wife and son some years ago at Times Square, I'm now returning the favor." He smiled kindly.

They turned to the right and entered another corridor where two armed security guards guarded what probably was Peter's room. Adams was committed to prevent anything bad that could happen regarding his patient.

Adams showed his access card that was inside of his white coat's pocket as the guards nodded and moved to the sides so that Gwen could open the door and check on her husband.

"Go on." Adam smiled. "He's probably asleep right now, but you can take your time with him."

"Thank you." Gwen smiled gratefully and entered the room before gently closing the door so that they could be alone.

Gwen saw Peter lying on a white large bed with some equipments besides it. There was a window with brown curtains and the only sound that she could hear was Peter's slow breathing and the beep coming from the cardiac monitor. He was covered in bed sheets to his waist, amd both of his arms were also fully covered but with bandages. His eyes were closed and it was possible to see some yellow bruises spread over his cheeks and chin.

Silently and slowly, Gwen placed her purse in the bedstand before sitting on the padded chair in the right side of his bed.

"Hey." Gwen looked to her husband, just observing his sleep that somehow comforted her, knowing that he was breathing after everything he had been through. "You scared me pretty bad." She gently held his bandaged hand and kissed it. "It's finally over, we can stop running."

After observing him for a few couple of minutes and making sure he was okay, Gwen rested her head over his lap and fell asleep for the first time after days without sleeping an entire night.

Gwen took a comfortable nap besides her husband and personal hero.

**Somewhere else...**

The man wearing a dark suit and hat walked towards the helicopter that was standing over the open helipad, waiting for him. Even if the plan didn't really went as planned, something was recoverable from the whole mess. Now that Oscorp was fastly losing credibility due to the investigation about the leaked projects, and with Norman Osborn behind bars, there wasn't that much for Fiers to do besides wait and recover.

He stepped inside of the small helicopter, seeing Dr Warren already on his seat and with a seatbelt around his waist and shoulder. "Did you get everything that you need?" Fiers asked, sitting besides him as the chopper's engine was activated by the pilot.

"The symbiote is already being transported; when we arrive at Germany, I will start the tests using the data I retrieved from Oscorp." Warren explained.

"Can you make it happen?" Fiers wrapped his seatbelt as the helicopter started to ascend from the ground.

"A clone? It's possible but it will take a long time if you want to reach the perfection that I'm aiming for."

"Take your time, I'm in no hurry." Fiers stated.

Despite everything that recently happened, his plans would continue because he wasn't a man to abandon his goals. Never was and never will, time would pass, but his ultimate plan was going to be accomplished.

* * *

**New York - Presbyterian University Hospital**

Gwen slowly opened her eyes, feeling some soft movement coming from the top of her hair. She carefully looked up, seeing Peter's fragile hand caressing her golden hair with his bandaged hand. "Wow...I need to be reminded of your beauty." He stated and weakly smiled, moving a trace of Gwen's blonde hair behind her ear.

"Peter!" Gwen had finally seen him awake for the first time since the night at Fifth Avenue. She quickly raised from the chair and climbed into the bed hugging her husband affectionately and burying her head against his neck.

"Ouch..." Peter groaned in discomfort, but kept smiling at the same time. Her pleasurable weight was now a little more painful than he used to remember as she stood over his chest, but he didn't mind it, he wanted nothing but to feel and touch her again.

Even if it somehow hurt a little, Peter slowly wrapped both arms around her back and leaned close to Gwen's warm cheek to gently kiss it. He could see through her tired expression how his state was affecting her.

Peter felt a small area of his neck getting wet meaning that his wife was probably releasing some tears because of the re-encounter. "It's okay." He softly draw circles with his finger on Gwen's back and reassuringly tightened his arms around her. "How have you been?"

"Pretty worried." Gwen replied huskily, eyes closed, still not totally convinced that everything passed and that he would be alright. "I couldn't stop thinking about you."

"We will be alright." Peter brought her hand that was lying over his chest, close to his lips and kissed the smooth skin that had a relaxing effect over him. "We still have a dinner to make." He kissed her cheek and received a weak giggle from his wife.

"You need to heal a little more before you can go home with me." Gwen looked up, meeting his brown eyes.

"And I will." Peter leaned closer as they touched foreheads and closed eyes because of the intimate touch. "I just want to be with you from now on." He gently brushed his lips against hers, reminding himself how much sweet they were, before finally kissing with all the passion he had stored for days.

Peter gently broke the kiss and stated still perplexed, "God...I-I needed this."

"I'm just glad you are here with me."

"I know." Peter softly slid his thumb besides her cheek in a comforting way. "So, I assume that everyone already knows that I'm the guy under the blue and red spandex?"

"Not really." Gwen continued, "Only Dr Adams knows about it and he's too much professional to leak your name, not after when you saved his wife and son back at Times Square."

"I did? I- Oh... now I remember webbing this lady's hand, she was holding a little baby, but what about the rest? Cops and paramedics?"

"The cops never allowed anyone take pictures and I was with you in the ambulance, that wasn't their priority but just to save their hero's life." Gwen carefully placed her hand on his cheek.

"I see... I owe then a lot." Peter admitted.

"No - you don't, they are just returning the favor for everything that you ever did for this city after all these years."

He nodded. "You're right..." He paused. "Does your family know anything about this?"

"I said that you had to travel because of some event organized by the Bugle, but I think my mother didn't really buy it, she thinks we had fight." Gwen grinned.

Peter chuckled. "Fortunately, that never happened." He affirmed "Is... Harry alive?" He asked, still hoping that he somehow survived that night even after seeing the life slowly getting out of his body.

Gwen gently snuggled even more closer, reassuringly. "Another medical team tried to revive him, but he already had lost too much blood...I'm sorry, I really am." She said softly.

"He helped me...that's what matters."

"He's resting now." Gwen comforted him before changing to a less depressing subject. "Aunt May visited you before the fourth surgery."

"Fourth?" Peter questioned totally surprised. "I-I...wow, that bad?"

"Not anymore." Gwen hold his hand firmly. "Wish I could stay a little longer."

He tilted her head to the side. "Can't you?"

Gwen smiled on his arms. "I promised to finish the concept for this project that involves a new scanner which can analyze the deepest cells on our body." She explained.

"Sounds important." Peter replied, stroking her cheek while glacing the window that was getting wet because of the rain that started to descend down from the clouds. "Best of luck with that, honey." He closed his eyes, leaning his head to the side and brushing his cheek against the top of her head. Peter wanted nothing but to just fall asleep with her besides him, but that wouldn't be possible, at least not for now. Three weeks were like three years for him.

"Can't wait to get home." He whispered.

"We deserve a rest." she replied softly.

"I love you." Peter said those three simple loving words while he cupped her cheek gently.

Gwen looked up and passionately kissed his lips, despite the very tiny cuts spread all over it. She broke the last kiss for the day and replied, "Love you too." She gave him a tiny peck on the lips, trying to resist the urge of pass the rest of the night with him. "I better be going." She unwrapped herself from Peter's arms and sat on the edge of the bed with her feet almost touching the cold floor.

Peter moved a hand on her back and down her spine, caressing it softly. "I'll be out of here very quickly." He smiled. "I can always break-out."

Gwen raised an eyebrow and turned to Peter. "Don't be stubborn, you're going to stay here as long as it's needed." She ordered, not accepting a potential 'No' coming from her husband.

"I swear I'm almost good enough-" Peter tried to assure by slowly raising from his pillow and sat on the bed, but as he did the movement, a 'crack' sound could be heard, making him instantly groan and give up.

"You okay?" Gwen asked concerned, seeing Peter holding his breath because of whatever he had managed to do with his body.

Peter smiled rather awkwardly, trying to fake that it didn't hurt. "I-I'm okay."

After making sure that he was indeed okay, Gwen got off the bed and grabbed her purse, placing it around her shoulder. She turned back to Peter, leaning down, before kissing his forehead. "Do you want me to stay the night? I can sleep on the seat." She asked while caressing his soft hair.

He slowly shook his head. "Of course not, it isn't as comfortable as our bed and you deserve a goodnight rest."

"Sure?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Okay then." Gwen quickly kissed his lips. "See you tomorrow."

"I'll be waiting." Peter said, removing his hand from her cheek and lying it over his chest.

Gwen smiled before walking towards the door that would lead her to the hallway. "Want me to turn off the light?" She asked, moving her hand close to the button.

"Yup." He replied from his bed.

"Sleep well." Gwen turned off the lights and stepped outside the room, leaving Peter alone for another night. He stared the ceiling that was somehow illuminated by the stars' brightness which was coming from outside and passing through the window.

Everything that had occurred in the night where he defeated Norman Osborn and his madness, impacted Peter mentally. If failing to save one members from the Sinister Six wasn't enough - while the other was missing - his friend Harry Osborn had died by the hands of his own father, the loss of the first friend he ever had in such a brutal way still was hard to believe.

What's going to happen with Norman was still unknown, but he and Oscorp were falling to pieces after each day that passed and without his blood, Norman would die quickly. That would be a decision that Peter would need to take, if it's worth to save the life of the man that brought so much misery to his life by killing his parents and Harry and even setting up the day where he would be bitten by the spiders, turning him into the perfect specimen which Norman would ruthlessly explore.

Nonetheless, Harry's sacrifice would be carried with Peter for as long as he lives and he will become a better person after such tragedy, learning from it, a more experienced and matured person that wouldn't make his enemies reach such level of rage to the point of forgetting everything and go to kill Spider-Man and whoever that gets caught on their way, that couldn't happen again. Peter would become a better Spider-Man, the one he's was always meant to be, Harry's choice wouldn't be wasted by the only person that cared about him.

After thinking about the route that his life would take from now on, Peter slowly closed his eyes and naturally fell asleep for the first time after being taken out of coma. Hours would pass, the city would change and Peter would get older, but the one thing that wouldn't ever change would be his alter ego who is capaple of bringing a smile to the city's citizens no matter how hard everything looked to be. They are counting with him, and he wouldn't ever let them down. His legacy as Spider-Man was far away to reach it's end.

* * *

**A/N: Short first part of the epilogue involving the whole "His Greatest Battle Begins" storyline, there's one more to come and it won't take too long to be published since I won't be writing more than 5K words per chapter for a while.**

**It's not the end for this fanfic, Peter and Gwen's life will be continued to be written but without a "main" plot, a new one will probably be started in next year but till then, I'm working on a new event on their lives that I'm pretty sure that most people are going to love it.**

**Nonetheless, I have to thank everyone who still are with me after those months. Without you guys, I wouldn't have matured as a writer and have inspiration to keep writing. This Is Our Path is far way to be ended, and as long as people are interested, I will keep writing for you guys :) Thanks for everything!**

**02/03/16 : Fixed errors.**


	19. Reflections

**A/N: So, this is the chapter that closes the initial plot and most of the sub-ones. It was great ride, I definitely loved writing this while hearing everyone's feedback over the months. There's some things that I wanted to do differently, but I'm proud with what I have done and accomplished.**

**Thanks for everything! Means a lot for me. A new and rather fresh plot evolving Peter and Gwen is on the works. I hope you guys enjoy when it comes!**

**02/04/16 : Fixed errors.**

* * *

Gwen smiled to herself as she entered the elevator that headed to Peter's floor. Today was a good day, Peter was going to be released from his care, it was officially over. Well, sort of. She supposed that he would never be the same man, there was no way anyone could be unaffected by what he had experienced. But she was going to help him through it, that was now her sole focus.

During the first touch and go week he had been kept in an induced coma as the doctors worked on his more pressing injuries. Gwen had gotten over her initial horrified state after the initial week when Adam's informed that he was alright. Later she meet Peter when he was awake for the first time in weeks, one of the happiest moments she had ever experienced after everything she had went through.

During the past two weeks Peter had improved exponentially, growing stronger every day. At the beginning of this week he had been able to walk again, though only with aid of either a walking stick or Gwen herself. He still required some aid now and he did tire easily, but there was no need for hospital aid any more. Gwen could take care of him herself with ease.

Gwen shook her head of the thoughts, heading into the corridor. She passed the guards and entered the room. Peter was sat up ontop of the bed, playing some game on his new phone, clothed in plain jeans and a dark t-shirt. He looked much more at ease to Gwen than he had been for the past week, being locked up in a hospital room was irritating for a energetic man like Peter despite her best efforts to keep him entertained. He looked up as Gwen walked in, giving her a warm smile. She walked straight up to him, planting a tender kiss on his lips before speaking.

"Hey." Gwen greeted with a kind smile.

"Hey babes," She rolled her eyes at his nickname since it wasn't the most appropriate moment for that. She stood back and folded her arms with a mock glare. "Sorry Gwendy."

She laughed at his backtracking, giving him another kiss before sitting down on the chair by his bed.

"So, when can you leave?"

"Doctor Adam's is just signing off the forms now, shouldn't be more than a few minutes." Peter informed.

"Good," She poured herself a small glass of water from a jug on the beside table, studying Peter as she did so. She could tell he was in deep thought, that ever so common pensive look across his face. Gwen was pretty sure of what he was thinking about and gave him a prompt. "What is it Peter?"

"Harry, you won't belive it, I just checked my email and there's a file sent by him explaining everything that happened inside the corporation, and Norman and Fiers." He revealed.

"Oh...that could help expose everything bad they've ever did."

"Exactly, he thought about everything." Peter looked down to the floor. "Never had the properly time to mourn him."

Gwen said softly, "His funeral was done by his Butler when you were recovering, we can go there if you want."

"That would be great." Peter nodded. He wanted to say his farewell to his friend before finally moving on to the new life he and Gwen would soon start.

Gwen appproached him, standing between his legs and wrapping both arms around his neck "Are you ready to return to our home? Ren is literally crawling the walls to find you." She smiled by the pun.

"Never have been as ready as now." He kissed the pale skin of her left arm that was around his neck. "We should go to your family's beach house in some days." He said excited.

"I'm already organizing that." Gwen assured, also enthusiastic about it. "I'm also thinking about inviting MJ and Flash since my mom has her work here and Aunt May will be working at the hospital."

"MJ and Flash?" He asked surprised.

"Haven't you heard? They are dating."

"Oh... that's good." Peter smiled, happy for his friends' new relationship. He remembered the pair exchanging some glances during the wedding.

"Before I forget, I received a letter from Empire State..." Gwen formed a suspense. "You passed!" She stated happily.

"Really?" Peter asked, receiving a nod from his wife. "Awesome!" He affirmed before leaning closer and capturing Gwen's lips.

"Hmm.." Gwen mumbled something as he slowly assaulted her lips.

They both parted as Doctor Adams unexpectedly entered the room. "Ah Doctor, have you come to spring me from your ward?" Peter teased.

The man laughed. "That I have, you are free to go."

"Great." Peter placed his phone in the bag by his bed, swinging his legs around and off the mattress. He slowly lowered his feet onto the ground and stood up, Gwen offering him a hand.

"Peter, I assume that the answer is no but," Doctor Adams gestured to the corner of the room. "Would you like a wheelchair?"

"Thanks for the offer but..."

"The man is too stubborn," Gwen interrupted him and turned to face Peter whilst speaking in a chiding voice, "But would you rather injure yourself again by falling?"

"I won't fall," Peter gave her a grin. "I have my beautiful wife to support me."

"Really?" Gwen raised an eyebrow, giving him a playful and cute glare at his cheesy line.

"You love it really."

"Well...I suppose so."

"I'm happy that you feeling well" Adam's affirmed, proud of his patient's recovery. "I will announce Spider-Man's successful recovery in a few hours after you are back at home."

"Thank you, this means a lot to me." Peter replied.

"It's a honor."

With that the two walked out of the room slowly, Peter with an arm around Gwen's shoulders. They made their way over to the exit of the hospital, giving their thanks to Doctor Adam's. Then they stopped before the back doors of the hospital so that they could avoid the press and any suspicion. Gwen turning her head to face him.

"You okay?"

He swallowed before replying, giving Gwen a slight smile. "Yes, I think I am."

She gave him a peck on the cheek, slipping an arm around his waist as they passed the door hand to hand and together, walking back to their home where many things are still to happen. They would support each other in whatever that happened over the years, while expecting together what the future would bring for them.

**Outside the Hospital..**

Dr Adams walked towards the main exit where a huge crowd was waiting outside for some update regarding the city's guardian who was brought to the hospital after defeating the group called 'Sinister Six'. Spider-Man's relationship with most of the police members was back to its previous state where they all worked together instead of hunting Spider-Man down, besides Jameson who still blamed him for the chaos that happened back at Fifth Venue.

The doors opened, revealing reporters with their cameras already aimed up to the small stage prepared for the announcement, very similar to the one that Captain Stacy used years ago.

Adams adjusted the microphone . He was rather nervously for facing such a huge crowd. The thought of announcing Spider-Mans's death had occurred when he had received Peter for the first time and before the surgery actually started, but fortunately, that wouldn't be needed. He focused on the words that he was about to say before finally informing.

"_After hours of dedication, hope and effort, I come here as a Doctor and like many of you - a fan, to inform that Spider-Man passed through four surgeries and that each one had a major risk but that we overcome it. I won't reveal my patient's identity as his family asked and because I'm a professional that owes him a lot for everything that he ever did for me, and for us._" Adams smiled by what he was about to say and start to lose his anxiety. _"Spider-Man successfully recovered and is breathing normally without any medical assistance."_

An agitation started by the reporters as they asked million of questions, each one of them at the same time as the citizens cheered happily and hugged the ones besides them despite the fact they actually never met, but that didn't matter since they heard what they wanted to hear. Nothing was more important than that. The joyfulness was contagious, Adams couldn't help but smile at the moment, and if Peter ever needed his help again, he would be willing to help without a thought.

* * *

**New York - Graveyard**

_**Harry Osborn - 1993 | 2019**_

Peter kneeled in front of Harry's grave and touched the grass that covered the area where he was eternally resting, away from any suffering that could occur. Gwen stood behind her mourning husband who was having his own moment with the old friend who unfortunately died after finding his redemption.

"Hey, Hare." Peter slowly moved his hand around the soft grass as the wind brushed against his clothes. "I hope you have found your happiness in whenever you might be, I'm already missing you despite everything that happened between us over the years..."

Gwen placed her hand over his left shoulder in a comforting way. She needed to be strong for him after everything that had happened. Their lives wouldn't be the same like it was before, the confrontation left it's mark on Peter in an emotionally way and also physically. His energy wasn't that more evident, it seemed that Peter had changed the way he would treat everyone around him and that included his enemies when suiting up. She was the support which he needs so that the weight of the city doesn't make him to fall onto the ground.

Quickly wiping with his thumb the single tear that descend down his eyes and reached his cheek. "You are always going to be my friend...I loved you as my brother." He said, trying to keep his scarred heart together. "You are _my_ brother."

Peter raised from the grass and glanced the gravestone for a few more seconds, before finally turning on his back and hugging Gwen who caressed his soft hair while he wrapped his arms around her back.

"He's now looking for us." She assured, gently pressing his head into her neck in a comforting way, where they could find peace in each other arms.

Peter unwrapped his arms around his wife, before intertwining his fingers with hers as they started to slowly walk away from the grave and towards the exit some meters from them and down the small hill.

"I love you." Gwen broke the silence while they walked.

He looked to his side, seeing Gwen smiling reassuringly. "I love you too." He kissed her forehead. "Thanks for being here, with me."

Gwen leaned her head on his shoulder and caressed his hand with her thumb. Being strong for each other, any new challenges would be surpassed, starting with Peter's physical and physiological recovery over the incoming days.

"Who's that?" Peter asked glancing a small figure that was standing close to Uncle Ben's grave, a few meters away from them.

"I think it's your Aunt." She raised her head from his shoulder and replied "We should go there."

They turned left, walking over a tight small path made of stone that led towards the Parker's resting area. It has been sometime since Peter visited his Uncle, but now he would see again the man that raised him as his son.

The pair slowly approached the area where Aunt May faced the graves while holding her purse, without noticing her nephew coming from behind her.

"He was a great a man." Peter said from behind, causing his Aunt to turn the familiar voice. "And father..." He smiled weakly.

"Peter." May smiled back before hugging her nephew or - in other words - son. The last time they had met was one day after Peter woke from his induced coma.

Peter caressed her back with his free arm since the his other hand was still interwined with Gwen's. He stared his Uncle's grave in the center, with his father in the left and mother in the right.

The only family that he has now, is May and Gwen, a very small one but one that he would die for if needed.

"Have you been here often?" He asked.

May unwrapped her arms around him and looked back to the gravestones before replying, "I was praying for your recovery and I thought that there wouldn't be a better than here."

"I see." Peter could understand her reasons. There wouldn't be a more calm place than with their already gone beloved ones.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"You know, some minor pain here and there but nothing that won't get healed in a few days." He assured.

"Don't go jumping at any rooftops, okay?" May asked, more like demanded.

Peter nodded even if that's almost a impossible wish to obey.

May continued, "What now?"

"Reveal the truth about Oscorp, getting a job while spending some time with my beautiful blonde wife." Peter replied, before turning to Gwen and seeing a little blush appearing on her cheeks.

May smiled by Gwen's cute reaction. The couple reminded her of the times when she was a younger and Ben couldn't stop going after her no matter what time was, always trying to impress her with flowers or offering a ride on the car that his father had lent for him.

"Sounds like a great plan." She nodded.

"Yup." Peter kissed Gwen's red cheek and turned back to his Aunt. "Do you want to have dinner with us?"

"That's a lovely idea, but I'm gonna stay here a little longer." She continued, "And you two deserve some time alone after everything that happened."

"You sure?" Peter didn't mind spending some time with his Aunt and Gwen together since they are his family, but there's nothing that he could do against a woman's wish, or a Parker's one.

"Yeah."

"Okay." Peter payed his respects to his gone familiars before him and Gwen said their goodbyes to Aunt May, leaving her as they processed hand to hand towarda the exit and into their home.

"See?" May said looking to Ben's grave. "Our little boy is now a young handsome man, the man we wanted him to be." She smiled softly.

There's nothing that May couldn't be more proud than raising the best thing that ever happened to her. A boy, man, husband and hero. There isn't anyone else that could alone represent the Parker's than Peter. Everyone around him is proud of his accomplishements.

* * *

Peter was sat on the couch with Gwen closely next to him and with her head lying on his shoulder. After eating Pizza, they decided to watch a movie together but as the minutes passed, she had already quickly fallen asleep, so Peter decided to write a text on his laptop that was over his lap about the leaked info that Harry had sent to his email hours before he died. Ren was currently sleeping besides Peter's feet, him and his owner played together for some minutes after he arrived home and he also got his cheek licked by the puppy which missed him so much.

Peter was concentrated as he tapped out the text that he would send to the Bugle so that the truth - which his father wanted to reveal, finally gets exposed to the world. He occasionally glanced the window, finding the corrects words to write, and also checked on his beautiful wife who was sleeping on his shoulder. She looked so serene and beautiful when sleeping, she's like an angel for Peter, one that he's with for already seven years, she was his first girlfriend, first kiss and the first person that he had revealed his secret identity. _His_ girl and wife. The woman he chose to grown old with.

The text contained everything Oscorp had ever done since its day one, cross species genetics, the abandoned adaptable symbiote which is apparently forever gone, Richard Parker abandoning the research because of the foreign military deal for biological weapons. But the most intriguing thing Peter had found was involving the suit Harry used to heal his body, it was created for Norman Osborn's personal use, but he wanted to test on his own son first because he also had the same disease, his ruthlessly was always present no matter the time.

Peter finished the writing and looked up to the TV which was turned on and still playing the movie but without any sound. The truth could finally be revealed just by pressing a button and nothing more, what his father wanted the world to know before suffering a plane crash.

_Send?_ A text box popped on the screen, getting Peter's attention back. That was what Richard and Harry wanted, the truth, what people deserve to know.

Peter quickly glanced his fastly asleep wife, his present and future. He looked back to the screen and pressed the button that would send everything that the world should know about to the Bugle.

_Sent..._

Checking on his watch and seeing that was already late, Peter placed the laptop on the floor. He slowly raised from the sofa while being careful when laying Gwen on the couch by holding her head with the palm of his hand and gently lowering it on the comfortable material.

When that was done, he gently lifted her into his arms and walked to their bedroom before placing her into the bed. After a moment of just looking at her, her hair on his pillow, and her hand curled peacefully beneath her head, he decided that she would be more comfortable without her socks so he slid the socks from her feet, and pulled the covers up to her chest before leaning down to kiss her forehead.

Peter was about to lay on his side of the bed to snuggle with Gwen but a familiar strong sound came from outside the window and from street level. He approached it and looked down, seeing six police cars passing on their apartment's street and heading towards third avenue with their red sirens firing unstoppably, a chase apparently.

Deciding it was his duty to help them despite his physical condition, Peter turned back and silently walked to the wardrobe where the new suit - his Aunt and Gwen had done for him - was hanging. He opened it, noticing the colors were brighter alog with the black raised webbing. The iconic lenses remained the same original lenght.

After wearing everything but the mask, he glanced himself on the mirror and wondered what Uncle Ben would be thinking about his other life as a guardian, the man who guided him to become a symbol of hope. He pulled the mask down and closed the wardrobe, he checked on Gwen who was fastly sleep on his pillow and went towards the window.

He jumped out of the apartment with arms open and quickly fired a webline to the nearest building as he ascended on the sky, still holding on the web until the last possible second before releasing it. The force applied against his arms was somehow painful, but nothing that could stop him of exercising his eternal responsibility. Spider-Man, now holding a new webline with his right hand, balanced himself to his right and entered the long avenue, already seeing the police cars meters away from him. A helicopter flew above him and towards the chase that was going down.

Full of adrenaline, Spider-Man landed against a wall and ran over the concrete until it ended, causing him to jump forward and to activate his webshooters, firing a new white and shiny biocable as he passed between the cars and very close to the ground, being cheered by the citizens, what was gratifying for Peter. He got impulsed higher again and continued to do one of the things he knows best, being a spider and playing on his own personal living playground.

Those were Peter's gifts, his curse, one that he needed to make the most of it for as long as he keeps breathing. The city would forever need him, enemies would flourish, people would get hurt but he would never stop fighting for a better and bright future. His family's future, everyone's future. Because with great powers, comes great responsibility.

_Who am I? That Spider Guy._


	20. Lost In You

**A/N: Quick update! Nothing of Spider-Man, just Peter and Gwen. They are going to be my main focus for quite some time. Suggestions or improvements are always welcome!**

* * *

**June 29th - 2019**

**California - Carmel By The Sea Beach**

"Need help?!" Gwen yelled a few meters away and in front of Peter as she continued to run on the deserted beach. She was wearing a running, tight and black short and the upper part of her blue bikini. Her blonde hair was around a ponytail and covered with a black cap.

Peter who was already physically exhausted and breathing heavily, replied rather cockly, "No! I-I'm going to catch up with you in a few seconds!"

He still wasn't back to his superhero physical form since getting out of the hospital. Gwen figured that this would be the perfect place for him to exercise himself while they aren't back at home.

"Just don't burn yourself out!" Gwen exclaimed.

They arrived at California during the past two day and they started this daily routine of running morning after morning.

There wasn't a better feeling than stepping their bare foots on the sand while hearing the ocean's calming sound of such a sunny summer day. She also thought that the location would be a nice break for them, away from horns, skyscrapers and pollution.

"Are we close to home?!" He asked, already tired.

"Just a little more!" Gwen replied and smiled by his urgency. It was the first time that she ever surpassed Peter in a physical way, she would tease him about that later.

With a deep breath, Peter quickly ran towards his playful wife and after some seconds, he finally approached her. Gwen giggled as she noticed him getting closer and closer, she did what she could to not be surpassed by Peter, but it was now useless. He passed her with a huge grin, just to later stumble on a small sand hole and clumsily land on the ground.

Laughing uncontrollably, Gwen slowed her pace and approached her husband who was now lying on his back and staring the sky with a disappointed expression.

She gently sat over his stomach and teased, "From someone that swings around buildings, never thought you would lose to me." She smiled and cleaned the small amount of sand that was ontop of his bare and toned chest.

"That was awful..." Peter sighed and placed both hands on her hips.

"Nah, you gave me a good laugh." Gwen winked while she fixed her husband's now messy hair. "Let's go." She rose from his chest and offered her hand, helping him to get up.

Peter rose from the sand ground and stretched his arms before looking to Gwen's gorgeous green eyes. Her hair was now more shorter than what he was used to remember, it didn't even brushed against her shoulders anymore, but it was now on her cheek level when not wrapped in a ponytail. It was a little different, but she continued being beautiful like always.

"You are going to take a shower to take all this sand from your body." Gwen said while roaming his built with her eyes, his defined abdomen and torso to be more accurate.

"I was thinking in entering the sea." He grinned.

"Oh...not with me" Gwen turned around to reach the house but Peter quickly reacted by grabbing her wrist and later pulling her up with his strong arms and hold her pleasurable weight.

"Peter!" She protested and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Aww c'mon!" He started walking towards the sea with Gwen on his arms.

"My hair! You know how hard is to wash a woman's hair!? It isn't!"

"There isn't a single wave, your hair won't get wet." He tried to convince her.

"Ugh...why I did even marry you?" Gwen sighed and gave Peter a mock glare.

He smirked. "You know, because I'm-"

Gwen scoffed. "You're handsome, romantic yeah - yeah I get it..."

Peter smiled by her annoyed reaction which was incredibly cute. "Glad you do." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

The sea was already touching his bare feet as he slowly walked even more deeper towards it. Nothing too much though, he stopped when the water was on his waist level.

Gwen sighed. "Oh gosh..."

Peter gently lowered Gwen on the water, she released a little yelp as she touched the rather cold sea.

"It's freezing!"

"Tsc...don't overreact." He chuckled.

"Overreact? It's col- hmmm!" Gwen was interrupted as Peter leaned closer and captured her lips into a passionate kiss. He wrapped both arms around her waist and enjoyed Gwen's lips taste. They embraced each other in the silence of the calm ocean.

Peter broke the kiss to recover his breath, seeing Gwen with eyes closed and still trying to find his lips and connect with them.

"You sometimes talk too much." Peter caressed her cheek with his thumb.

Gwen finally opened her eyes, speechless because of the passion she had just experienced. She wrapped both arms around his neck, and leaned close to Peter's lips but he kept playing with her by leaning his head backwards and slowly escaping from her incoming lips.

"Peter..." Gwen mumbled while she tried to meet him again.

"Okay okay..." He grinned and kissed his wife again. Their love is their home, a place where they could find happiness,safety and joyfulness. Nobody could destroy such house.

Gwen suddenly broke the kiss totally alarmed. "Oh god!"

Peter cocked his head and said playfully, "Hey, nice to meet you. I know I'm a fantastic kisser."

Gwen laughed briefly"No! I mean - you are! but it's not that."

"What then?"

"MJ and Flash will be arriving at any second! We need to prepare the house!" Gwen took his hand and led him back to the house that faced the beautiful and empty beach. The perfect location for happy days.

**One hour later...**

After covering their car with foam, a shirtless Peter used the hose to quickly wash it with water. They're paying the car on a long term deal since they couldn't afford the full price yet, but the vehicle was coming in handy for them, mostly for Gwen who couldn't web sling like Peter could, without getting her fragile body hurt.

Peter slowly walked backwards on the grass of the courtyard where the vehicle was currently parked. The entrance was a gate made of wood, it was possible to see the road that led to the area with some vegetation around it. He had to admit, the place was indeed very calm and quiet, the rather large house was only a few meters from where the sand started to appear.

Flash and MJ hadn't arrived yet so Gwen decided to take a bath while he washed the silver car's exterior. It was a refreshing experience to be in such a calm place without any sirens and horns. He was just going to enjoy his wife, and the puppy who suddenly went towards the little ball that had landed right in front of Peter's hose line of water.

When he noticed the pug approaching the wheel, it was already too late.

"Ren, no!" He immediately turned the hose off, but Ren was already soaked and sat on the grass, looking to his owner on his usual breathless way.

Peter sighed, before dropping the hose on the floor. He grabbed Ren and carried the pug on his arms to the table next to the house's entrance and the barbecue grills.

"You got be careful buddy, I can't a have a suicide dog, you know?" He grabbed the closest towel and started to clean his soaked dog who surprisingly, didn't protest against the process. "That should be enough." He patted Ren's rather wet back and placed him back to the floor.

Peter placed the towel over the table and opened the door that led inside the house which was fully furnished in a beach-like theme, like paintings, tokens and the rooms themselves.

Inside of the living room, Peter approached the wall where the LED TV was placed and glanced the old family pictures that were the stand underneath it. Most of the portraits showed a probably four years old Gwen and her younger brothers. He could understand why the house was so much important for his wife, she probably had lived a large part of her childhood here when not in the city.

Noticing that Gwen was taking too much time on her shower, he headed towards the bedroom where they're sleeping together and as he entered the room, he immediately heard Gwen singing happily inside of the bathroom.

_"I got a pocket, got a pocket full of sunshine, I've got a love and I know that it's all mine...oh, oh, oh."_

_What? _Peter thought rather confused. It was one of the first times he had ever caught Gwen singing on the bathroom. She actually sang very well.

_"Do what you want, but you're never gonna break me, sticks and stones are never gonna shake me oh, oh, oh."_ Gwen continued.

Peter leaned on the door and asked. "Hey Gwen, is everything okay?"

_"Of course they are." _ She replied a bit playfully.

Peter turned the knob but it was locked, which was something rather unsettling for him since she always let it open when they were alone.

"Why did you lock the door?" He asked, frustrated for being unable to enter the bathroom.

_"Because I want to take a nice shower without some male intervention." _She teased her husband.

"That's torture and unethical." He joked, and heard Gwen's pleasant giggles.

_"See you later, bug boy."_ Gwen said in a rather sensual way.

Still frustrated and feeling defeated, Peter returned to the living room and lazily sat on the couch with a hurt expression. Being rejected wasn't nice, even more when his own wife was currently taking a shower.

He grabbed the controller and turned the TV on. It was broadcasting the Giants' game. Even if it was the team which Peter supported, he wasn't caring that much, he just wanted to get inside of that bathroom.

"Poor you." Gwen mocked, standing next to the door to their bedroom, with a white towel wrapped around her rather soaked body.

"Holy..." Peter's mouth almost feel down the floor by the view.

"You know, I'm having trouble to find my clothes." Gwen teased and gave him the wink which he loves.

"I think you won't need to wear anything." He stated.

"Nah, I'm going to search again." She sensually returned inside but as she caught a glimpse of her husband running out of the couch and towards her, she hurried inside and cornered herself close to the bed, unable to go anywhere.

"Okay, you had your fun." Peter, slowly and determined, approached his wife who was bursting into fits of giggles as he got closer.

Gwen quickly tried to escape by crawling over the bed to reach the other side of the room, if Peter hadn't jumped first and wrapped his arms around her, trapping her on the bed.

"Oh...you _got_ me." Gwen said, smiling brightly.

"I did." Peter gently pressed his weight over her, before leaning down and brushing his lips against hers. "You're beautiful.'" He whispered and gave her a tender kiss on the lips.

He interlaced his fingers with her since he was holding her both hands if she threatened to try to escape again, but not anymore. She was already giving all of herself to Peter's love. He released her lips and started to slowly trail kisses on her neck, stopping the passionate ministration when close to her covered cleavage, he noticed her breathing getting even more heavier as he started to unwrap the towel, making her get even more sensitive, but suddenly, a honk came from outside and killed the lovely moment.

"Damn..." Peter buried his head next to Gwen's neck, rather frustrated.

Gwen kissed his cheek, understanding that he was crawling the walls to have their own intimate moment since he got out of the hospital. "They're our friends."

"I know." Peter raised and looked to her green eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too." Gwen quickly kissed his lips before saying, "We'll continue this some other day."

"We sure will." He kissed her tiny nose before raising from the bed and quickly heading outside to open the gate while Gwen changed.

"Yo,Parker!" An excited Flash complimented with his hand out of the car's window.

"Hey bud!" Peter unlocked the gate, allowing them passage.

Ren hurried out of the house and sat besides Peter's feet who was on the car's back, the puppy was now waiting for the other woman that he cared a lot.

MJ stepped outside and walked towards Peter. "Pete!" She kissed his cheek and hugged him.

"Hey MJ." Peter smiled and hugged her back "How are you doing?"

"Good." She replied "A lot better if Flash hadn't eat all the sandwich's that I had made for the travel before we actually got out." She said rather annoyed, but later she quickly laughed.

Flash closed the door of the backseats, with a bag around his shoulder "Hey,I was dead hungry and there wasn't anything to eat at my home" he chuckled before shaking hands with Peter.

"Aww looks who's here!" MJ kneeled on the grass and picked the little pug on her arm.s "He's a lot more bigger!"

"Blame Gwen, she can't stop feeding him." Peter smiled.

"He's just even more cute!" She caressed Ren's soft skin.

"Speaking of Gwen, where is she?" Flash asked.

"We were running on the beach so she decided to take a bath to take the sand out."

"That's why you took so long, eh?" He teased and gently pushed his shoulder, before walking back to the car to retrieve their bags.

"Shut up." Peter helped him and led them inside the house. He couldn't wish for a better time with his riends.

* * *

**Beach**

Gwen adjusted her inclined beachchair backwards, accompanied by MJ who was sat on her own chair. They were located under an umbrella beach ready to take a sunbath with their bikinis.

Peter and Flash were playing football a few meters away and in front of them and almost close to the water, most like dribbling each other.

"How was the travel?" Gwen asked, wearing her sunglasses.

"It was good, not tiring at all." MJ replied with a smile "You guys have been here for a long time?"

"Nope, we arrived two days ago so that we could prepare everything." She explained.

_"Wow! That was humiliating!" _Flash teased Peter after he managed to pass the ball through his legs.

MJ and Gwen laughed by the friend's playfulness around each other. Who would ever think that they would reach this level of friendship since highschool? Not many.

"So...you and Flash?"

"Yup." MJ nodded. It's been some years since she really entered a serious relationship with someone. She unexpectedly started to develop feelings for Flash since they meet for the first time, hours before Gwen's wedding.

"Do you love him?"

MJ glanced the boys for a few seconds before replying, "I do love him, he's sweet and even romantic, couldn't wish for someone else."

"I'm happy for you, you know that, right?" Gwen hold her hand and caressed it. She knew that MJ was very careful when it comes to men, her drunk father left a scar on her heart during her childhood. When her mother died, her father completely lost his way in beers and games, he reached the point of even beating her own daughter before she finally leaved the house to trail her own path.

"Thank you." MJ smiled to her kind friend.

_"Wow! No!"_ Peter sighed as the ball that they were playing accidentally flew to the sea. "_It's your fault!"_ He accused and chuckled.

"What happened?" Gwen asked, looking to her shirtless husband and his friend.

"They apparently managed to kick the ball into the water." She cocked her head at them.

_"Let's do this; the first to get it back, isn't the one to blame, okay?_" Flash proposed.

"Hmm...fine but-" Peter didn't complet what he was about to say since Flash already stormed towards the sea in a blink of an eye. _"That's cheating!"_ He exclaimed, trying to catch up and pass Flash before he grabs the ball first.

"This will be fun." Gwen affirmed, seeing that her husband was already surpassing Flash as they swam towards the ball. Such small vacation would be one unforgettable for both couples.

* * *

After eating what Flash had prepared for dinner, Peter and Gwen decided to take a calm walk on the beach, leaving the other couple to finally adjust themselves on the house, and they also wanted to spend some time alone.

Peter and Gwen were currently cuddling in a bamboo beach towel over the sand, the sound of the calm waves was relaxing and cozy at the same time, making everything more intimate and special.

"Did you see that one?" Peter asked, gazing the sky full of stars while his arms were wrapped around Gwen who rested her head on his left shoulder.

"I did." Gwen replied before looking up to her amused husband, they were finally having a moment for themselves without fearing some possible danger that could occur. If that was the little of a normal life which they could live, she would enjoy every single second with him.

She loves being with Peter no matter the time, he's the one that completes her and she couldn't live with someone else. He is, and always was the one for her. Spider-Man or not, that was only a bonus.

Noticing Gwen's glance, Peter turned to her side and smiled. "What are you thinking about?" He asked, caressing her hand which was resting over his chest.

"Us." Gwen replied. "Finally having a normal day for ourselves." She kissed his cheek.

"I see."

"Could we have this everyday?" She chuckled lightly.

"Well...we just a need a little practice." He suggested.

"Any ideas?"

Peter gently turned himself to Gwen's side, standing over her slim frame as she wrapped both arms around his neck.

"You're here, you're beautiful and I have you all to myself, nothing more and nothing less. It's all I need." He slowly leaned closer and touched foreheads.

"No spandex or supervillains?" She whispered before closing eyes because of the delicate touch.

"Nope, just us...always us." He softly contacted her lips and slowly kissed them, with the moon's light illuminating their love towards each other and the comforting sea's sound around them. That's enough for the pair.


	21. Spider-Woman

**August 27th - 2019**

The only light inside the small cell kept blinking due to the heavy rain happening outside the prison. It wasn't a welcoming place by any means, but priorities shouldn't put aside for much time, at least Peter wouldn't.

Spider-Man crossed his arms and observed the two security guards who were holding Norman down on chair as the lonely doctor prepared a syringe that contained Peter's blood mixed with the serum that would cure his nemesis. He had created the cure on his father's secret station after he and Gwen returned to the city. Despite everything Norman had ever done, Peter couldn't let him die in such a brutal and slowly way, even if deep inside, he wanted to. He's better than that and revenge wouldn't fix things, that's what Uncle Ben taught him. If he had enough time to cure Harry, maybe things would've been different, but that's in the past now and Peter would try to make a better future while fixing the mistakes he committed throughout the years.

"Are you sure this is going to work, Spider-Man?" The Doctor asked, standing behind Norman's chair and ready to place the syringe on his patient's shoulder. "He's willing to accept the injection, but I'm not sure of it."

Spider-Man nodded. "He's going to die if you don't inject him, even if he deserves to." He stared Norman's cold eyes. "If if doesn't work, he'll continue on this awful and miserable state, and that's not my problem, not anymore."

Norman looked up to Peter. "Can't stay away from me?" He grinned. "We're alike. Can't you see? We complete each other."

Peter stood in silence, not looking forward to play Norman's sick games. The doctor injected the vial's contents on his patient's shoulder, causing him to quickly groan, but smile after the process, feeling victoriously.

"Now we are connected, Spidey." Norman stated and teased, "If I ever get out of here, I'm going to personally thank you for this kind action." He chuckled.

Peter contained himself to not beat the crap out of Norman in front of everyone. He took a step foward and leaned close to Norman's face, giving him a threatening stare through the mask's reflexive lenses.

"You won't _ever_ get anywhere." Peter affirmed. "You're gonna rot here for a long time and if you ever escape, I'm going to be the one who will find you, and I will break you." He threatened before walking towards the cell's only door to finally get out of this nightmare. "I'm done here." He opened it and stepped outside.

* * *

**September 23th - 2019**

"I can't ever do this damn thing right!" Peter sighed, standing in front of the wardrobe's mirror and trying to adjust his work tie which was something he was trying for minutes after they had breakfast.

Gwen stepped out of the bathroom, holding a lipstick on her right hand while wearing her dark blue and snug jeans and her pink bra. She approached Peter who was unsurprisingly, struggling to do his tie in the right way.

"Let me fix it for you." She closed the lipstick and threw it over their bed.

"Oh please, honey." He turned on his back as Gwen gently grabbed his tie and began to adjust the small object on the right way which was something apparently impossible for her husband to accomplish by his own very hands. "You know, you still can't arrive late at your job, even if it's your second month."

Peter laughed ."Being a bio-scientist has it's advantages."

Gwen finally finished his tie and looked up to his brown eyes. "But I'm sure that being late isn't one of them." She patted his toned chest, before turning around and opening her own part of the wardrobe to pick some blouse.

He approached Gwen from behind, wrapping both arms around her waist while resting a hand on the soft skin of her stomach. He kissed the spot behind her ear, causing her to smile by the such affectionate way he expressed how much he loves her.

"I've been thinking," Gwen said, struggling to choose what blouse she would wear. It's not like she had few options to began with.

"About what?" He drew soft circles over her stomach, with his thumb.

"Well... we quickly talked about this before, but-" Peter's phone in the bedstand suddenly fired and interrupted what she was about to say. She sighed heavily.

"Sorry." He unwrapped his arms around her and went to pick his phone from the stand. "Yes?"

_"Parker...!" _Jameson yelled as usual, making Peter quickly move the phone inches off his ear.

"Morning." He mocked once his affected ear was good enough.

_"Where are you?"_ Jameson questioned. _"Where are my pictures?!"_

"What do you mean?" He replied, confused. _"I'm working at Empire State University, I told you that I won't be available all the time."_

_"What? I don't remember that!" _Jameson said aghast.

"You just remember what's in your wallet!" Peter joked, checking his watch. "I have to go, ask Eddie for some pictures until then."

_"Wait-"_

Peter turned the call down and looked at Gwen who finally wore a white buttoned blouse. "You were going to say something?"

"Some other time, we need to go." Gwen picked her purse and placed it around her shoulder before winking playfully.

"Okay then." Peter gently grabbed her hand as they together walked towards the apartment's main door. Vacation was over and now it was time for the married couple to get back to their daily duties.

* * *

Gwen and MJ were sat next to a rounded table at their favorite sushi restaurant for some lunch. The area was already very crowded with people who were on their break and dead hungry. After all, the city never stops and neither does its citizens.

Gwen couldn't help but glance through the window a couple holding each hands of their little boy who was still learning to walk in the other side of the street, with the help of his parents.

_"Gwen?"_

For an instance, she envisioned her and Peter outside the restaurant and in the same spot where the family she observed could be seen.

"Hey, Gwen?" MJ waved her hand in front of her friend's face who seemed to be in deep thoughts, before finally gaining her attention back.

"Oh, sorry." She turned away from the window and smiled rather awkwardly.

"Where have you been?" MJ looked outside, trying to find what grabbed Gwen's attention for quite some time.

"Got distracted." She grabbed the restaurant's menu which was over their table and started to choose her selections of sushis.

"Care to share?" MJ inquired, softly.

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "It's nothing."

"Please...?" MJ begged.

She sighed. "Okay, it's just that I saw that family outside and I thought about me and Peter...you know, if we ever have a child, how things would be like, of I am even capable of being a mother."

Now MJ understood what Gwen was thinking about it. "Well, I think you would be a great mother - that's for sure, the same could be said about your husband." She smiled, already feeling the joyfulness of just talking about the topic.

Gwen smiled back, happy to hear her friend's thoughts. "You really think so?"

MJ nodded, convinced. "Everyone likes you, you are already like a mother to your youngest brother." She assured. "Naw...now I'm really excited to hold you and Peter's little baby!"

Gwen giggled and raised her hands. "Woah! Let's calm down, I'm just saying." As happy the thought was, she knew it wasn't that easy. Peter is genetically different so they should be careful while planning everything to avoid any possible complications -_ if_ Peter really wanted to have their baby.

"Seriously, what's the first name that comes into your mind?" MJ asked, supporting her head with both hands.

"Well, mentioned this beautiful name some time ago, Elizabeth if it's a girl, but I would just tease him and say it's my pick." She chuckled. "He loves the name, it's something related to his mother."

"That's lovely!" MJ said, "What if-"

Gwen interrupted her, "Mary Jane..."

"What?" She laughed. "You got me excited!"

A waiter approached the table where they were sat and lowered the plates and juices at Gwen's front and the others portions close to MJ's. He was about to leave the friends but asked, "Anything else I can help with?"

Gwen picked the two sticks and looked up to the waiter. "That's enough, thank you."

"My pleasure." He professionally and began walking away to check on the new clients wishes.

"Anyway, thanks for saying these kind words."" Gwen gratefully smile to MJ who was drinking her orange juice. "Means a lot."

"No problem, gorgeous." She nodded, contently. She would be always open to hear her best friend's deep thoughts. Actually, Gwen is one of the rare persons MJ cared the most, someone she hadn't for years, and she wouldn't trade such friendship for anything.

* * *

You're going to promise me, that you're going to be a good boy from now on." Spider-Man demanded to the robber who he webbed against some rooftop's entrance after he tried to assault a lady back in the streets. "Or else I'm going to bring you to the cops since you still are kinda young." He said, crawling above the robber on the door.

"I won't promise anything." The 17 years - old boy wearing simple clothes replied rather cockily.

"Hm... you know, Spiders have this habit of sucking the blood out of their prey's after they are trapped." Spider-Man approached the teenager webbed against the door and slowly lifted his mask to reveal his mouth.

"Y-You won't do it...!" He stated, already panicking as Spider-Man who was crawling above him, slowly leaned his head towards his neck.

"I'm kinda hungry right now so..." Peter continued, holding himself to not fall laughing into the floor by the silliness of the whole situation.

"No -no! I will be a good boy, Mr Spider-Man!" The rebel teenager closed his eyes, fearing the bite. "I just need to do this..." He looked down, ashamed.

Spider-Man stopped from slowly approach him and pulled his mask down, covering his full face again. "Hey..." He landed on the floor and started to gently remove the webbing that was trapping him. "I was kidding, I won't ever hurt you unless there's no other way."

The young man sat down on the floor and against the door, before burying his head over his knees.

Peter crouched, understanding that he should be treating the boy better, maybe he didn't have an easy life, and it would be better to not give him to the cops. "Look, I can see you didn't do that because you wanted, but because you needed, you and much others teenagers are the future of this world, don't ever do bad things no matter how bad things look." He patted his shoulder as the boy looked up, meeting the hero's reflexive lenses. "Use your talents for the greater good, with great powers, comes great responsibility, that's what a very important person taught me when I had your age. Study, discover what you can do best, build bridges, trail your own path."

"I-I... I understand." He nodded.

"Come on." Peter stood up and offered his hand.

Trusting Spider-Man, the boy grabbed the gloved hand as Spider-Man helped him to raise from the floor before gently patting the top of his head. Peter would return him safely to home, being such meaningful figure that Spider-Man is, he decided it would be better to try and place the boy in the right path instead of just giving him to the cops which is something that wouldn't really help him. He has that power of making the world a better place to live, without drastic actions but just words.

* * *

**The Shops at Columbus Circle - Manhattan**

After meeting with MJ and finishing her duties at her job, Gwen went to the local mall and started to search for the incoming Christmas gifts for her family while Peter doesn't arrive from The Daily Bugle. She's rather surprised her husband still manages to have two jobs at the same time or even three if counting the web-slinging one.

Wearing a gray coat pink and dark blue jeans, Gwen approached the showcase of a toy store that was full of Spider-Man toys for all ages, bed covers and even baby diapers. She was amused how much her husband's alter ego was so popular after all these years. She couldn't be more proud of his accomplishments. Years ago, she would never guess she would fall in love with the man that wears a certain blue and red spandex. But that's not the thing Gwen loves most about him; his personality, responsibility and awkwardness played a big factor when they were in highschool, his sense of heroism was just a bonus.

"Hey beautiful." Peter greeted from behind as snaked both arms around her waist and leaned his head over her shoulder, before kissing the delicate skin of her cheek, feeling her soft perfume's scent. "Found any good gifts?"

Gwen looked up and softly kissed his lips before replying, "All I can see is Spider-Man products." She teased, smiling.

Peter caressed her stomach and glanced the showcase before realizing his influence on the economy. "Oh well... maybe I should copyright Spider-Man." He joked knowing that there's no way of doing that without compromising his secret identify, not that he wanted, though. "Simon would like one of those toys."

"He sure will." Gwen agreed, unable to take her eyes of Peter who was observing the detailed toys. "Did you have a good afternoon?" She asked as they started to walk together and wrapped in each other arms. She kept an eye fixed at the many store's products.

"Pretty calm, starting this new project on the office about bio-fusion, and placing this kid on the right path." He explained, enjoying the closeness and the relaxing heat of their bodies brushing against each other.

"Troubled teenager?"

"Something like that, he robbed this lady not because he wanted to, but because be needed, so instead of giving him to the cops, I decided to show him that things won't ever fix themselves in they way he was doing." Peter clarified.

"That's actually quite the win," She kissed his cheek. "I'm proud of you."

Peter smiled, her recognition always meant everything to him. "Thanks, one less potential criminal out there, I hope so."

Gwen leaned against Peter's left shoulder and asked, "Do you want to look for a new suit? I'm sure you will need more than one with your new job."

"That would be a great a idea." He agreed.

They entered a rather exquisite store with suits of all colors and materials. Gwen went to the stand that contained more professional clothes with Peter closely behind her. He apparently was completely lost about what to choose, leaving the task to his wife who was actually enjoying being responsible for the choice.

"Okay, Peter." Gwen grabbed a dark set and placed over his chest, figuring if it would fit his strong physique. "Yep, this one is good, go try it."

He picked the set from her hands and gave Gwen a quick peck on the lips and walked away.

Deciding to keep looking for more suits that could combine with her husband, Gwen turned back to the stand and eyed some new sets - if someone hadn't gained her attention before she could actually do that.

"Excuse me, ma'am" Someone called from behind.

Gwen turned on her shoulder, seeing what looked to be a 19 years old boy wearing military clothes. She never had met him, but Gwen soon figured what it was about. "What can I help you with?"

"Um...Well, as you can see, I'm from this wonderful country and I could be deployed to Afghanistan at any moment." He said as his friends standing some distance away and at the store's entrance door could be seen holding themselves from not falling onto the cold floor and begin laughing.

She remained serious. "And?"

"So...erm, maybe you could go on a date with me? You're beautiful and-"

"Hey Gwen, how do I look-" Peter approached her, wearing the black suit she gave him before. "Who's your friend?" He asked, confused.

"You're looking great." Gwen replied and leaned up, wrapping both arms around his neck and passionately kissing his lips.

They young man's face was now similar to a total red tomato as he experienced the super awkward situation. His military friends were now rolling over the floor and laughing like if there wasn't no tomorrow.

"I-I gotta go." He quickly walked away.

Peter broke the loving kiss and glanced the group that were now leaving the store while mocking their friend. "Who's that?"

"Just a silly young boy." Gwen replied, with a cocky smile. "Loving this outfit." She patted his chest.

"Yeah, I think it's great too, I mean- they are all great for me, there isn't really a difference."

"Only for your eyes." Gwen gently grabbed his hand and walked to the register so that they could purchase the outfit she had chosen for her husband.

* * *

When the movie they watched on the theaters eventually rolled credits, the pair headed towards home with their rather new car and were now alone in the elevator that ascended to their floor. Peter embraced Gwen from behind Gwen. He wrapped his arms around her waist and slowly began kissing her neck, causing Gwen to giggle due to the soft touch that made her spine shiver. She was holding one bag containing some gifts they had already bought.

"Still impatient I see." Gwen teased, keeping an eye in the elevator's panel.

"I'm fully recovered." Peter whispered. "And ready for duty, all kinds of duty."

Gwen shook her head. "You know you aren't."

"Yes, I am." He insisted.

Gwen laughed. "Of course, stubborn as ever."

"Back at the store, that was brutal." He slipped a hand underneath her coat and blouse.

"He needed a lesson." She quipped.

"You're evil." Peter gently bite her ear.

The doors opened with Gwen quickly getting off his grip, receiving a discontent moan from Peter. She opened the door with the keys and saw Ren already sleeping on the couch. She closed the door and placed her purse and bag over the counter and gently moved her coat into hanger. She turned to Peter, he had his arms crossed and with that look on his eyes of someone who had everything planned.

"What are you thinking about?" Gwen asked, approaching him.

"Ways to persuade you." He nodded.

"Oh... such a planner." She winked, wrapping both arms around his neck. "You know, I haven't really properly rewarded you for concluding college."

"That you haven't." Peter leaned closer and slowly meet her sweet lips and tongue, he cupped her cheek as the kiss started to get more passionately with each second that passed.

Gwen broke away from him, rather reluctantly, and took his hand and pulled him into the bedroom, she wouldn't tease him anymore, she desired him for quite some days now. Peter fastly jumped onto the bed, taking his shirt off, and began to remove his shoes. Gwen threw all her weight on one hip, putting on a smouldering gaze, and attracting Peter's eyes once more. He surveyed her in that pink blouse, though he was already undressing her in his mind.

"Peter, I know what you're doing," Gwen winked at him. "But hold on for a minute, I'll change into something...different."

She gave him another wink before heading into the bathroom, giving him a sway of the hips before closing the door. Peter stripped off his jeans, casting it onto the ground next to the bed. He sat on the bed as he waited for Gwen to come out of the bathroom. She came out after a few minutes, and he got a hell of a surprise.

"Holy gosh..." He paused. "Was it always that tight?"

Gwen was wearing his first Spider-Man suit minus the mask. It clung to her every curve, tight on every inch of her skin. His eyes travelled from up her long slender legs to her hips and getting to close to her..

"Peter! Should you really stare at a lady's...VIP zone...like that?" He looked up to the source of the teasing voice. "It's really not very gentleman like."

"Oh, I'm so very sorry Mrs Parker." Peter's eyes remained locked to Gwen's as she began to slowly crawl onto the bed towards him. "You're just gorgeous, and...perfect." He gulped.

"Oh?" Gwen pushed his body down onto the pillows, climbing on top of him. "I am."

"I know right." Peter's eyes roamed her torso as he rubbed his hands along her hips after she ground her hips against his own.

She teased, "Now - now, do you need some assistance, officer?" He nodded.

They kissed once more for a couple of frenzied sections, that's their moment and they would enjoy every single second of it.

Gwen placed a hand up to the top of the suit zip, pulling it down a couple of inches to tease him before leaning forward to catch him in a passionate lip lock. She straightened up again, pulling the zip all the way down to reveal her chest to him in a rather flamboyant red bra – one that he had never seen before.

Peter was already losing it. "My... god - you need to take this suit off now!" He ordered, crazy to love her for the rest of the night.

She replied huskily, "_Aye aye_, officer."


	22. Family Celebration

**A/N: Really loved writing this. Kinda sad that isn't Christmas yet, but I hope everyone have a good time reading it regardless. That's what I'm aiming for.**

* * *

**Empire State University**

**December 21th - 2019**

"Getting the necessary financial support would be essential for the project to finally start." The young man standing in front of the huge table and wearing a black suit stated, trying to convince the potential investors that were watching his speech and the screen behind the man. "With this graphic drew by Peter Parker, we can see the potential that the project has, involving many areas like medicine, the substance we are trying to create is set to find the organism invaders and destroy it without any help of our self natural defenses, quickly and efficient-"

Without a warning, someone on the table released a loud sneeze, interrupting the presentation and making everyone look to the sick one who was going to have a strong flu if he didn't start to take care of himself.

"Sorry." Peter who was sat on the last chair of the right side of the table, sniffed with his rather red nose. He had caught a cold after some days when it started snowing. Since he was always swinging, that was inevitable to happen.

The presentation started again from where it was left, with Peter's head almost exploding as he struggled to not fall asleep over the table, in front of everyone. Peter was also dead hungry and even if the meeting was important for his professional career, he couldn't wait so that it finally ends since he was useless on his current for the meeting.

"And with this project, we would help save countless of lives against parasites and some specific diseases, maybe on the future, it could even battle HIV and much more." The young man affirmed, finishing the such important presentation as the investors looked at each other like if they were mentally communicating with themselves. They raised from the chairs and started clapping everyone who worked on this marvelous project that could literally change everything for good.

Peter forgot about the pain and smiled by the approval. He played a big role during the concept development and the team was super supportive with the recent newbie's arrival. He looked to his co-worker who presented the project and smiled, receiving a happy nod from his partner. He had the job of his dreams, and he was already starting with huge accomplishments. Now he would meet his wife and celebrate the moment with her, probably by snuggling while drinking some wine.

After the meeting was over and Peter's colleagues celebrated on their office, He took the elevator to reach the building's reception on the first floor. He passed besides some people before finally opening the main entrance door and stepping outside, seeing the city covered in snow, with people wearing lots of clothes to hide their warm bodies or else they would end like the beloved hero who was getting a flu. Christmas decorations could be seen in every street, like small colorful lights in the buildings windows and angels figures hanging on the street light poles, it's now a rather peaceful time and a warm one.

Peter was about to cross the street to get a hotdog from the restaurant on the other side but since his senses were kinda failing and weak, he was caught in surprise as a car fastly passed besides him, being followed by three polices cars. He saw the criminal car turning on the left corner and entering a new avenue. Deciding to intervene and to help them, Peter quickly crossed the street and entered the empty alley that would be a shortcut to the avenue where the occurrence was now happening. Running, he quickly opened his coat, exposing the large spider symbol of his Spider-Man suit chest, and when completely out of the coat, he pulled the mask down his face just to instantly jump while firing a biocable to the closest building.

"WOW!" He shouted, full of adrenaline as he quickly reached the police cars, swinging over them and with the cold snow brushing against Spider-Man suit's tight fabric.

The lonely criminal focused in driving his car before placing his gun and bag containing the money on the passenger's seat. Since the economy was running crazily because of the incoming Christmas, he decided to make some money, having the advantage that most people weren't expecting any crimes to occur during this special moment happening in the whole world, one that brings people together. He normally controlled the volant even being under constant pressure by the cops who were after him while evading the cars on their way.

He was about to turn his head to the right empty side to check on the right mirror but got a hell of surprise when he saw Spider-Man sat on the once empty passager's seat and with his legs lazily lying over the panel.

Spider-Man turned his head to the criminal. "Oh, hello there." He said before releasing a loud sneeze. "I bet you're wondering how I got here."

The greeting stunned the robber who almost lost control of the car because of the surprise, but he quickly recomposed himself and placed the car back on the track. He tried to punch Spider-Man with his right hand but the hero quickly reacted by webbing the incoming punch back to the volant, making him unable to focus in something else besides driving the car.

"Where's my money?!" The man asked, seeing that the gun and bag weren't anymore on the seat where Spider-man was sat on.

"You aren't going to get cookies for Christmas with this behavior." Spider-Man stated and went to open the compartment under the panel, searching for any pills for his flu. "Look at what we got here." He saw lots of small plastic bags inside, containing some green herbs that wouldn't really help him with anything besides making him see giant spiders everywhere, or clowns, he hates clowns, specially the one with green hair and white makeup.

"Close that!" He ordered, trying to keep concentrated while dealing with the webhead's annoying jokes.

"So you are going to throw a party but you won't invite me? That's very disappointing considering that I'm all sorts of awesomeness and that I deserve to be invited." Spider-man remarked, rather annoyed. "What's with you bad guys going all hating on me?...Watch out!" He alerted.

The robber looked to his front and quickly evaded a parked bus which was waiting the traffic signal to allow him to continue. The cops were still after him but there was now even more cars that he hadn't noticed since Spider-man was distracting him. He looked to his left and he wasn't there anymore.

Suddenly, the car was lifted from the ground by it's back, being stuck in a huge network of webbing that was between the avenue buildings. The cops stopped under the stuck car and looked up, surprised. They weren't seeing Spider-Man anymore, but a piece of paper could be seen on the bandit car's front window.

_Merry Christmas!_ The message written on the paper, exclaimed.

That was when Spider-Man fastly swung over them, heading towards his home direction. Peter scores again, there's nothing that could stop him because he's invincible, at least on his cocky mind.

* * *

"Open your mouth." Gwen said while sat on the couch, holding a thermometer on her right hand and with her husband lying over her lap who was wrapped around a gray cozy cover.

"Ahhhh..."Peter did as demanded, in a rather dorky way. She gently placed the small object on his mouth and waited for his temperature's result. She had arrived at home one hour ago and after taking a shower, she went to take care of the sick superhero who was lying on the couch the entire time while watching TV.

Gwen touched with her hand, his hot forehead. "Why it's so difficult for you to take care of yourself?" She asked before kissing his forehead, softly.

With the thermometer on his mouth, it was hard to say anything but he replied anyway, "That's why I have you." He cupped her cheek. Enjoying the loving treatment he was receiving from his wife. Like always.

Gwen smiled and shook her head as the thermometer started to beep, meaning that the result was ready. She retrieved it from his mouth and seeing saw the 99.5 °F mark of temperature from Peter's body.

"You are going to rest for quite some days now." She affirmed, caressing his soft hair. "We're going to spend Christmas eve at my mom's home and Aunt May will also be there, okay?" She continued, looking forward to the day.

"P-Perfect." He slowly leaned upwards to meet her lips but she gently pressed the tip of her finger on his lips, not allowing him to connect with hers.

"Careful, bugboy." Gwen teased. "You don't want me to also get sick."

Peter sighed, unable to do the thing he loves most which is kissing his blonde and gorgeous wife. "You have a point." He admitted. "Do you know that the project we've been working on just got approved?"

"Really?" Gwen smiled and received a nod from him. "I'm so happy for you." She gently pinched his nose.

"Yeah, I'm thinking of creating the Parker's Enterprise." He said, she couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

"Oh god..." Gwen rolled her eyes by the cheesy name. "That's an awful name for a corporation." She teased.

"What about the Stacy's Enterprise?"

"That's much better by a long shot." She giggled at their precious banter.

"You're such a tease."

Gwen winked in the way he loves it. "You should catch some sleep now."

"I'm too lazy to get up...you should lie here besides me so that we can snuggle." He mumbled.

"There's a reason fot why we have a bed." She patted his chest before gently moving his head out of her lap and raising from the couch.

"Aww..you are just going to leave me here?" Peter complained.

"Follow me to our bedroom that maybe I let you snuggle with me." Gwen dissapeared of sight as she stepped inside their bedroom to force Peter to obey her.

"You really are evil, you just need a supervillain name, lovebug?" He lazily followed her while cracking awful jokes as ever.

**Four days later..**

Feeling much better and already fully healed, Peter carefully used the shaver to remove the little of beard that he had. The shaving foam that covered his cheeks and chin, made the process more smoother and safely for his skin. He already had done this thousands of times but mistakes on this process are always unpredictable. Peter always was someone that cared about his appearance, like checking his hair here and there to see if it's still good or going for the gym to exercise his body, not that he needed because his powers automatically enhanced his already toned build.

He splashed some cold water on his cheeks, before grabbing a towel close to the sink as he cleaned his face. He looked up to the mirror in front of him, smiling and feeling somehow rejuvenated.

Peter stepped out of the bathroom, seeing Gwen curled up on the bed sheets, wearing an old snug shirt and underwear. She was peacefully sleeping close to his pillow and with a hand lying where his chest was supposedly to be. He could swear that he was observing an Angel's sleeping.

Deciding that was time to wake his sleepy wife, Peter walked to her side of the bed and slowly lay behind her, he snaked an arm around her waist, slipped a hand underneath Gwen's shirt and started gently caressing her belly. Peter moved a trace of her blond hair behind her ear and leaned down to kiss her cheek, before descending to her neck and gaining a low moan from Gwen who was slowly starting to wake up in a very calm and loving way.

"Hey." Peter returned to her ear and softly whispered.

"Hmm.." Gwen very slowly opened her eyes, feeling totally rested. She shrank herself on his arms, feeling cozy and protected. "Watching me sleep?" She turned on his grip, now facing him as he runned a hand on the delicate and pale skin of her back.

Peter pulled the covers over them and intertwined his legs with hers. "You know me." He caressed her shoulder with his hand underneath her shirt.

Gwen cupped his cheek, felling it more slipping. "I see you that you shaved."

"Woke rather early, so I decided to do it today while we don't go to your mother's home." He explained.

"This is better." She smiled and leaned inches to his lips, capturing them and slowly fighting his tongue.

They enjoyed themselves for a few couple of minutes of just kissing each other, before Gwen broke the kiss to ask him a question she was holding for some months.

"Peter..what do you think..of being a daddy?" She smiled, to contradict her muscles that were getting rather tense, expecting what he was going to reply.

He widened his eye's as many thoughts started to ignite on his mind "A daddy? Hm...oh, erm...you're pregnant?"

Gwen giggled, relaxing herself because of his awkwardness. "No, I'm not...just wanted to know what do you think about it."

"Oh.." He looked to her beautiful green eyes. "I..I don't know, I mean - I would love to, but after living some experiences.. I'm not sure if it's fair to make our baby live the same things I did, because my DNA would be carried and you know the powers would too...he or she doesn't deserve to live with this burden and responsibility. How would they even react with such abilities?"

Gwen understood his second thoughts about it, she wouldn't also want their children to be fighting crime and getting in danger, but it's something that she wanted to have with Peter, a family. "I know, but they can have a choice, we can guide them to deal with such gifts." She caressed his cheek. "I would love them no matter what."

"And what about you?" Peter asked. "What if there's risks for you? I can't afford to lose you because of my actions." He stated, calmly.

She snaked her arms around his neck and brought her husband even more closer as they touched foreheads. "I really understand you" Gwen caressed the hair on the back of his head. "I'm not perfect, I have regrets and I share the same worries that you do.. but we can together teach them and help them, our little baby, and Dr Adams could help us during the planning because he knows your case very well."

Peter took a heavy breath, understanding her point and that she's right. It's something that he always looked forward to live with Gwen, but the recent events and the risks situations started to make him have second thoughts, his wife is Peter's priority.

He moved a trace of her golden hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek with his thumb. "I want this, but do you want it?"

"Only if you want." Gwen smiled, reassuringly.

Convinced, Peter leaned closer and brushed his lips against her, before finally making contact and passionately kissing it. No matter how much difficult things could look for the pair, they would find a way to overcome these challenges together. Starting with the current one, that's what they both want for for their life, and there isn't anything that would make that not happen.

"When do you want to visit Dr Adams?" He asked, more comfortable.

"Next year we can sort things out." She smiled and hugged him.

"I love you." Peter tightened his grip around Gwen and kissed the top of her head.

Gwen giggled before pulling the covers completely over them. He gently turned and pressed his weight over Gwen and started kissing her lips again, but after some minutes, he felt four small points of pressure on his back and that could just mean one thing.

"Ren!" He exclaimed and turned on his chest, taking the cover out of them as Ren again climbed his bare chest and went to lick his face but Peter quickly kept evading the evil pug assault.

"He also wants attention, you know?" Gwen teased, lying besides him.

"Too much attention." Peter, with both hands, grabbed the small pug and lifted him from his chest with as he waved his paws on the air to reach his owner back.

"Speaking of Ren, you go take a walk with him that I'm gonna prepare our bag." Gwen said, kissing his cheek and getting off their bed to have her daily morning shower. They would spend Christmas eve on her mom's house and would also sleep there.

"As you wish, Mrs Parker." Peter also got off the bed and walked towards the wardrobe to wear some clothes, before grabbing the puppy from their bed and holding him under his left arm. Just another day at the Parker's house.

* * *

**Helen's Apartment**

After they had a dinner that featured a roasted turkey prepared by Aunt May herself, the huge family were now sitting around the large Christmas tree in the living room, waiting midnight to arrive so that they could open the presents under the decorated Christmas tree that was standing close to the light fireplace. It was a cozy and warm moment for them.

"Do you know where Spider-Man spend Christmas eve?" Howard asked more like joking, to Peter who was sat on the couch in front of him, and with an arm around his wife waist. Helen was on the opposite side of the couch with Simon next to her.

Peter laughed. "I actually have no idea, maybe with some spiders?"

"Or with his family " Gwen replied, taking a sip from her wine.

"That makes sense." Howard continued.

"He deserves a rest for everything that he ever did for us." May remarked, sat on a comfy chair besides the main couch, and looking to Peter who understood her words.

He wondered if he should also reveal his identity to Gwen's family. He knows them for years and they deserve to, but not tonight, tonight is just to celebrate the beautiful event that happens once a year.

"Mom, when are we going to open the boxes?" Simon asked.

"In a few minutes." She replied, kissing the top of her son's head. Everytime when such special moment happens, she gets happy for being able to live another experience like this one with her family, but also sad that George wasn't there with them, even if she had already moved on.

Phillip stepped inside if the room while holding Ren on his arms who was breathless like always. "Just gave his food." He smiled. "Can he sleep at my room? He already did with Simon's."

Gwen laughed because of the dispute over hers and Peter's young pug. "Of course you can, he snores a lot, though."

"Just add to his charm." Phillip sat on the floor and leaned his back on the couch as Ren spread himself over his legs.

They stood in silence for a few seconds, enjoying the moment together as a happy family. It's for things like this that Peter keeps fighting for, seeing people's smile is gratifying for him, knowing that they are happy and safe.

He looked to his silver watch around his pulse and checked what time was.

_00:03_

"It's past midnight." Peter announced.

"Yes!' Simon exclaimed, excited. "C'mon, mom!"

Helen laughed. "Okay, go open the presents one by one."

The youngest brother got off her lap and walked to the Christmas tree before sitting on the floor, and grabbing the closest box to check the name.

"Gwen Stacy!" He said, looking to his sister and handing her the present.

"Oh..." Gwen picked the package and saw the _From Peter Parker_ reminder on top of the box.

She ripped open the packaging to reveal a luxurious bath robe. The outside was fawn in colour and made of a silky material. The inside was faux fur, white in colour and soft to the touch. It looked a perfect fit for her, snug around her waist and chest and cutting off a few inches down her hips.

"As you asked." Peter smiled, with one arm around her and bringing her closer.

"I really needed a new one." Gwen leaned and softly kissed his cheek, thankfully. "Thank you honey." She placed the box over her lap and hold her husband hand as Simon processed to give the rest of the presents.

"May Parker." He handed her the rather large box that contained a piece of paper saying that it was from Helen.

May opened the box and got surprised by what the content. "A tablet?" She laughed. "Wow, just thank you."

"You're welcome." Helen smiled. "I figured it was time for you and me to get used with those modern things and we can also keep in touch more often."

"That's great, thank you." She replied once again. They had become good friends since Peter intruced his Aunt years back.

"Where's mine?" Howard patiently waited. "Santa forgot me?" He joked.

"Okay, okay." Simon mumbled and searched for his eldest brother package. "Found it!" He gave him the present made of a green plastic material.

Howard quickly eyed it. "Oh, it's from my big sis " He looked up to her and received a warm smile before starting to unwrap the package. "You..are awesome!" He picked the golden distinctive which their father used to wear. Gwen knew he was going to be a promoter, the small meaningful object would serve as inspiration for him to never give up and fight for what's right.

"I found in our beach home, I knew you would love it." Gwen explained.

"Really, thank you, I always wanted to have one of those from dad."

Simon suddenly cheered and made everyone laugh by his energy "Found one for me!" he quickly went to take off the plastic around the box that Peter and Gwen had bough for him. "It's THE Spider-Man toy!" He eyed the rather tall and detailed toy.

"Peter searched for the the toy for quite some time." Gwen said, smiling for her brother's approval. "Did you open the small folder on the box? There's something for you in there as well."

He picked the folder which he had missed and opened it, completely amused. "No way...it's an autographed picture from Spider-Man!"

"Yeah, I had to chase him for that!" Peter smiled, happily for making one more kid happy.

Simon raised from the floor and quickly hugged Peter who later patted his back. "You're welcome buddy."

Minutes later, Howard assumed Simon's job of picking the presents since he was now busy with his new awesome toy. He grabbed one of the lasts which was to Peter, and handed him the box.

"This is from Gwen, May and Helen." Howard revealed.

"Wow..." He said rather suprised as he started to open the package that revealed a very advanced small camera which he could use when taking photos for the Bugle. "This is..just.. Thank you, really." He smiled. "But this is rather expensive -"

"Doesn't matter." Gwen whispered and softly kissed his cheek. "You more than deserve it"

He smiled and turned to her side, giving a tiny peck on the lips "Thanks guys."

The family stood celebrating the Christmas eves for a few more minutes of talking, laughing and opening the rest of the presents together. It was an unique experience for everyone, one memory that would forever be safe on their hearts and minds.

_**One hour later..**_

Everyone had already retired to their respective bedrooms and Peter had called a taxi for his Aunt who thankfully declined Helen's invite to sleep in there, saying that the house was already full. He was leaned on Gwen's old bedroom window, wearing a short and old shirt, just observing the bright light coming from the beautiful and silent moon. His wife was curled on the bed covers and already peacefully sleeping.

_I don't know if you really exist but if you do...I know that we don't have a good relationship, but I wanted to thank you...for allowing me to live another day with my family, I love these people with my heart and I would do everything for them. Thanks for keeping them safe._

With that, Peter closed the curtains and silently walked to the bed before lying besides Gwen, pulling the covers over their shoulders level and wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her forehead as she instinctively retracted herself even more closer to her husband, resting her head under his chin, feeling protected. The married couple rested together for the rest of the night, wrapped in each other arms while expecting what the future brings.

* * *

**A/N: A year is over and we are going to enter another one. Those time gaps for those that still aren't used to, will be happening more often because of the story flow. Just one month or three depending of the current situation.**

**Also, I see Peter and Gwen (At least my continuation) as fully matured adults. They are careful and an unexpected pregnancy is not something that would happen, at least not the first one. I also think that Peter have some concerns about it even if he wanted it, it's not just that simple. I tried to realistically and naturally portray these feelings and I hope that in the end, I did at least an okay job, but you guys are going to judge that.**

**Suggestion and constructive criticism is always welcome.**

**Thanks for everything, see you guys later!**

***Alley Scene inspired on Spider-Man 2 Alley Transformation sequence.**

**07/11/15 : Fixed errors.**


	23. So It Finally Began

**February 24th - 2020**

Gwen was sat on their bed and with Ren spread over her legs who was lightly snoring like he usually does. She was reading some of Peter's medical files he had done for the consult with Adam's in a few couple of hours. Speaking of Peter, he was still lazily sleeping covered in the bed covers and resting his head close to her chest. It was rather cute view, seeing Spider-Man only wearing boxers and mumbling something during his sleep, nobody would ever picture that. She glanced the clock besides the bed, seeing that it was 9:00 AM, she wasn't particularly tired, but Peter doing what he does, needed to sleep some extra time to recover his energy's.

"Hey handsome," Gwen placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake lightly. "We need to get up soon."

He opened his eyes groggily, his legs sliding down the bed and to the very bottom. He raised his arms as well, stretching his entire body before whilst yawning.

"Morning." Peter sat up in the bed, placing an arm around Gwen's shoulders. Ren was up now as well, he had jumped up onto Peter's chest and was enthusiastically licking his face. "Yes, morning to you too."

"Slept well?" Gwen asked, softly.

"Kinda."

"You were mumbling quite a lot." She revealed.

He laughed. "Yeah, I had this crazy dream where you was Spider-Woman and you helped me to defeat the villain who was Aunt May by eating all of her eggs."

"That's quite a crazy dream, she must be menacing with her eggs." Gwen chuckled. She gave him a smile, resting a hand on his arm. "Are you okay about today?"

"Don't worry about me, it's you going through everything," Peter intertwined his fingers with her own. "And you're okay, right?

"I'm fine thanks." She assured.

"Then I'm fine too." Peter continued, "Everything will be alright." He hold her hand and softly kissed it.

There was a moment of silence as the two watched each other. Then Peter moved closer, capturing her lips in a passionate lock. She happily reciprocated the kiss, placing an arm around his shoulders and pulling him closer. He deepened the kiss, Gwen knew he was trying to convey his support physically, but then he began to run his hands over her body. Without a warning, Peter broke the kiss and looked to the window.

"Crap.."

"What?" Gwen asked, totally confused.

"Crap! Crap!" Peter raised from the bed and hurried to their wardrobe just to quickly slipped a shirt over his bare torso. "I told Eddie that I would cover his turn for him during the morning, there's a new site update that I need to finish or else Jameson will throw me out of the window!" He informed, now wearing a jeans and clumsily slipping his socks over his feet.

"At least have breakfast." She tried to convince him to don't head out with an empty stomach.

"Not enough time!" He walked to her side of the bed and quickly kissed her lips. He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth's and combed his hair before returning to the bedroom just to hurry towards the main door.

"Love you!" Peter exclaimed, closing the door and leaving Gwen alone who was still trying to process all that had just happened. They were kissing and in two seconds, he had simply vanished from the apartment.

"What?"

**Three hours later..**

_"With the decreasing lost of investors and being under constantly investigation since the leak exposed by it's previous CEO, Oscorp and sub installations might be bought by the recent founded Horizon Labs." _The radio through Spider-Man earphones which were inside of his mask, informed.

_"In other news, rumors about a possible superhuman registration act is being discussed on the American congress. Sources claims that the rule was being discussed since the Battle Of New York, four years ago."_ It continued.

"Well...that's something" Peter affirmed as he kept swinging from building and to the another, in a fast pace which is something that he always loved it. When wearing the mask, his body was liberated from the chains that hold him back, now he's playing on his own personally playground, New York.

New year had started somehow very active for Spider-Man and Peter Parker, the hero was very often guaranteeing the citizen's safety, twenty four hours per day and unstoppably. For Peter Parker, a new time started with lots of hard work on his rather new job as he lived another year with his wife and family. The past year was full of experiences, good and bad ones, it was a year that he wouldn't ever forget because it allowed him to evolve to the hero he is now. The one he was always meant to be.

The elastic web made Spider-Man descend to the ground, passing between the cars and when reaching the web maximum elasticity point, he released it just to quickly fire another biocable towards the nearby crane over a building that was being constructed. He still had to buy some roses for Gwen since it was Valentine's Day even if they weren't really boyfriend and girlfriend anymore, but that doesn't matter, he wanted to remind her of how much he loves her in every day even if it wasn't a holiday. They would meet again at Doctor Adam's clinic to start planning their future child that they both wanted, and that would be the perfect moment to give her the roses after the consult is over.

He swung to his left, entering a new Avenue and constantly being called and cheered by the people down there that observed the hero swinging between the city buildings of the sunny day. Peter had to admit, his relationship with the city couldn't be any more better and that just boosted his determination even more. Spider-Man kept saluting to the people down there when he could as he swung towards the nearest flower store, to buy the most beautiful rose for the most beautiful woman on his life.

* * *

**Dr Adam's Clinic**

"Is there a risk? No matter how slightly it may be." Peter asked, sat in chair in front of Adam's desk and with arms crossed. Gwen observed his concerned expression, also sat in chair besides her husband.

The experienced Doctor, once again read the exams that his patient had done over the months before visiting his office. He looked up to Peter and replied, "I believe that Gwen could have a very calm pregnancy, there isn't a reason for that not to happen even if your DNA has some uncommon modifications that wouldn't really affect your wife or baby's conditions." He informed, resting his elbows on the desk in front of him.

Gwen smiled by the news before glancing Peter who now has a more relaxed expression. She moved her hand close to his as they intertwined fingers. He turned his head to her side and received a warm smile.

He caressed her delicate hand and turned back to Adam's who already was happy for them "Would my abilities also be carried?" Even if he kinda knew the answer, he wanted to make sure of that. It wasn't really what Peter wanted his child to be awarded with, but that wouldn't stop his and Gwen's plans for their future.

"Very likely." Adam's confirmed "We already can manipule genetics but it's something that still isn't totally dominated, and there's no safety since your gifts are buried deep in your DNA, retiring them could be risky and even fatal."

"Just being able to is already enough for us." Gwen remarked, gratefully for what they got. There isn't anyone that she wanted to share such responsibility besides Peter. Their baby earning Peter's gifts just made he or she even more special than they would already be.

"We will be keeping a close eye during the pregnancy and please keep me updated of everything that happens." Adam's asked, he's now fully committed to help the couple with anything that they might need over the incoming months.

"We will," Peter smiled, raising his hand as they complimented each other, "Thanks Doc, it really means a lot for us."

"Happy to help." He smiled back as the pair raised from their chairs feeling satisfied with all the answer that they got. Their path is still being trailed for so many years that are yet to come and together, they would support each other in whatever that is still to come.

* * *

**Central Park**

After having dinner in a Italian restaurant, the married couple decided to take a calm walk on Central Park since it was really close to their apartment. Peter had an arm wrapped around Gwen's waist as she rested her head on his right shoulder. She wouldn't ever forget this location since Peter had proposed here for the first time, he had asked her again when he got rather drunk and that was for Gwen one of the funniest days she had ever lived during hers now almost twenty six years of life.

"What do you want?" Peter asked, caressing the soft skin of her stomach with his hand underneath her blouse. "A boy or girl?"

Gwen looked to the river on their left as they crossed a deserted bridge made of gray stone. "I have no preference at all." She smiled kindly.

"Oh well, then junior has your approval?" He teased and made her wife giggle in the process.

"Junior? I think one Peter is enough." Gwen kissed his cheek and snaked an arm around his muscular back.

"Aww...imagine how awesome it would be, my own minion! " He exclaimed before leaning on her neck and tingling her pale skin with his lips.

"You're losing your mind."

"Just wait and see" Peter replied determined as they walked over a path full of trees on their sides. He unwrapped his arms around her and walked towards a rather tall tree, leaving Gwen wondering what he was doing.

"What's it?" She asked, seeing him crouching on the grass and picking something that was hidden behind the tree.

Peter raised from the grass and slowly walked back towards her, with both hands behind his back like if he was hiding something. He approached Gwen who was still trying to find out what he was hiding from her.

"Well...only the best for Gwen Stacy Parker." He affirmed before revealing a bouquet filled with red roses that he had hidden on Central Park before going to meet her at Adam's Clinic. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Gwen widened her eyes by such perfect flowers "They are beautiful!" she touched a small one with the tip of her finger and looked up to her husband. "You're the cutest."

"Did you like it?" Peter asked, handing her the roses.

"I love it." Gwen admired his gift and smelling it's natural perfume. "Thank you, honey." She leaned up and softly captured his lower lip as Peter moved a hand on her back and brought her closer to his chest. She caressed his hair while they were busy with each others lips full of passion.

* * *

**March 18th**

Gwen entered what their living room, and she entered nervously. This was what she had wanted for so long, what Peter wanted as well, but that couldn't stop her from being a little scared. She clutched the test in both hands, the test that would reveal the most important moment on their life as a couple.

Peter himself was sat on the carpeted floor and selecting some photos that he had taken for the Bugle. It was cute to see how dedicated he is to the profession. He looked up as she approached, placing the camera he gained in the last Christmas down in the floor and together with the photos.

"What's wrong?" He stood up, closing the distance to her quickly.

"There...there isn't a problem actually," She caught his hands that were going to her own, placing the test in his grasp. He studied it for a second before meeting her eyes. "It's positive, Peter."

There was silence for a few tense seconds prompting Gwen into worry, but then Peter was a blur of motion. He placed his arms around her waist, lifting her straight up. She laughed as she hooked her legs around his back, his lips racing over her neck. Then he dropped on his back onto the rug on the floor, a wide smile on his face as Gwen got onto all fours on top of him.

"Well, I take it you're happy?" She smiled.

His response was physical at first, gently flipping her over so she was lying on her back on top of him. Gwen felt his hand gently move over her – for now – perfect stomach, massaging slowly.

"I'm more than happy!" His voice was very quiet, as if a whisper would destroy the peace they found themselves in. "I love you."

"I love you too," She paused, playing with his fingers on top of her stomach. She began to grin. "You know what this means?"

"We're having a baby?"

"Well, obviously," She turned her head so their eyes could meet, now with a devious grin. "It also means you have pamper me for the next nine months, to do my every wish."

"I already do that don't I?"

"Oh you're very good I will admit," Gwen twisted in his arms, placing a chaste kiss on his lips and fluttering her eyebrows. "But you have to satisfy every single desire I can possibly come up with."

"Got any burning ones right now?"

"Hmm, I can think of a couple..."

* * *

**A/N: So it begins. I always wanted to write this chapter since day one. In fact, the story was supposed to start with a chapter like this. Let me know what you guys thought about it, no matter how short they might be, kind words are always inspiring.**

**See ya! **

**O7/09/15 : Chapter was polished a tiny bit. Fixed pontuation. **


	24. Preparations

**May 2nd - 2020**

"How are you feeling?" Peter asked, supporting his head with his hand on their bed and softly massaging Gwen's stomach. He could now see a tiny bump on the center.

"I'm getting better." Gwen replied as she calmly and slowly breathed after suddenly waking with morning sickness. Peter had helped her and after she got better, they decide to return to bed and rest for some more couple of minutes.

Feeling Peter's soft touches on her stomach was relaxing. He was always helping her with anything that she needed. Gwen already knew that her husband would be the best father that a baby could wish for. They already had told Helen and Aunt May about the pregnancy, causing them both to get extremely happy for the new addition to the family.

"I think it's a girl." He smiled and looked up to Gwen who was also glancing him with her huge green eyes which without a doubt, would pass to the baby.

"Why?" She placed her hand over his which was gently drawing circles, with his thumb, on her stomach as they intertwined fingers.

"I don't know.. I just do." Peter replied. He was feeling the luckiest man alive by living this experience with the love of his life.

"What if we have twins? Or more?" Gwen asked, more like just playing around with him. A house full of Gwen's and Peter's would be something to see.

"Oh well, that would be fun." He laughed accompanied by his beautiful wife "But I think you would be a little more bigger."

"Peter! That's rude!" She exclaimed while giving Peter a cold stare which he found incredibly cute.

"I'm so sorry." Peter apologized, trying to hold an incoming laugh. He leaned closer and connected his lips with hers, passionately kissing them as she happily reciprocated. He broke the kiss after a few couple of seconds and affirmed "You're gorgeous and always will be ."

"I know." Gwen winked.

"And a _little_ cocky."

"It's part of my charm which you feel for." With her free hand, Gwen cupped his cheek and asked "Could you get me some water?"

"Of course." Peter gave her a tiny peck on the lips before turning to his side of the bed and grabbing the bottle of water that was over the clock stand. He handed the bottle to Gwen who adjusted her pillow behind her back and sat on the bed.

"Thank you." Gwen moved the bottle close to her lips and took a sip, drinking some water that quenched both Gwen and the baby she was carrying. "You should prepare breakfast for us three while I take a shower." She gave him a warm smile.

"Won't you need help?" He genuinely asked, moving a trace of her golden hair behind her ear. He loved doing that. Her hair is just so unique and beautiful for him.

"Peter, I'm not helpless, but I appreciate it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Gwen replied as she slowly leaned closer, kissing him in a reassuring way. She knows how much over protective he is with her, and it would be no different with their baby. She hadn't ever imagined back at highschool that Peter would be her future husband and the father of her baby, only after the first year together that such thoughts started to flow on her mind, but she never had actually mentioned to him during those old times.

"Love you." Peter said after breaking the kiss. He looked to Gwen's stomach and softly kissed the delicate skin. "Love you as well, little one"

Gwen couldn't help but happily smile by her husband always present loving affection.

"I'm gonna prepare breakfast." Peter continued, raising from their bed and wearing a blue short and T-shirt that he picked from the wardrobe. He turned to Gwen and asked "Cereal and orange juice?"

"Yup." She nodded as Peter gave her a smile and stepped on the hallway "Don't forget the strawberries!"

* * *

**July 16th**

Peter drove the car towards Adam's clinic with Gwen talking animatedly, mainly about the baby. What now is their most talked subject. Eventually though, Gwen stopped talking long enough for Peter to get a word in.

"So, will we find out the sex of the baby today?" He asked while she doesn't find something else to say.

"Probably, it's been some time." She gave him a quick glance. "Do you really want to know now? I was wondering that."

"Why.."

Gwen cut across him rather cheerfully. "I mean- it would be easier for us to know, so we can buy the right stuff in advance, paint the room the right colour, and other things like that." she replied, excited.

"Yes but..."

She interrupted him again "It would be kinda of a surprise for us."

"I think..."

Peter rolled his eyes as Gwen stopped him a third time. "But I won't mind if we find now, I mean - I'm very excited to know if our baby is a boy or girl but if you don't want -"

"Gwendy!" Peter finally interrupted her, placing his right hand over her hip trying to calm his wife's excitement.

"I wanted your opinion didn't I?" She gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"Na, you're quite amusing when you get like this," He smiled "I don't mind discovering now, it's your decision though."

"Right." She nodded, offering him no more than that.

"You don't just have to give one word answers now. I know you're practically exploding with excitement these days." Peter chuckled, controlling the volant as he entered the clinic parking lot.

"I suppose you're right." She smiled.

Peter calmly parked the car close to the Hospital main entrance and turned the engine down by retrieving the key from the ignition. He turned to Gwen and place his right hand over hers "Ready?"

Gwen nodded as the couple stepped out of the car and entered the hospital, holding each other hands. They only had to wait for a few minutes in the reception before being called by a brunette who seemed to be rather bored. She quickly eyed Peter, impressed by his muscular build and causing Gwen to get extremely annoyed by that behavior, she never could get used to the harassment towards him, even if he was wearing his Spider-Man suit.

"Miss Stacy, right?" She asked, sat on a chair.

"The one, and it's _Mrs Parker._" Gwen pointed out, giving the brunette a cold stare. He had already noticed her annoyance which he thought was a little exaggerated.

"Erm..Dr Adam's office is down that hallway." She pointed to the direction with her pen.

"Thank you." Gwen faked a smile as they proceeded to walk towards the hallway, excited to know their baby sex but annoyed that some women can't stop drooling over Peter.

"I'll put this possessiveness down to hormones," He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You're not usually bothered by that kind of thing."

"Oh trust me, I really am...you're just mine and nobody's else." She firmly stated. They entered the examination room together, Gwen appearing to conjure up a smile out of nowhere as they greeted the trustworthy young man "Doctor, great to see you."

"Likewise." He gave them a wide smile. "And congratulations to you both."

"Thank you doctor."

"Today is just a normal scan, could you please lie here?"

He gestured to the bed, Gwen nodding and lying down on it. Without being asked she rolled up the bottom of her T-shirt, exposing her stomach. Peter took a seat next to her as the Doctor manoeuvred a vid-screen next to the bed just sat in a chair besides her.

"This will feel a bit cold.*

"It's okay."

Peter watched him squeeze the bottle, the shiny, gel like substance drizzling onto Gwen's stomach. Her smooth skin had become shiny and oily. She noticed his stare, giving him a grin and a wink.

"You okay?" Gwen softly asked, receiving a nod and a comforting smile from her husband.

An image appeared on the screen, in black and white and rather grainy at first. It became clearer and more pronounced though, the shape of Gwen's womb becoming visible. In the centre was a small mass, looking like a misshapen oval to him at a first glance.

"And there she is," Adam's revealed after quickly analyzing the screen with his experienced eye "The tiny arms and legs, her fingers are already developed" He guided the pair using his thumb by pointing to certain areas on the vid-screen "She's doing very well."

"She's..beautiful." Gwen spoke in a hushed tone and smiled, finally knowing that they were having a little girl. Their little girl, one that would be raised with all the love that they could give her.

"Oh god..." Peter covered his face with his right hand and wiped the incoming happy tears from his eyes, also ashamed for crying in public, he wanted to be strong for Gwen during the pregnancy.

"Aww..." She turned her head to his side as tears started to come from her green eyes by seeing her husband's reaction to the revelation. "There's no reason to be ashamed."

Peter looked up, exposing his eyes that were rather red before holding Gwen's hand and intertwining his fingers with hers. "I love you."

"I love you more."

He kissed her delicate hand. "We need to give her a name"

Gwen smiled even more, remembering the name he had mentioned during their honeymoon "Elizabeth...Elizabeth Stacy Parker."

"That's perfect" He affirmed "Liz."

Doctor Adam's, who was totally happy for his patients dreams being achieved, continued to scan her stomach with the device for a few more couple of seconds as the new parents excitedly talked about their daughter. He couldn't be more happy for helping the man who wears a certain spandex to help the city ,and his unique wife. They are a pair that Adam's had never met before, one that he could see how much they are made for each other, reaching a point that they were now starting a new life together, a life that they both wanted.

The rest of the examination was rather quick, a check of Gwen's vitals and a short conversation about how she had been feeling recently. Then the two of them began to talk about other, unrelated conditions and scientific projects since they share some knowledge from this area which Peter don't really know that much about it. He's brilliant as Gwen, but on this particular area of pregnancy, he was kinda lost, but the smile formed on Gwen's lips was worth it.

* * *

Snuggling with his wife on their couch while watching some movie together, was certainly a good time for Peter, even more with his daughter that still had to come. Gwen herself was more focused in reading a book about parenting , protected by Peter's strong arms, with her back lying against his chest and head over his left arm that softly caressed her hair which was wrapped around in a ponytail. She wasn't speaking that much. They were covered in a dark blue cover from their bed and were lying besides each other on the comfy couch, Ren was sleeping over the rug with the sound of the rain that was happening outside and brushing against the closed window.

Curiously, Peter moved his eyes away from the TV and down to the book. He slowly kissed her neck to gain some attention, but she was still focused on the book instead of him. He brushed his cheek against her before kissing the soft skin with some freckles. "What are you reading?"

"Hmm..?" Gwen returned to the present with Peter's caressing her stomach "Just..reading how to educate a child."

"You don't sound too thrilled."

"I...I don't know if I will be a good mother...I fear I could fail that." She confessed and looked down to the floor.

Peter, from behind, gently extracted the book from her hands and carefully dropped it on the floor. "You don't need a book to learn that, it's a natural process and I'm pretty sure you're going to be the best mother ever." He affirmed as Gwen turned and lay on her back, meeting his eyes.

"But what if I-"

"There's isn't a but. You're going to be, just the fact that you are already worrying about this shows how much dedicated you are, you two are connected and always will be, trust me"

"You think so?" Gwen honestly asked.

"I don't think, I know." He gave her a genuinely smiled. Leaning closer, closing his eyes before slowly and passionately, kissing her lips that were now retributing his kindness. He cupped her cheek as she snaked one hand up his neck and stopped over his brown hair just to caress it.

As she thought of something that would most likely be true, Gwen broke the kiss before saying, "She will be such daddy's girl." She smiled, already imagining Peter doing most of her desires.

"Oh you know, I have my way with my girls."

"You do?"

"Yes..." Peter leaned down again just to be gently interrupted by the tip of Gwen's finger on his lower lip. "What?"

"Could you make some popcorn?" Gwen softly asked.

"But you just ate that chocolate bar in what? Twenty minutes ago?"

"But I'm hungry again!" She exclaimed before laughing. "I'm eating for two, me and _your_ daughter!"

"Promise you're going to watch the movie with me then."

"I promise." She winked, happy that her popcorn was going to be made by her handsome husband.

Peter sighed and groaned. "I'm going.* He quickly kissed her lips again before slipping himself off the couch and walking towards the kitchen.

"You're the best!" Gwen stated to Peter who already was inside of the kitchen.

"I better be!"

Gwen giggled and smiled because of such special moment that she was currently living. She placed both hands on her stomach, already feeling some moves from Elizabeth who apparently was awake. The future never looked so bright before, she would do her best to give her little girl the best life that she could possibly have, and with Peter at her side, Gwen was sure that she would achieve that.

"See? That's your dorky daddy."


	25. An Act of Forgiveness

**A/N: So, this is a more like a filler chapter while we don't get to the moment that we are all expecting. Though, it has it's importance to the story, a very important one, at least in my eyes.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**September 23th -2020**

"Careful." Gwen warned her husband. She was sat on a chair that Peter had dragged from the living room and placed close to Elizabeth's bedroom door. She was currently guiding Peter who was painting the walls with a chocolate sundae style of color, the ceiling was already painted with the honey hut theme which is a very light pink color. He had been painting the room for the past days and there's only one wall left. They had never actually used this room for anything since they arrived from England. Gwen had placed some boxes there and that's it, now it would become Elizabeth's bedroom.

"I'm being carefully." Peter calmly protested, moving the painting roller down the wall, and passing it very close to the window.

"Don't paint the window." She continued, quickly glancing the book she was holding with her hands and Peter to see if he was doing everything right.

"I know..." He carefully lowered the instrument down the wall, sweating because of this morning hot temperature since the air conditioner wasn't yet installed on his daughter room due to the painting.

"No no, you're doing it wrong," Gwen stated. "More slower."

"What?" Peter turned on his back, with an eyebrow raised and seeing Gwen trying to hide a smile. "You're messing with me, right?"

"I'm total serious." She affirmed and nodded.

"Hum..." He turned back to the wall and slowly kneeled since he was now getting closer to the floor level with the painting.

"Right a bit...right, right. Keep going rig...stop!" Peter immediately retrived the roller from the wall, waiting for another command from Gwen. "Aw, that's wrong, Peter."

He groaned. "What now..?"

"A small puddle got on the floor," With her finger, she pointed to the area which indeed had a very tiny puddle.

Peter sighed. "Honey.. That can easily be removed."

"Just get on with it Peter." Gwen placed the book down on the table next to her, picking up her glass of iced tea and taking a sip. "I'll tell you when to stop."

"That's what you said last time," He rolled his eyes at her before wiping the sweat from his brow with one hand. It was ridiculously hot. He glanced down at his drenched old T-shirt, decided it wasn't really fulfilling much of a purpose, and removed it, receiving a wolf whistle from Gwen. He grinned at her pouting and turned back to the wall. "Let's do this." He said, determined, before finishing the last part.

"You know, you could be shirtless more often." Gwen flirted, admiring his toned back while resting her hands over her covered stomach "I really wouldn't mind it."

"I'll give it a thought." He chuckled and proceeded to finally finish the painting on his daughter's bedroom.

"I think Liz just woke." She smiled as Peter turned to her direction.

"She's kicking?" He asked, placing the roller in a piece of old newspaper on the floor and approached his wife.

"Yes." Gwen smiled as Peter kneeled besides the chair she was sat. "Just two months." She informed with a huge grin formed on her lips. She couldn't wait to finally meet Elizabeth, their daughter and the solid proof of their love over each other.

He gently caressed her stomach by drawing soft circles with his thumb, before slowly kissing the delicate skin. "We are waiting for you." He whispered as Gwen caressed his hair.

Even if the pregnancy was somehow hard to Gwen and to her body, it was worth it. It's worth feeling some pain coming from her back or the unpredictable morning sickness, even the discomfort that she was finding when going to sleep. It's worth because after that, after everything that she is going through, she would finally hold her and Peter's little girl, the fruit of their passion and love with each other, a new life was created because of that, and to just see a tiny smile coming from Elizabeth's lips, Gwen would go throught that again without a second thought. Having Peter's support made everything easier and relaxing.

"I ordered that vanilla cot that we were looking for." She broke the loving silence and smiled. "I think we should place it in our bedroom, at least for the first months."

"Of course." He agreed, standing up before leaning down to kiss his wife on the lips, and to gently pinch her tiny nose with his finger.

"Want to buy some little clothes for our daughter? With me and MJ?" Gwen asked, excited.

"Looking forward to." Peter replied, he wasn't being Spider-Man that often since he wanted to dedicate more of his time with Gwen, helping and taking care of her when needed so that she could have a very calm and safe pregnancy. Not that he wasn't suiting up anymore, whenever a big emergency calls, he would quickly handle it in time to get back to home.

Now that the painting was done, Peter walked to the only window inside of the room, and opened it as ,instantly, the fresh air came from outside and brushed against his bare chest. The moment, was relaxing enough to make him remember about something that he was struggling to do or not for a few weeks now, and to make his decision, he wanted to hear Gwen's thoughts.

He turned on his back and stood against the wall that wasn't recently painted. He crossed his arms and looked to his wife. "I have this on my mind and I wanted to talk with you about it, it's actually pretty serious."

"What's it?" She softly asked, understanding that it was indeed something very important for him.

"I'm the guy inside of Spider-Man's suit, I'm the one who swings around through the city and I'm the one who fights criminals the entire time." He started. "You know it, my Aunt knows it and now Elizabeth will know it because there's no way to hide that from her when she deserves to know, she will have to keep it a secret in such a young age and because of that, there will be some pressure on her small shoulders...she would even have to hide my identity from your family, her own grandma and uncles."

"You want..."

"Yeah, I think it's time for them to know that, I trust them and It would also make Liz to be more comfortable to live with such secret, she wouldn't have to fear to accidentally slip that her father is Spider-Man, she wouldn't need to hide that from her own family." He explained.

Gwen calmly and slowly raised from her chair and approached her conflicted husband, placing both hands on his shoulder. "You have to do what you think it's right for you..." She hold his left and placed it over her stomach. "And what's right for her." She gave her advice.

"You're right... It's something that they deserve to know." Peter gave her a tiny peck on the lips. "Before or after she's born?"

"I think you should reveal before, ones less weight over your shoulders." Gwen replied, glad that her husband trusts her family to keep his secret hidden. "And thank you for trusting them."

"The Stacy's are a big part of my life." Peter smiled, "Especially this beautiful one." He leaned down just to brush his warm lips against hers.

"Watch out for the flattery." She sensually whispered close to his ear.

"You like being adored." He whispered back, slowly kissing the smooth skin of her neck while making Gwen's spine shiver a bit, he could do it without even his magical touches, but only with words that she loved it.

"I'm hungry." She said rather out of place.

Peter groaned in discontentment before looking up to her green eyes. "Way to kill the moment..."

"Sorry," Gwen giggled "But I'm really hungry."

"What do you want to eat?"

"Pizza!" She replied, excited.

"Do we even have Pizza here?"

"I don't think so...but, I think you could get some" Gwen suggested, with a wide smile. Her food cravings were getting more intense and Peter was the one taking care of these urgent needs. "There's a restaurant a few blocks from here."

"The things I do for you..." He teased before kissing her forehead.

"Remember, you can always be rewarded later." She winked.

"I'll hold you on that." He unwrapped his arms around her and walked towards the wardrobe to pick a very tight and colorful suit.

"You know what's even more better? My own personal Pizza-Man will deliver it!"

**Four hours later..**

Spider-Man was in the edge of a very tall building, holding a webline on his right hand which was stuck on a criminal feet's who was hanging upside down on the web. Peter was with Gwen in a baby store but the news were reporting a gang war happening in the other side of the city, so he left Gwen there with MJ against his desire, he needed to help the police in this particular occurrence. Now he was holding who apparently was the leader of the more threatening gang. Peter was pissed off for having to leave his wife and unborn daughter to handle these scums, but it's what he needed to do and he couldn't refuse it.

"Here's the thing...you're trapped in my web, I'm very annoyed at you, and there's a long distance towards the ground." Spider-Man pointed, "So, you're going to tell your boss-"

"I won't tell anything!" He protested.

"Oh, really? What if I _accidentally_ release this web which is holding you?" Spider-Man threatened

"You wouldn't dare-" The criminal got interrupted as the hero let the web slid a little on his hand, dropping him. He yelled scared, just to quickly be pushed back.

"You shouldn't test me!" Spider-Man threatened again, with a much more harsh tone. "Give me names!"

"Okay! F-Flint Marko!" He shouted. " What do you want me to tell him?"

"Simply, or he stops selling drugs on my city since it's what is causing these wars, or else I'm coming for him!"

"I will! Can you now please let me go?" He begged.

"I'm afraid not...you're going to be hanging here for some more time." Spider-Man kneeled and placed the web he was holding on the ground.

"You're just going to leave me here?!"

"Yup." He raised from the ground and checked on his web shooters. "Oh, the web will last for some more couple of minutes before it starts the dissolving process." He warned.

"What?! Take me with you then!"

"Farewell fella!" Spider-Man jumped off the edge with his arms open as the rooftop's entrance was open with two cops quickly running towards the trapped criminal. He had called them before going to interrogate the weak minded man that wasn't that stubborn as Peter had thought.

Spider-Man finally fired a web line to the nearest building, handling his own weight's force against the gravity as he was ascended back to highest heights while holding the web line until the last possible second, with both legs up and against each other on his iconic pose. He released it and spun himself on the air before firing another web on his left to enter a new Avenue, in a very calm and relaxing pace. He could hear the sound of his suit material ripping the invisible air as he kept swinging. These were peaceful times, no supervillains or conspiracies that he needed to fight. Well, there's a guy who hates him and that guy is called Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker's boss. Sometimes he wondered if Jameson would ever feel the love when it comes to Spider-man, accepting him as a hero and everything.

_Eh, and I might become an Avenger!_ Peter sarcastically thought. Not that he wanted to accomplish both of these tasks, but it wouldn't be that bad to be recognized as a hero who protects the city by Jameson. And it's been five years, if the superhero group hadn't called him, they wouldn't now.

He landed on a wall, and unzipped the pocket close to his waist line to pick his cellphone and call his wife. It took about five seconds before Gwen finally answered the call.

"Hey beautiful"

_"Hey, are you coming back?"_

"About to." He answered, glancing the traffic down there in the streets.

_"What do you think? A pink tiny sock or a light yellow one?"_ Gwen asked, checking two pairs of socks for Elizabeth.

Peter smiled, "Hmm..why not both?"

"This teddy bear is just so cute!"

He chuckled. "Be careful to not bankrupt us"

_"Aww, but I loved it! What did you got there, MJ?"_

"What's it?"

_"It's a toy in format of a little dog." _Gwen replied. "_She will have a collection of animals."_

"Ren will be jealous."

_"Nah, Elizabeth will love him."_

"She should, I'm getting back."

_"Okay. I love you."_

"Love you too." He turned the call down and placed his phone back to the suit pocket. Hearing his wife's excitement was contagious, he couldn't wait to see what she had bought for their little girl.

Spider-Man had just fired a webline to the opposite building when his Spider-Sense triggered, making him instincly turned his head to his left, like if something was calling him, the signal on his mind was coming from the alley besides the building where he was currently crawling on. He slowly crawled towards the source, passing some windows as he entered the alley, seeing two guys standing in front of a homeless man who was sat besides a green trash can.

"So you don't have anything?" The tallest man asked. " We need money, and you need to give us some."

"Yeah, give us." His partner ordered.

"I don't have anything..." The homeless replied with a fragile voice. He was wearing some old dirty clothes among with a hood.

"Too bad, we are not leaving here with empty hands" He pulled his sleeve up, preparing to punch the defenseless man, not noticing someone hanging upside down in a webline behind him.

"And we are done here." Spider-Man stated from behind them, he landed on the floor and quickly grabbed the tallest one by the collar, before throwing him on the wall behind just to web him against it. His partner retrieved a knife from his jacket and tried to hit Spider-Man on the chest if he hadn't evaded the attack by quickly punching the arm and consequently, breaking it.

Spider-Man dragged him close to the trash can and placed him inside, webbing the whole compartment as he kept screaming and begging to the hero to let him get out.

He approached the man and offered his hand. "They aren't going to bother you, anymore."

"It doesn't matter," The man stated. " There's nothing left for me." He looked up.

"You..." Peter's eyes widened by seeing the man face. The person right in front of him was the one who had killed his Uncle. Now he had a much more older and lifeless expression. "You killed my.."

"I killed.. I killed a person and there isn't a day where that doesn't hunt me...everyday I relive that night." He said calmly and truthfully, "The boy is still probably after me, with a reason.

Peter grabbed the man by his shirt's collar and violently pressed him against the wall. "You're going to pay for your crimes!" He raised his hand, preparing the blow that contained the anger that was now flourishing back.

"Do what you must, I'm already dead."

Peter breathed heavily as loads of emotions were currently exploding on his mind, with just one action, he could forever be lost. He punched the wall, smashing his hand against the concrete "I..I..just call the cops." He released the man who slowly sat back on the floor and against the wall.

Spider-Man took one more last glance on the alley before jumping and swinging away from the location. He needed to relax his conflicted mind, and there isn't a better place besides his home and with his wife and daughter. He had done enough for today, finally having the closure he was always hunting during seven years about his Uncle Ben death, now he could finally close a door and live the present and future.

* * *

Gwen was currently sat on their bed and with Peter behind, she was between his legs and with her back against his chest. She was seeing the purchases she had done like Elizabeth's small and cute clothes among with her baby toys. Peter was leaned on her shoulder and with both hands resting over her stomach, he could feel his daughter light kicks as he caressed his wife stomach.

He kissed her cheek before glancing the beautiful and meaningful set of clothes for his unborn little girl. "They are perfect."

"I can't wait to dress Elizabeth for the first time." Gwen said with a wide smile "Hear her first crying, sleep with her between us." She slowly brushed her cheek against his, closing eyes because of the soft and intimate touch. She moved one hand over his as they intertwined fingers.

"I want you forever at my side, you're the best thing that ever happened to me and now Elizabeth, I love you, always will." He said with all the passion available.

"Hey.." Gwen turned her head, touching his forehead with hers. "You mean the world to me, you gave me a daughter, you're my husband." She leaned closer, with hand cupping his right cheek, and captured his lower lip as they engaged into a passionate kiss. She felt something was wrong with him though, as true his words were, he said in a rather desperate way like if he wanted to forget something, and Gwen had noticed that.

She broke the kiss and looked to his brown eyes. "Is everything alright? "

There wasn't a way to hide something from Gwen, even if he wanted, that's for sure. "I...I found him, the man who killed Uncle Ben."

"Oh.." Gwen mouthed rather surprised. She knew how much from his time Peter had dedicated to find him for seven years and that he eventually had moved on. She trust him but she feared what possibly happened during the moment. "What happened?" she asked, softly.

"He was being assaulted, I stopped them and when he looked up...there wasn't any life left with him, he regrets what he did and he didn't even tried to put any resistance when I threatened to beat him...I left him there, there wasn't anything to do." He replied, ashamed for almost losing his way during the reunion.

Gwen caressed his cheek. "You made the right decision, he's now paying for his actions." she rested her head on his right shoulder and gently kissed his neck.

"I feel..free, I f-forgive him." He affirmed.

"You never cease to amaze me." Gwen said, proudly. "The things you do, mans like you are rare these days." She slowly turned and with her hand, she pressed Peter's chest as they lay down on the bed and besides each other, while being careful to not lay over Elizabeth's clothes.

Peter smiled, feeling lighter. "It's now on the past, now I can totally focus on my girls." He kissed her forehead before lazily moving his arm to the stand besides his part the bed, searching for his camera. "We didn't made any albums again, I need an update on my gallery." He suggested, with the camera on his free hand.

"That will be fun." Gwen smiled, she knew how much he loved doing these photos sessions on their bed. He has like thousands of photos of just her alone that he gathered over the years.

"Though, it's your turn to do the dorky faces."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you always look adorable." Peter replied, turning the camera on as she brought him closer to kiss his cheek.

"We need to make another one with Elizabeth, though."

"And we will." He turned back to Gwen and gave her a tiny peck on the lips "We can place Liz between us, and fill her with kisses!"

Gwen giggled. "I adore you," She connected his warm lips with hers as Peter passionately reciprocated. He pressed his camera button and started to take thousands of photos till there wasn't any space left in the camera's storage. They kept kissing and making silly faces for some couple of minutes, enjoying each other as they prepared themselves to become parents, expecting the moment when their daughter will finally be with them. Their little bug girl.

* * *

**A/N: I always thought that Uncle Ben's killer plot point should have been finished in the sequel. I understand why Peter stopped going after him because he had more important things to handle than his personal vendetta. So this particular arc is finally completed. I'm finishing any subplots that weren't finished, before moving to the new story arc which will take some time, they are already planned though. **

**I forgot to mention on the previous chapters, I will be writing Spider-Man sequences in less realistic way but more cartoony, I think it's how he should be handled in my opinion. A mix of both.**

**Hope most people enjoyed this chapter. Do you guys want one more chapter like this one, with the couple preparing themselves to be parents, or should I go with their daughter birth in the next one? I will leave this decision with you all.**

**Have a nice weekend :)**

**07/09/15 : Fixed mistakes. **


	26. You're My Little Girl

**A/N: It's finally here. The chapter I have been waiting for months, basically the whole time. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.**

* * *

**November 15th - 2020**

**Helen's Apartment - Manhattan**

It was now or never. After fighting so many enemies and battles, this one felt the hardest one, but he needed to be strong, strong enough to reveal the biggest secret he's now carrying for almost eight years. His gift and burden. One that when aware by someone, that person would be dragged into a life of danger and struggle, but Peter wouldn't allow anyone from his family get hurt ever again, and if someone ever did, he would hunt them down.

_"Peter? You were going to say something?"_ Helen asked, sat on a comfy chair on the other side of the living room.

Peter was brought back to reality with the question. He saw Gwen's brother sat on the carpeted floor, waiting for him to reveal what he said he would. Gwen was besides him on the couch. She knew how much difficult this was being for her husband. She was there to give him some support because he was really needing it.

The secret he trusted her for years was now going to be exposed to her whole family. She didn't know how they would react, but she was expecting them to accept him as they were doing for such a long time now.

"You can do it," Gwen whispered, intertwining her fingers with his. She could notice how tense his muscles were, showing that Peter was nervous. His shaking right hand was also proving that. "I'm here for you."

Peter nodded with a smile. He raised from the couch and stood in the center of the living room, being surrounded by the Stacys. "There's no easy way to say this, but... there's something that I carry with me for a long time now, something that I have been hiding from the entire world and there's only two people that knows that, your daughter - Gwen, and my Aunt who just recently discovered it."

"Oh..." Helen was now concerned.

"I didn't hide it because I didn't trust you guys. In fact, Gwen was the first person to discover it during our first kiss. It was to protect you all, it's not something that I'm proud to do, but it's needed. Now that Elizabeth is coming, I feel that is time for you guys know it, just like she will know as well." Peter moved both hands to his waistline and pulled his shirt up, exposing his Spider-Man suit's chest area among with his covered in spandex arms.

Simon widened his eyes, at first he thought it was just a copy but the material was too much perfect to be a fabrication. Helen couldn't believe what she was seeing either, she covered her mouth with her left hand when Gwen handed him the mask and gloves that she was hiding since the start. He pulled it down his face and hands, before removing his jeans and giving them to Gwen. Peter Parker wasn't there anymore, just Spider-Man, and that shocked everyone. He didn't say any words. The view was important enough. Now he felt at ease.

"You.." Helen raised from her seat and carefully walked towards him. She gently placed her right hand on his cheek, feeling the suit detailed fabric. It was a surreal moment for Helen. "You're Spider-Man?"

"Wow - wait... this is not a prank, right?" Howard asked, later receiving a nod from his sister in response. He wasn't believing his eyes either.

"I'm so sorry for hiding this for such a long time, I'm will understand if you hate me for keeping it away from you guys."

"We don't hate you, you're part of the family and this just makes me even more proud you," Helen affirmed as she affectionately hugged him. Accepting Peter for what he is. New York City's protector. "You're only man that I trust to keep my daughter safe."

He hugged her back, trying to appear strong by not letting the emotions take control of him. "Thank you." Be replied, softly.

"I'm glad you told us" She kissed his covered cheek. Knowing that he was the man who helped her husband to save the city just made him even more special. He's taking care of her girl, and he's also Spider-Man, someone who is always helping people that needs his assistance.

"Thanks for telling us," Howard said. They were good friends and he trusted him to care of his big sister. "Means a lot for us."

"Peter is Spider-man? Awesome!" Simon stated excited, causing Peter and Gwen to smile. "Could you take me with you when swinging?"

Peter kneeled so that he could be on his biggest fan level. He pulled his mask off. "I don't think your mom would allow that, but you can have this." He handed him the mask, seeing the bright coming from Simon's eyes. He couldn't wish for a better family, he has a beautiful wife, a daughter and a supportive family. That's where his happiness come from, and that's enough for him.

Though, there was a lot of things that he still had to explain to the Stacys. Starting with the infamous spider bite.

* * *

**November 27th - 2020**

Gwen adjusted the cushion behind her back, making herself more comfortable for the umpteenth time in the past hour. She shifted her legs slightly, stretching out all the way to her toes down the sofa. She was sat in the middle of the corner sofa, her body positioned to face the large LED TV above the fireplace. The other part of the L- shaped sofa was empty.

Peter was sat down on the floor with his back against the bottom of the furniture piece, with an incredible array of photos and papers surrounding him on the rug.

She turned her attention back to the TV and the program she was currently watching. A culinary show which featured seven participants that would create the most tasteful foods that they could come with, seeing who's the better cooker. Just recently that Gwen started watching those type of shows, mostly because of her food cravings.

Every plate looked _glorious_. She thought.

Soon enough the program finished, the credits rolled, accompanied by a massive gurgle from her stomach. Gwen rolled her eyes and sighed, patting her rather large bulge lightly. She could deal with the other side effects of pregnancy – the back ache, the sore feet, the need to use the toilet every couple of hours, the ridiculous mood swings, headaches, and the nausea – but the constant hunger was driving her mad. It wasn't as if her hunger's demand was general, but specific cravings for only certain foods.

She slowly moved off the sofa, heading around it and walking slowly into the kitchen. A light jingling told her that Ren was following, the familiar clinking noise of his collar giving away the now massive animal's presence. Gwen passed the cooker and stopped in front of two of the many oak faced cupboards around the room, opening them with one hand and scratching Ren behind the ear with another. The cupboards were stuffed with food, but there was nothing there she exactly wanted to eat. She shut the cupboard doors with a humpf and moved to the fridge freezer, opening up both doors of the unit at once. Gwen began to root through the draws of the unit, searching rather methodically. Eventually she found something.

"Hmm, a nice bowl of chips would be nice," She turned her head to look at the dog. He cocked his own head in reply. "Eh, Ren? "

She grabbed the bag out of the freezer and headed over to the cooker, double checking the instructions on the back of the packet. Advanced things were still a trouble, she could cook basic meals rather well.

Gwen threw a large portion of chips into a pan, placing that in the oven and setting it to cook. Then she walked over to the sink, resting her arms either side and gazing out of the window to the now dark city. It was a rather stormy evening, with vast quantities of rain lashing from the sky in an almost vertical direction. An urge to drink something ignited on her mind, because of the water.

She hadn't been drinking coffee during her pregnancy, and she didn't feel like drinking tea right now. She had exhausted their supply of juice and there wasn't really anything else appealing to her in the fridge. Gwen had also drunk their stocks of hot chocolate, though she really did crave that right now.

"Hmm, how did Peter made it?" She couldn't remember the way he had done with Aunt May's recipe, a few weeks ago. Gwen had found it delicious.

She turned back to the cupboards and grabbed a couple of bars of chocolate, tearing them open and shoving the contents into a pan. Gwen placed it onto the stove and turned it on, smiling at her resourcefulness as she watched the chocolate begin to melt.

Two minutes later the kitchen was filled with a burning smell, and Gwen was rather alarmed at the development. She ran a wooden spatula through the melted chocolate, finding lumps of burnt chocolate at the bottom. She frowned, Peter had simply melted some chocolate and added milk. Her attempt was a lumpy and burnt mess in a pan, hardly perfect. She decided to give up and get him to make her some later on, so she shoved the pan into the sink to wash later.

Eighteen minutes later the chips were done, and at least they were done well. Gwen poured them into a large bowl and headed back into the living room, happily munching her way through the food. She stopped as she caught sight of Peter in the same position on the floor. She hadn't realised that he was actually asleep on the floor, and she placed the bowl on the table with a tender smile.

Gwen approached him, slowly lowering herself down onto the floor and patting him on the shoulder.

"Peter?" She picked the bowl of chips up again and waved it in front of his face, wafting the smell under his nose. "Wake up, baby."

"I don't want to lick... _what?"_ She chuckled as he slowly woke up, muttering slightly as his eyes opened. His usual waking up, confused look turned to one of embarrassment. "I was asleep? I shouldn't have been, sorry."

"Hey - don't worry about it," Gwen gave him a light peck on the cheek. "But you're working too hard, as per usual."

Peter complained, "Yeah, well... blame Jameson, he's killing me, and the new project isn't helping either."

"You need to rest a bit, you can always finish it some other day. " She suggested.

"You're right." He agreed.

"Good," Gwen leaned into his shoulder, shuffling along the rug next to him. She felt an arm slip around her shoulders and heard Peter yawn as she pressed another kiss onto his cheek, digging her hand into the bowl and continuing her snack. Another hand sneaked into the bowl as Peter stealthily reached for a chip, he succeeded but she gave him a light slap on the wrist as punishment. "Oi, get off my food!"

"Smells like you burnt it though."

"I tried to make hot chocolate like you did, with proper bars of chocolate," She shook her head sadly. "Didn't work."

"Did you melt the chocolate using hot water or just over the stove?"

"Over the stove."

"There's your problem," He grinned. "If you just heat it directly you'll burn it, you have to use a Bain Marie."

"I see," Gwen took another mouthful of chips as they both fell silent. She glanced around at the piles of papers and photos surrounding them. "Bit of a mess."

"Sorry," Peter looked a bit sheepish. "It's how I work best, as you know."

"No problem, honey," Gwen kissed his cheek and then glanced the photos again, finding a very old one. " Wow... you still have this one? " She placed the bowl over his lap and leaned to pick the photo from the ground.

"The Debate Team," He said, glancing one of the first photos that he had taken from Gwen. "I can't get rid of this one, your smile is just so... breathtaking."

"It feels like ages; thank you," Gwen gently stole a kiss from her husband, before returning the photo back to the pile. "I've been meaning to ask you something, what are we going say to Liz about her grandpas?"

Peter looked to his wife and caressed the smooth skin of her hand with his thumb. That was a topic that he was recently thinking about it. It's something that Liz would miss in the close future, even more when she get to see her friends with their own grandfathers. "We should tell her that they aren't with us anymore, they were gone long before she could know them and when she's old enough, we tell her the whole truth."

Gwen nodded. "I hope she doesn't get too much down because of that." She looked at her husband, with a genuinely concern over her facial.

"She won't,' Peter gave her a tiny peck on the lips "She will be stronger as her mother."

Gwen smiled, comforted. "And cute as her daddy." She leaned on his shoulder as Peter rested his head besides hers. He tightened his grip around her, wishing that the moment lasted forever. Just like that, wrapped in each other arms, enjoying the silence while their little girl isn't there to stir things up and having the couple to pursue her around the apartment.

* * *

**December 9th - 2020**

The discomfort was now even bigger, and the pain was also reaching the highest levels. She couldn't resume her sleep because the most important moment of her entire life had just arrived. She needed her husband's help to overcome this and to finally meet their daughter, that was the moment she had been waiting for nine months.

"Peter?" Gwen gently stirred Peter's shoulder, he was currently sleeping next to her. He didn't notice she was already awake this early in the night. "Honey?" She now drew soft circles on his cheek with the hope of waking him up.

"Hmm..." Peter lazily half opened his eyes, instantly seeing Gwen breathing heavily and sweating lightly. His eyes immediately shot open as he sat on the bed, trying to figure what was happening "Hey - hey, what are you feeling?" He asked, placing a hand against her forehead.

"She's coming." Gwen replied, placing her both hands over her stomach.

"You mean Elizabeth?" He could see the pain she was having through her deep green eyes.

"What do you think, Sherlock?" She snapped, annoyed.

"Oh my god..." Peter shook his head before lightly caressing her left arm. "O-Okay... um... we shouldn't panic, I read that panicking is the first thing to avoid." He told himself.

Gwen groaned in pain. "You're the one panicking...!"

Peter ignored her remark. "We just need.. wait here." He got off bed and approached the window of their bedroom.

"It's not like I can go anywhere..." Gwen mumbled.

The December's weather was brutal, the last week had been nothing but blizzards. The entire street asphalt was covered with snow which would make incredibly difficult to drive. He couldn't place Gwen in danger, not when his daughter was about to come.

"What is it?" Gwen asked weakly, seeing her husband with an agonized expression spread across his face.

"The streets are filled with snow, I can't drive the car in such density, too risky.

"Oh god..." Gwen looked up to the ceiling before closing her eyes. He turned back to Gwen and kneeled besides their bed. He could hear the pain behind her voice, and that sent his heart racing around the edge.

He began reassuringly, "The emergency services can get to us though, they'll have vehicles that can get to us, I'm sure."

She frowned. "What are you waiting for?"

"Okay - okay," He kissed her forehead. "Hang on, Gwendy." He stood up.

Gwen affirmed, "It's not me that you have to tell that to."

He walked around the bed and to his bedstand, grabbing his phone as he called the emergency - tapping his foot impatiently while he waited for someone in the other end to pick the call up.

After a few seconds hearing the standby track, some voice of an young woman could be heard. _"This is New York City Emergency Services, how may I help you?"_

"Yeah, Hi. We need help quickly, erm... my wife has gone into labour," Peter was aware of just how hysterical he sounded. "But there's a snowstorm and we can't get to the hospital from our apartment."

_"Keep calm, sir. Firstly, I need your address"_

Peter replied with the information, rattling it off rather quickly. His eyes were focused on Gwen however, she had sat on the bed and adjusted a pillow behind her back. Her eyes were closed as he could see pain flicker across her face as she had another contraction.

_"Right Sir, I can see why you have a problem the weather reports are horrific for the area, "_ She informed. _"A special ambulance is already on the way towards your home, now I just need your names."_

"My wife is Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy and I'm Peter Benjamin Parker."

_"Aren't you the one who takes pictures of -"_

"Yeah - yeah... it's me," Peter replied rather impatiently. "I really need assistance."

"Help is on it's way, don't worry."

"Thank you very much, I have to get back to my wife," Peter turned the call down and placed his phone back to the stand before crawling into bed and sitting besides her, taking her hand gently. "Help is on the way, you need to relax now."

"Peter, listen to me," Gwen cupped his cheek with a single hand, forcing their eyes to meet. "You have to help me until they arrive, possibly you'll have to deliver the baby."

He swallowed rather forcibly, this was his worst case scenario for the birth.

"Please Peter, I really need you now."

He nodded his resolve, taking her hands with his own. "Tell me what to do, I'll help you."

"Well I'm already into established labour, my waters went a few minutes ago. Surprisingly quickly actually," She grimaced again, looking away from him. "We'll need some supplies. Towels, water, snacks. And this could take anywhere up of of eight hours, I should try to keep myself busy."

"Right." He got off the bed and quickly headed to the bathroom, and grabbing a large pile of towels. Peter sprinted back to the bedroom, tossing them down and rushing into the kitchen. He threw open the fridge, grabbing several bottles of water and rushing back to Gwen.

"Here we go."

"And the snacks?"

"Damn, it" He sprinted back into the kitchen, grabbing several packs of biscuits and crisps and returning to her. "Got 'em."

"Right," Gwen took several deep breaths, closing her eyes as she did so. "Don't panic now Peter, you have to keep calm, okay?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't it be me saying that to you?"

"Yes but you're hopeless in these situations, I am not."

"Fine." He crawled back to the bed and sat besides her, holding her hands as they intertwined fingers and looked at each other's eyes. "You're going to be okay," He kissed her warm cheek before carefully touching his forehead with hers. "Like you said once, we need to hold on to hope, everything will be alright."

"I'm scared." Gwen closed her eyes.

"Don't be, tonight, you're going to be holding our daughter for the first time, I'm here for you." He gently captured her lips to ease the situations for his wife.

Gwen broke the kiss and made contact with his brown eyes. "You have to keep me busy while they don't arrive."

"Right, you said to do stuff yeah?" She nodded. "We could put the Christmas decorations up?"

She rolled her eyes. "I can't really do that."

"You can order me about, tell me where to put stuff," At her disapproving gaze he shrugged. "Right, point taken, that's inappropriate. A film instead?"

"Peter..." Suddenly, there was a rapid set of knocks at the door.

"Yes! Yes!" He leapt up, practically jumping for joy. "We're in here, it's unlocked."

There was a thump as the door opened, followed by rapid footsteps and Ren's barking. As the medical team entered the room Peter could not have been more relieved, and a huge smile broke across his face. Gwen appeared much more relieved as well, her lips moving in a silent thanks.

Peter stood back as the four members of the team began to unpack various pieces of equipment. Gwen waved her hand at him though, gesturing for him to come closer. He did, gripping her hand once more.

He looked at one of the team. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Just hold her hand and try to keep her happy."

Gwen snarled, "At least he should be able to do that!"

_**Hours later..**_

Peter stood over the cot, just watching. They had decided to have the cot in their bedroom for at least the first few months, so they could keep a close eye on the baby - Elizabeth, as she was called. It was Gwen's idea, and she was right. It was lovely to have their own baby so close. Their perfect child.

Elizabeth Stacy Parker was a beautiful baby, though all babies were probably like that in their parents eyes. She had the exact eyes of her mother, green in colour and filled with curiosity and intelligence. Her delicate and smooth skin was rather porcelain in colour, though not quite as pale as Gwen's. He had suspected that Liz would have the same hair color as his, but he was wrong, it was blonde. She would likely be a mini-Gwen in just a few years. But that wasn't a problem for him at all.

And then there was the look Elizabeth had about her. Gwen was fast asleep, tucked in bed, he could even hear her now calm breathing, but the baby was wide awake. Peter had imagined she would sleep or cry, but she happily lay in the cot with her curious eyes constantly watching him.

He sneaked another glance at Gwen, she was completely out for the count, and turned back to Elizabeth with a smile. He carefully wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up into his arms, making sure to support the head as he had been previously told. She squirmed for a couple of seconds before settling, still watching him with her deep eyes. Quietly, he silently stepped outside of their bedroom and walked towards the living room with Elizabeth on his arms.

"So..." His voice drew Elizabeth's attention once more. "This is your house, Liz. Can I call you Liz?"

Elizabeth's eyes continued to stare at him, and he was sure he caught some eye rolling.

"Yeah, I guess I can," He reached the large closed window, stopping as Elizabeth made a cooing noise. Her gaze was off him and towards the dark sky, the sun was already starting to come off though, and mixed with the snow brushing against the window, it was a beautiful view that he was sharing with his baby girl. He couldn't fully realize he now has a daughter, a child who would forever be his biggest priority,

Liz flicked her gaze between the window and his face, rather happily watching both. Peter guessed the sky was probably rather intriguing for a newborn due to all the vivid colours and the sun's yellow rays.

After a few minutes he moved away, and settled down on the sofa.

"You're so... beautiful." He smiled and very delicately kissed her forehead, before touching his own against hers. He could swear that a very tiny smile was coming from her lips. Suddenly, a very calm and relaxing bolt ignited on his mind, exactly like his special sense, but not as louder, like if they were somehow connected to each other and that bolt was triggered by the forehead touch. He didn't pay that much attention because of Elizabeth, but he had noticed it.

He stood sat in the couch with Elizabeth on his arm's for a few more couple of seconds before she finally fell asleep with her daddy observing her. He caressed her cheek with his thumb and spoke, "I love you."

Peter grabbed the tablet that was over the coffee table in front of the sofa and searched for his Aunt May's contact. He thought about doing a video call to show her his daughter, she usually wakes very early on the morning. He was now hoping May had learned how to use the device she had gained from Helen in the last Christmas.

She finally answered the call. _"Got kicked from the bed and into the dog's house?"_ She smiled, not understanding why Peter had called her so early on the morning.

"Gwen always needs her natural pillow," Peter silently laughed, careful to not wake his only a few hours old daughter. He moved the tablet's camera a few centimeters to the left so that Elizabeth could appear in the camera's field of view. " So, this little girl here is my daughter. "

_"Oh my god!"_

"Shh," He interrupted her, something he rarely had the nerve to do. "I've just got her off to sleep."

May's expression immediately softened to a wondrous gaze as she noticed the sleeping baby in his arms. _"Oh Peter, she's so beautiful! What a blessing." _She continued to glance Elizabeth. _"How is Gwen?"_

"Rather tired I guess, she's sleeping now." May nodded sympathetically. "But Christ, I thought I was gonna have to deliver Liz myself, the medical team only just arrived in time."

_"Well you seem to have managed most of the labour it seems, unlike your father," _His Aunt grinned._ "He just passed out at the first sign of blood, almost missed your birth!"_ She said, remembering the night when Mary gave birth to Peter.

"Heh, well it is pretty scary from our point of view. We have no idea what's happening."

_"Suppose that's true," _His Aunt began to examine Elizabeth once more. _"I reckon you should probably take someone off to bed though, not that I'm trying to butt in or be an interfering Aunt already that is."_

"You're not her Aunt, you're her grandmother," Peter stated, earning a genuinely smile from May. "I'll take her off now though, you should come here to see her when you can."

_"When Gwen is fully rested, I'm going to visit you guys. She needs to have a very relaxing break and without any disturbance," _May took a final glance at Elizabeth. _"See you soon darlings, and give my love to Gwen."_

"I will." Peter nodded as they said their goodbyes to each other. He turned the call down and placed the tablet back to the coffee table.

Elizabeth was still fast asleep, surprising him with how relaxed she was about her surroundings, she hadn't even stirred. He headed out of the living room and back to his bedroom. He lowered Elizabeth into her cot next to Gwen's side of the bed. He pulled up the blanket she had kicked off sometime earlier from the bottom of the cot to cover the baby, tucking her in snugly. He also grabbed the plushy seal that was at the bottom of the mattress, placing it next to Elizabeth.

He smiled, gave her a kiss on the forehead, and sat back on the bed, careful not to disturb Gwen. Clearly that care wasn't needed as he heard motion behind him before a pair of arms wrapped around his chest and Gwen leant her chin over his shoulder.

"Showing the house?" She softly asked, kissing his shoulder blade and then moving her lips to the back of his neck.

Peter nodded. "Yup, shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I'm okay," Gwen planted a kiss on his cheek. She whispered amorously, _"Couldn't have done this without you."_

"Sure you could, not as nearly stylish though," He joked, hearing a weak giggle from his wife. "My Aunt already knows her."

"What did she say?" Gwen caressed his naked and toned stomach.

"She couldn't stop saying how beautiful she is," Peter gave her a tiny peck on his wife's lips. "Like her mother is," There was a few seconds of silence as the two lay there, watching the cot happily. "_I love you Gwen,_ and today's been just the best day ever."

"I agree, though I haven't felt pain like that for a hell of a long time. But it was worth it, most definitely. I think we deserve this, don't you?" She paused, shifting in his arms and intertwining her hands with his own. _"I love you too Peter."_

Then they lapsed into silence, Gwen falling asleep first. Gradually Peter closed his eyes as well, falling into a sleep filled with pleasant dreams for the first time in months, feeling blue.

* * *

**A/N: I've changed the original chapter's title "Feeling Blue" because I thought most people wouldn't understand the meaning behind it. "Feeling Blue" is a phrase that comes from the comic book called "Spider-Man : Blue" (Don't read it if you don't want to get depressed), Peter is remembering Gwen on Valentine's Day, he says the phrase. I interpreted that he was loving her again, he always did, but on that particular night, he fell in love with Gwen again - he's spending the night remembering her, he's feeling blue. It's a beautiful story, and a very sad one. So why is Peter feeling Blue here? He's loving his daughter, he wants to protect her, she's his love, she's his path.**

**01/21/15 : Fixed punctuation.**

**24/02/16: Fixed encountered errors, extended dialogues, and sentences were improved.**


	27. Warm Welcome

**November 25th - 2020**

Peter slowly awoke, groggily opening his eyes. He rubbed away the sleep before rolling over to face Gwen.

"Hey you." Gwen gave him a smirk. "Glad you finally joined us."

"It's still early Gwendy." Peter pushed himself around again to gaze at her, immediately stopping and lying on his back again. Gwen was sat up with a towel over her lap, breastfeeding Liz in her arms. He approached Gwen and leaned his head on her shoulder, before caressing Elizabeth's' tiny feet that was covered with a very small sock as she glanced him with her huge eyes which were similar to her mother's, nearly identical.

"She's so calm." Gwen said, with a sincere smile. She was feeling so lighter when holding her daughter. It's like she could forget everything about the world's problems and just focus on her little girl, it was relaxing. Gwen had lost all of her concerns that she had before Elizabeth's birth, the whole mother thing was being much more easier than she had imagined. She was enjoying everything about it.

A scrabbling noise as Ren jumped up onto the bed next to him, clamoring for attention as well. Peter gave him a pat on the head. He started to lazily snore when being caressed. The noise distracted Elizabeth who immediately began to search around for the source, curious eyes darting around. They settled on Peter, staring straight into his own with a familiar analyzing gaze.

"Morning." He smiled to his daughter who quickly gave him a very tiny smile before losing her interest in him to resume her feeding. Gwen found the moment rather cute. "What does it feel like?" He asked.

"Relaxing, really calming," Gwen shrugged. "Of course that's the oxytocins at work, but there we go."

"Oxytocin? Isn't that a hor-" He was interrupted as his brilliant wife continued his phrase for him.

"A hormone, released in certain situations such as breastfeeding," She readjusted her grip on the baby as she continued to explain. "It's a relaxant, and it helps the bonding process. You should also note that you're getting a dose of oxytocin as well." She finished with a cocky smile.

He looked to Ren who was lazily spread over his lap. "Ren?"

"Yup, that releases hormones such as oxytocin is stroking a dog, weird I know, but by stroking Ren you're relaxing."

"Thanks for the good vibes buddy." Gwen turned to look at the pug who was now flat out on it's back next to Peter with it's paws flailing in the air, demanding the continuation of a belly rub.

"You should get take a shower, we have to go and get someone officially named," Gwen leaned her head down, giving Liz a huge smile. "Don't we?"

"Yeah it was ten for the appointment right?" Gwen nodded. "Cool, it's pretty much in the center of New York, hope we don't get stuck on the rush hour."

"Exactly why we have to go early just in case."

"Oh yeah?" Peter raised an eyebrow "It's not because you want to take Liz on her first of, what I'm sure will be, many luxury shopping trips?"

This time Gwen stammered. "Erm...no?"

"Tut tut, not even a week old and you may well have her breaking my bank account." Peter pouted comically, "Can't wait to marry her off to some rich guy who has a giant mansion and some neat car.'

"Peter!" She gave him a cold glare, her hiss distracting Elizabeth as well. A second pair of green eyes joined her own, presenting two ice cold glares of identical nature. Peter gulped again, it was rather unnerving. His wife's cold stare were always cute, but terrifying at the same time and now that she had a minion, things weren't looking good for him.

"Just a joke, no need to commit homicide now..."

"You shouldn't be saying such things."

"Okay, I won't." He adopted a serious expression "She won't have a boyfriend till she's eighteen and when she does, Spider-Man will do me a favor to stalk this guy to know who is he, where he's from and IF he can date my daughter."

"Wow," Gwen raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise. "And I thought I was going to be the overbearing, obsessive, and protective one."

"She is my little baby, and I don't want anyone ever taking advantage of her." Peter sighed, leaning in closer and giving Elizabeth a kiss on the forehead. "I wish you could stay like this forever, small and totally lovely. No trouble. Just us."

"Aww..you have no idea how much cute you just sounded, such a daddy's girl!" Gwen mused.

"I once told you that I can't be cute." He scoffed.

"I'm the boss of this relationship, so you're cute." She winked and inclined her head at the door. "Shower?"

"Wanna join me?"

Gwen replied softly. "Peter, I'm not ready for _that_ yet."

"I didn't mean that." He kissed the pale skin of her shoulder.

"I know, but it won't be long. Honestly." Gwen smiled again. "Just have patience." She cupped Peter's cheek with her free hand.

"That's not the most important thing in our relationship,you know that." He leaned closer and slowly captured her lips with his, assuring her that he supports her no matter what she chooses. They broke the kiss when Elizabeth started mumbling something with a very undertone baby voice. They looked to their daughter who was glancing her brilliant parents.

"What's it sweetie?" Gwen softly kissed Elizabeth's forehead as she continued to cutely talk with her parents in a baby language and gestures.

"I guess she's jealous of you kissing me." Peter chuckled. "Knowing how much jealous you are, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Oi? So I'm not allowed to kiss your daddy anymore?" She smiled and delicately caressed her daughter's cheek, receiving some more adorable mumblings from Elizabeth who was enjoying the talk.

Peter quickly kissed his wife'z cheek and daughter's tiny and cute feet before stating, "Ren, stay." He stopped the escaping dog before it walked out the door. He walked over to it, having noted a brown stain on the skin of his back. He knelt down, tentatively taking a sniff at the stain. "Have you been rolling in chocolate? God you need a wash.

The dog looked around at him rather innocently, large eyes jumping out at him. Peter shook his head, standing up and facing Gwen with a dramatic expression.

"If you won't shower with me," He drew himself upwards, "Then Ren will."

At the mention of a shower the dog bolted, but Peter was quicker and grabbed it's collar and carried him under his arm. He marched it into the bathroom, giving Gwen a smile before stepping inside of the bathroom. She looked to her daughter and kissed her tiny nose "See? I told you that your daddy can't resist me, and neither you." She giggled.

* * *

"They just leaved." The young blonde man informed the redhead sat on the chair besides him after seeing the couple getting of the building's garage with their car. He was holding a newspaper to cover his face and he usually drank the orange juice which was over the table just to stay on disguise.

"Can I warn him?" She asked, lowering her sunglasses. "We can now invade the apartment."

"Did you give him the apartment's keys? She nodded. "Okay, send the text." He proceed to stealthy read the newspaper on his hands.

"Done." She replied. "Erm..do we really need to act like spies, Howard?"

"Tsc, you are ruining the moment, MJ." Howard sighed, lowering the newspaper and looking at her with a mocking expression. "Is Flash inside?" His sister gave him the apartment's keys a few months ago just in case if something happened.

MJ checked her phone and saw a reply from her boyfriend. "Yup, the house Is free, should we go now?"

"I'm going to contact the others in a few minutes, we need to move quick enough and prepare things, copy?"

MJ groaned by his formality. "Roger that."

"Let's move on." Howard said excited. He paid his juice's bill and crossed the street with MJ following him closely as they headed together towards the building's main entrance where most of the family would be awaiting for the pair before making their way to the apartment.

They all wanted to congratulate and meet the new member of the family. Everyone agreed that the couple deserved this peaceful life, especially after all that they had been through. The moment was to celebrate the baby's arrival, Peter and Gwen's baby, they couldn't be more happy than now. They didn't know how much time they had before the family returned, and so speed was of the essence.

**Hours later..**

After officially registering their newborn daughter, the couple had passed on the market to buy some of the house needs and were now in their building elevator, waiting for it to arrive on their apartment respective floor.

"Now we officially have one more Parker in the family." He looked down at the baby in his arms, Liz was sort of smiling at him. Not quite a full on smile, but Peter could see a tiny curve at the corners of her mouth. She was learning, and learning quickly. He wasn't surprised though, and child of him and Gwen's was obviously going to be a genius. "And it suits you, hey?"

"And she'll look darling in her new outfits, especially that cream, fluffy onesie." Gwen smiled as she hold ,on her left hand, a transparent sack that contained some breads "She'll have to be a proper fashion diva, I'll make sure of that."

"Yes, but does a ten days old baby really need designer clothes?"

"Any girl needs her designer clothes, but any girl of mine..." Gwen gave him another smirk. "Well it's a requirement of life"

"It's a good thing that I have some money reserved on the bank then, couldn't imagine how I would pay for two of you and your habits," Peter adjusted his grip on Elizabeth, rubbing his thumb lightly across her cheek and being rewarded with a squeal. "I don't think just Spider-Man's photos would help it."

"Oh, it most definitely wouldn't."

"Well, if you're gonna teach her about fashion then I'll have to oversee the important stuff" He gave Gwen a grin. "Music taste, skating, taking photos, stunts, you know – the vitals in life."

"Oh god."

"Yeah, it's going to be awesome, right darling?" He leaned down and kissed her forehead as she touched his cheek with her small hand.

"She won't learn parkour-" Gwen didn't manage to finish her sentence as the metallics doors opened revealing their apartment's own door with a written message hanging on it.

_Welcome Liz!_

"Looks like the welcoming committee are here." He mused."

Gwen turned to Peter with a confused expression. "Did they warned you or something? Because I don't know if Elizabeth is ready to be with a large group. I mean, she could get scared or -"

"Gwen." Peter laid a hand across her arm gently as they walked towards the door, still holding Elizabeth with the other arm. "It's pretty much my family and yours too. All they'll want to do is to meet Liz, there's no harm."

"I know, they've basically broken into our home." She giggled.

"Looks that way." He smiled "You gave the key to your mother and Aunt May, right?"

Gwen stopped in front of the door and searched for the keys that was inside of her purse "Yes, but it's supposed to be an emergency, I don't think they would come here without warning us, this has to be MJ's idea."

"What about Howard?"

"I don't think so." She placed her hand on the door's knob. "He would tell me."

* * *

"Oh, it was you." Gwen looked at her brother who was standing in front of her, on the kitchen.

"I invited all of your friends for a bit of a party to celebrate my niece, her Uncle has to be the coolest person around her, you know. " Howard folded his arms and smiled, gaining a laugh from his sister.

"Could have warned me, though." She elbowed him.

"But then it wouldn't be a surprise."

"Thank you, Howard." Gwen hugged him. "I thought she wouldn't be ready to be among a large group yet, but it seems that I was wrong." She glanced the living room and smiled, seeing Peter showing Mary Jane how to correctly hold their daughter who was very calm. "I suppose I'm just being a bit over protective." Gwen chuckled lightly. "Peter is too, though he'll claim otherwise."

"Just wait until the boys are chasing her in her teens, then you'll have to restrain him." Howard kissed her forehead. "Spider-Man will have mental breakdown when dealing with them."

Gwen laughed. "He mentioned something like that earlier."

"Now come and join the party." Howard unwrapped his arms around Gwen and gently grabbed her hand, before leading his sister towards the living room.

* * *

After talking with Flash and Howard who were now drinking their soda while watching the sun going away from sight, Peter stepped out of the balcony, with Elizabeth on his arms. Just at the same time Gwen appeared from Elizabeth bedroom with Aunt May in tnow, chatting animatedly about babies. He groaned internally, his Aunt could be most embarrassing person when talking about him as a baby. As they passed a pair of hands scooped Elizabeth out of his arms, accompanied by a mischievous laugh from his Aunt.

"Sorry, I need to kidnap my granddaughter." She said, thankfully of being such important person to Elizabeth as she was to Peter.

Peter was still staring down at his now empty hands. "How did you do that so quickly?"

"Practice.* His Aunt gave him a wink, nudging Gwen at the same time. "Now, lets go and show her off a bit more eh?"

With that May hurried off, rather happily. Gwen followed, though she turned and gave him an exasperated smile. Peter made to follow, but decided he needed another drink first. He headed into the now empty kitchen and grabbed another soda from the fridge, before turning to walk out again. He stopped though, realizing that the kitchen wasn't actually empty after all.

"Hey Eddie." He greeted.

Eddie leaned his shoulder against the wall and smiled back "Congratulations for the beautiful little girl."

"Thank you." He patted his shoulder and sat on the kitchen's cabinet. "How are things going? We haven't talked often besides at the Bugle." He took a sip of his soda.

"Jameson needs to gives us some free time." The blonde man joked. "You won't believe, I'm in contact with my sister again." He smiled happily.

"Oh, you never mentioned that you had a sister before."

"Yeah, she had leaved the house after my father died and we kinda parted ways even if I didn't wanted, she's now living at Toronto, she had cancer during these years but she won the battle. " He revealed, with a relieved smile. His sister was important to him, the only family he has left, and Eddie was heartbroken after she leaved the house to try to live her own life.

"I'm so happy for you, man." Peter placed his drink close to the sink and brotherly shook hands with his friend who was now having the happiness that he always was searching for. "You're a warrior, you deserve it."

"Thank you, means a lot." He replied. Peter could see the bright coming from his blue eyes.

"Let's get back to the boys." Peter said, grabbing another soda for Howard since he had asked for a last one. He headed back to the balcony while being followed by his friend.

* * *

"Men..." Gwen sighted as she walked into the kitchen. The men had taken over the living room to watch a silly highschool comedy that they all loved it, all being rather vocal in their support of the film. Now they were spread out over the sofas and floor, and crates of beer had been stacked by the fireplace. She had tried to wrestle Liz away from Peter, but he had insisted on showing their daughter one of his favorite movies to see if she adopts the same taste that he does.

The women had retreated to the dinner room and were sat around the dark brown table, chatting amongst themselves. Mainly about the state that the boys were already in. Gwen had gone off to find more wine and returned back to the table, taking a place besides her mother. Helen snaked an arm around her daughter back and kissed her cheek.

"How are they?" Helen asked.

"Laughing and drinking at the same time." Gwen replied, holding to not laugh.

"Are you going to the gym?" MJ questioned, noticing that Gwen was getting back to her physical form that she had before the pregnancy.

"Nope, just running in the treadmill here on the building fitness area."

"Ah, it's working I guess." She laughed.

Gwen breathed thankfully. "You have no idea, the thing is magical.' She continued, "Though, you should be careful, or else your time might arrive" Gwen teased her friend.

MJ shook her head. "I'm cool for now, not planning a baby anytime soon, holding that cutie on Peter's arms will be enough for me." she smiled.

"I see that the dispute for Elizabeth is still strong." May joked as the women around the table laughed, enjoying the unique moment together.

"No wonder, Gwen was always being disputed, her cousins and uncles battled for her." Helen took a sip from her wine. "Maybe the effect passed to my granddaughter."

"Mom...don't start." Gwen pleaded.

"Okay, I won't tell any of your childhood stories." She assured. "But,I don't make promises about your teenager years."

* * *

Gwen slowly headed towards the bedroom her head slightly heavy with alcohol. She had been very sensible, not drinking too much wine, but having not drunk for nine months her tolerance wasn't exactly at it's usual height.

The house was much quieter, everyone having left by now. It was about three o'clock in the morning though, everyone had already leaved it. Liz had obviously gone to bed far earlier than that, but people had been sneaking up to check on her all of the time – Peter in particular had been consistently checking on her.

As she reached the bedroom, Gwen pushed the bedroom door open carefully, a fond smile forming as she saw the sight within. Elizabeth was lying in her cot asleep, with one side of the cot's railings removed. Peter was leant against the open side, also fast asleep. He was snoring quietly and a magazine was help loosely in one hand. As Gwen approached she noticed a book containing many kid's tales over his lap. He had been reading the book for Elizabeth even if she didn't quite understood what he was talking about.

Gwen removed the magazine from his grasp and placed it on the bedside cabinet. She considered moving him but she didn't want to wake him up, so instead she grabbed the duvet off the bed and placed it underneath him, covering the floor with it. She also grabbed a rug before snuggling up next to him, pulling it over them. She gave him a kiss on the jaw as his arms moved in his sleep, coming to rest in their natural position around her shoulders as she began to drift off as well.

* * *

**A/N: I have been thinking a lot about stuff recently, and the story was one of those things. I'm just so glad to be writing this and that there's people who are enjoying it. I started writing this back at April before I had even watched the sequel (Damn spoilers), it was mostly a form of therapy of me. After the reception that I started planning an actual plot. I had this goal of reaching thirty chapters but I don't have that anymore. I won't stop writing if people are still enjoying it. Yeah, it may reach a point where there won't be that much to tell anymore and I would probably have to end it, but it's not now, I can guarantee you guys that, there's two already planned storylines to happen, one that will turn Peter's life upside down, there won't be a safe place to hide.**

**I'm just so thankful for having this experience, I made mistakes and thanks to my readers, I learned from them. I just wanted to thank you all for everything, it's being a joy to write this story, I won't ever leave it unfinished. Thanks for everything and see you guys on the next chapter!**

**07/11/15 : Fixed mistakes.**


	28. A Hero Appears Just In Time

**April 15th -2021**

Peter stepped out of the building's elevator and walked through the hallway of the first floor. He stopped in front of a door and entered their building's fitness area, looking for Gwen. She had leaved earlier in the morning with Elizabeth and she was now on the treadmill, as he guessed she would be. Gwen had been desperate to get back into shape after the birth. He tried to convince her that she already was back to her previous shape, but being extremely careful with her body as she always were, she just disagreed. Elizabeth was in her baby seat, smiling happily to herself while watching a baby cartoon that was passing on the TV in one of the area's columns. Only his girls were there.

He looked back to Gwen, she still hadn't heard him enter. He stood watching for a few seconds, he couldn't really help himself. She always wore the same attire in the gym, completely skin tight short shorts. Her back was pretty bare too, she only wore a training bra on her torso and that revealed the perfect pale skin of her lower back. He stared for a few more seconds as she ran, before realizing that he was being stared at in turn. Elizabeth was watching at him with disapproving eyes.

"Hey Gwendy," Peter approached his family. "I'm heading off, gotta stuff to take care of."

"Oh," Gwen put a hand to the controls, gradually slowing the treadmill. She was out of breath, though not exactly overexerting herself. "Didn't noticed you here."

"I'm kinda stealthy," Peter squatted down next to Liz, giving her a wide smile. The glare dissipated and the baby gave him one of her almost smiles, she was indeed learning quickly. "I have to finish some stuff in the office."

"Okay." Gwen came to stand next to him, resting a hand on behind his head and stroking his brown hair. "Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?"

"It's fine, " Peter gave Elizabeth a quick stroke on the cheek. "I don't know if this little girl won't stir things in there" He smiled and gently pinched her tiny nose.

"I suppose you're right. I'll miss you, you know?"

"It's only for a few hours, I'll be back this evening," Peter gave Elizabeth a kiss on the forehead, provoking a squeal from the baby as she raised her arms, trying to get in Peter's arms.

He slid both hands on his daughter waist and pulled her out from the chair and to his arms, kissing her cheek and neck. He moved an arm around Gwen's waist and gently brought her closer to his chest, embracing his girls.

"I know it's only for a few hours," Gwen gave him a grin. "What can I say? I'm attached to you _quite_ a bit now."

"Nah, you're stuck with me...I love these gym shorts"

Gwen gave him a playful slap. "Oi." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Suppose that's a complement."

"A superhero one." Peter gave her a kiss in return. "Love you, Gwendy."

"Love you too," Gwen gave him a pat on the cheek.

He smiled and turned his head to Elizabeth's side who was smiling towards him with her gorgeous green eyes. "Can I get a kiss from you too?"

Elizabeth replied by moving her lips to his cheek but not really kissing it, more like brushing her tiny lips against the skin, but that was enough to her father. "Thank you sweetie." He kissed her forehead and slowly passed his daughter to Gwen's arms. "I will be going now, loved the shorts"

Gwen chuckled. "Later."

He winked and jogged out of the area quickly – grinning at the muttering from Gwen – and left the area before leaving the building through the main entrance.

* * *

**Empire State University - Gwen's Office**

Gwen calmly tapped in the keyboard of her laptop while holding Elizabeth on her lap as she figured what to do with the solvable and colorful cube that her mother gave to her. Gwen thought about doing some of her job's duties earlier even if she didn't need to actually work because of the maternal license. She brought Liz with her because since it's her own private room, she could stay with her mother and not bother her co-workers.

Elizabeth mumbled something and gained her mother's attention. Gwen looked down and leaned close to her cheek. "Are you finishing it?" She softly asked, knowing that she couldn't finish the cube at such young age, but the "toy" was being useful to stimulate her reflexes and being a child of Peter, she surely wouldn't need such exercise for too long.

Elizabeth looked up and smiled to her mother as Gwen kissed her nose, receiving one of Liz's first giggles and the cutest one she had ever heard during her twenty six years of life. Gwen gently helped Elizabeth to stay up on her lap, placing both hands on her waist to support her as she curiously touched Gwen's lower lip with her tiny fingesr. Peter actually had a point, their daughter looked a lot with her, in fact - most of her friends pointed the similarity, the eyes, blond hair and nose were the most commented aspect. Though, she surely inherited some of Peter's characteristics like the skin, cheeks and probably his abilities that weren't showing so far.

"I'm hungry, what about you?" Gwen asked, looking to her daughter's eyes, but Elizabeth was too busy to reply since she had just discovered that her mother had passed lipstick on her lips, she tried to touch the material and taste it but Gwen slowly moved her head backwards to avoid Liz's curiosity.

"That's not something we eat darling, but I take that you're hungry then." She hold the baby on her arms, raised from the chair and retrieved her phone from her purse which was over her desk. "Let's see if daddy is ready." She dialed Peter's number as Elizabeth lost her interest on Gwen's lipstick because of her's father mention. A few seconds passed before her husband finally answered the call.

She asked, "Hey, are you going to have lunch with us?"

_"That was close!"_

"Erm...what?"

_"This 'sandman' guy is giving me some trouble,"_ Peter urgently replied, "_Oh-uh...this is bad."_

"Sandman? Who is he?"

_"I don't know, he popped out of nowhere and went to rob this bank truck, he told me that he wants to restore his glory after losing the leadership of some gang,"_ He explained. _"Apparently, he volunteered to be a lab rat of some foreign scientists because they promised him special abilities, that's what he told me. You know, the usual baddie stuff."_

"Oh, I guess you won't be able to have lunch with us then." Gwen looked to Elizabeth who was with her tiny finger on her mouth. "Be careful with him."

_"Sorry honey, I'm going to finish this and then I'm heading to see you two."_ He apologized.

"Okay, we'll be waiting for you"

_"Bye - woah!" _Peter quickly turned the call down and proceeded to stop the new villain out there.

Gwen deeply breathed and kissed her daughter's forehead as she rested her head on Gwen's right shoulder. "Your daddy is pretty busy, I guess it's just you and me, he's going to be alright, he always does." She reassuringly smiled, placing her purse around her free shoulder and stepping out of the office with Elizabeth on her arms.

* * *

**New York**

Spider-Man slowly recovered himself and sat on the car's front that he had just crashed against it. The front window was shattered and some small pieces had pierced the skin of his back, but he wasn't feeling it that much, there was more problematic issues to handle. He looked up and saw a giant figure made of sand preparing another blow towards him, he was a formidable opponent and Spider-Man immediately recognized that. He needed to stop him so that no more innocent civilians get hurts because of his criminal actions.

"Flint Marko is gonna finish Spider-Man once and for all!" The giant figure made of sand stated, growing even more bigger because of the sand he had recovered from a truck nearby. He raised his giant arm made of sand and quickly tried to punch the hero who instantly jumped backwards over the car that just got smashed by the abrupt force. Spider-Man kept evading his attacks that often smashed against the buildings nearby by swinging around while thinking in way to stop the new bad guy.

He eventually landed on wall, another punch crashed against the concrete rolled as he rolled upwards before jumping on the hand that created a straight way towards Flint's face. Fully determined, Spider-Man ran over it and when inches from the huge face made of sand, he punched with all his strength but he achieved nothing besides getting his hand stuck inside of Flint's face which was a very strange sensation. He didn't felt anything inside, maybe that's why he was so dumb.

"Oh boy..." He noticed that a hand popped from Flint's cheek besides him as it violently punched him, causing the hero to fly meters away and land on the rough asphalt. He finally stopped over the concrete, feeling that the top of his head had just touched what looked to be a bicycle's wheel. He looked up, still lying on the ground, seeing an old man with a bag around his shoulder that contained tons of post cards. "What can I help you with?" Spider-Man asked.

"Ah, I'm Stan and I'm a wallet, just trying to find Steve Ditko's address in this huge and fantastic city!" The man sat on the bike explained.

Spider-Man raised from the floor, turned on his back seeing that Flint was still meters away from them, and slowly heading towards him. He turned back to Stan and tried to help the old man, "Steve? The drawer?" Peter remembered that he covered an artistic event for the Bugle a few years ago, and the name was mentioned during the event.

"Precisely!" He smiled, content.

"Hm, there's this comic book studio close, you need to take this right," Spider-Man pointed to the avenue entrance on their right side. "Keep going through till the end, it's on the left side of the avenue, easy to find."

Stan nodded and smiled, "Thank you, Spider-Man" He lent his hand as they shook hands. "I'm gonna leave you to defeat this guy, you're the best, nuff said!" He calmly pedaled towards the destination, leaving Spider-Man alone against the man made of sand.

"That was something" He turned back to Flint's direction seeing that he was ready to attack by dropping his giant hand over him "This guy is unstoppable..." He closed his arms in front of his face to protect himself against the blow, but it never came, a explosion could be heard among with a very familiar rock music coming from behind him.

"_Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind? Can he walk at all, Or if he moves will he fall? Is he alive or dead? Has he thoughts within his head? We'll just pass him there, Why should we even care?"_

Spider-Man opened his arms and looked up seeing Flint covered in ice which was making him unable to move anymore further. He was totally trapped and frozen, at least he wouldn't be able to move for some time.

Curious, he turned on his back, seeing a red and yellow metallic figure flying towards him, that's where the missiles that stopped his opponent had came from, and the music was already proving his assumptions about who the figure could possibly be.

_No way.._

It stopped in front of him, with both hands controlling his descend to the ground by regulating the propulsion systems. The metallic feet's touched the ground in front of Spider-Man who wasn't believing what was currently happening. The music that was coming from the armor seized with the unexpected arrival.

_"I must admit, that was quite the entrance_." He said cockily.

"Iron Man!" Spider-Man exclaimed.

_"They call me that way, Tony Stark, billionaire and genius, take your pick._" He approached the hero as they shook hands. "I see that you handled things pretty well, as expected." He looked up to the frozen monster behind Spider-Man. "I just had to finish him off, you did good today, kiddo."

"Thank you...I rarely see you around here."

_"Oh well, been busy with those called 'special missions' by Fury, I was gathering some components for this AI that I'm working on, that's confidential by the way...but who cares?" _He laughed _"Just thought about giving you a hand, or missiles._

"That's...awesome" Peter was somewhat speechless, Tony Stark was one of those persons that he admired the most, the man is a legend for Peter.

People started to come out of their hiding spots like stores and cars just to see the two heroes together. Some picked their cameras and proceeded to take pictures of the rare moment.

Iron Man calmly placed an arm on Spider-Man's left shoulder and brought him close to his chest. _"Smile and salute, can't look bad on the press." _Tony kept saluting the lenses with the Webhead next to him who was still trying to process everything that was happening. _"I'm not allowed to say this, but I will say it anyway, you're in our eyes for quite sometime, mostly Shield's, but we Avengers are impressed with what you've done for the city when we weren't here, specially in defeating the Sinister Six while we were at Asgard, that was really impressive._" He affirmed and removed his arm from Spider-Man.

"Oh...what does that mean?"

"Lots of things." Iron Man activated his propulsions systems and ascended a few inches from the ground. _"Nice to meet you...Spider-Man!"_ He rocketed towards the sky, disappearing on the clouds and leaving Peter alone as the new containment team started to arrive on the location to contain Flint. Spider-Man left the area and swung towards his apartment, his job was done and now he could dedicate more of his time with his family.

**Hours later...**

"Ouch!" Peter groaned in pain. He was lying on his chest in their bed, wearing nothing besides his suit's pants and with Gwen sat over his waistline as she rested her hips besides his waist. She was taking care of the small bruise on his shoulder. It wasn't anything major, more like a scratch. She had placed a towel around the area to not let Elizabeth see the injury since she was lying on her chest and next to them. She was currently busy in discovering Gwen's phone which seemed to be something mystical for the baby.

"Don't complain, Elizabeth will be braver than you if you keep crying about it." She cleaned the injury with the water bottle after retrieving a very tiny piece of shattered glass from the skin. She placed his mask that was lying on her right hip besides them and resumed to bandage his wounded shoulder.

"Hey, I had to fight a giant guy who was made of freaking sand," Peter said. "At least I got to meet Tony Stark."

"Yeah, I read the reports, how was it?"

"It was fu-" Gwen carefully slapped his bare back to not let him say the word. "What?"

"Liz doesn't need to hear such word."

"Oh...sorry, forgot about that." He turned his head on the pillow and to Elizabeth's side and got surprised by what he was seeing, his daughter managed to pull his Spider-Man mask that Gwen had placed besides him down her face. It was rather large for her but she seemed happy with the small piece of his suit. "I think there's a little Spider-Girl here." He smiled, seeing how much cute Elizabeth looked.

"Hm?" Gwen mumbled as she saw what he was talking about. She giggled and quickly leaned down to kiss the top of her masked head. "Do you think she inherited your abilities? She hasn't showed anything so far."

He gently pulled the mask from her face, revealing a wide smile coming from his daughter as he threw the mask on the floor besides the bed. He softly stroked her blond hair feeling the same sensation he has when doing it with Gwen's hair. She looked up to him with her beautiful green eyes, enjoying the affection. "I'm not sure, maybe they aren't developed yet, or fortunately, she doesn't have them." Peter didn't want Elizabeth to go through everything that he went, he wanted to give her a peaceful life, and he would fight for that if needed.

"Whatever that may happen, we are here for her." Gwen leaned down and softly kissed his warm cheek. She patted his back and crawled back to the bed, lying between her husband and daughter. She gently picked the baby and placed her over her own chest as Peter snaked an arm around her waist and leaned on her neck, kissing the delicate skin. "Could you give her a bath while I take mine?" She asked, kissing Elizabeth's tiny hand that was exploring her cheek.

"Erm...she's making a mess during her baths." He replied, remembering when he had to clean the entire bathroom because there was foam at every corner.

"Please?" Gwen begged with an expression that he couldn't deny. "I need to wash my hair and it will take some time, right Liz?" She looked to Elizabeth who replied with a wide smile and later a mumbling in her own baby language.

"You're now appealing...but I'm gonna bath this little girl." Peter affirmed and softly kissed his wife on the lips. He sat on the bed before slipping his hands on Elizabeth's waist, bringing her close to his chest as she placed a hand on his right shoulder. He gave Gwen a wink and headed towards the bathroom in the hallway.

* * *

Peter kneeled and gently moved the yellow sponge down the small back of his daughter who was sat in the bath filled with water and foam. She was distracted with a little purple ball that was floating around the water while saying things that were impossible to understand. A little amount of foam that she clumsily recovered from the water, was covering her blond hair. He was letting Elizabeth have her fun since she apparently loved to take a bath, and it would keep her distracted so that Peter can calmly bath his daughter, at least for a few couple of minutes if he was quickly enough. She found the lost soap that was navigating besides her and quickly grabbed it before pressing it with both hands, causing the product to fly out of the bath.

He looked to Elizabeth and received a tiny smile from someone that had just done something wrong, he couldn't threat her with anything with such smile "You have to be more careful, Liz." He turned around and went to pick the soap from the floor but he felt some small hands brushing water and foam against his hair as he returned to his previous position, facing her. She had just soaked his hair with foam. "Ah...I'm going to take a shower after your mommy is done taking hers, but thank you anyway." He cleaned the foam on top of his hair.

In contentment, Elizabeth started to repeatedly beat her hands against the water, causing the water to be throw around the bathroom and to entirely soak Peter who tried to calm her but she was too much happy to stop. "Liz!" He gently placed his hansd on hers, containing his daughter's excitement. "Now I really don't need to take a shower anymore..." He sighed.

Peter stepped out of his bathroom and entered the bedroom that he shares with his wife. He was wearing only his black shorts and with a shirt placed around his left shoulder, there was only a lamp lighten which made the room feel even more cozier. He saw Gwen awake and already lying on their bed, with Elizabeth sleeping over her chest as she slowly drew soft circles in Liz's back with her hand that was underneath her light yellow pajamas' shirt. He approached his side of the bed and slowly lay on his back, feeling more comfortable after such an exhausting day. He turned to Gwen's side and hold her free hand. "How is she?"

"Sleeping like a little rock." Gwen replied, caressing his hand on hers. "And your injury?"

"Not feeling it anymore, thanks to you." He pulled the covers over them and adjusted himself besides Gwen as the baby naturally tightened her grip around her mother, the second person that could make her feel safe when being hold by her arms.

"You just need to be a little more careful."

Peter chuckled, knowing that's a impossible thing to do. He placed a hand on the soft skin of her cheek and looked to his daughter who was peacefully sleeping on Gwen's chest. He kissed her forehead and went to passionately kiss Gwen on the lips before saying, "Thank you."

"For what?" She softly asked.

"For giving me the opportunity of being a father of such a beautiful girl," He kissed her cheek. "I love you."

Gwen smiled and leaned her forehead against his, feeling his warm breathing brushing against the skin of her neck. He wrapped a warm around Elizabeth and Gwen's waist, bringing them both closer to his chest. "I love you too." Gwen whispered as she turned off the lamp besides her side of the bed, emerging the bedroom in darkness and with the only source of light coming from the bright moon outside the apartment. The family finally fell asleep wrapped in each others arms, enjoying the closeness and the silence. Just the three of them, peacefully sleeping for the rest of the night.

**The next morning...**

Feeling a lot more relaxed and rested after a rather calm night, Gwen slowly opened her eyes when the sun rays started to invade their bedroom through the half open window. She wasn't feeling that pleasurable weight over her chest anymore, which got her kinda alarmed since the last thing she could remember is falling asleep with Elizabeth over her chest. She looked to the cot close to her side of the bed but her baby wasn't there, so she turned to Peter's side and saw Elizabeth lying her head over Peter's forehead and with her both small arms wrapped around his head like if she was a little monkey. The scene for Gwen was hilarious, but she was holding the incoming fits of laughters since they still were peacefully sleeping. She figured that Elizabeth might have slipped to Peter's side and adjusted herself to be more comfortable because she didn't remember her daughter waking in the middle of the night which was something she rarely did, giving her parents more hours of resting.

Gwen approached Peter and carefully moved Elizabeth down to his chest so that she could let her father have more space to breath. Elizabeth instinctively rested her head under his chin and placed her tiny hand close to his mouth. Gwen again pulled the covers over them and rested her hand on Peter's stomach before kissing his cheek. They rested for a few more couple of hours since they didn't had any things to do for the day besides enjoying each other's presence. And that was one the best things she could wish for.

* * *

**A/N: A villain is introduced and another hero appears. Depending of how much the character's importance might be for the story as a whole, I won't be doing a full origin because I don't think I should be wasting time with a character that won't appear that much. Some basic stuff will exist but nothing special. With Sandman, he worked more as a plot device for some new action sequences. Yup, the story is now integrated with the MCU which was something I was struggling to do or not, but the integration is needed since the incoming arc will be depending of that.**

**Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and till the next one!**

**\- Andrew**


	29. A Very Talkative Girl

**A/N: So, this is a chapter with a little of everything. I wanted to focus a little more in Peter and Gwen moments and their friends, but of course, Elizabeth doesn't get any less parts. Also, I wanted to make it clear that the integration with the MCU doesn't mean that the story will have less of Peter and Gwen. For the contrary, my objective always was to write the many stages of their relationship over the years. My focus won't be in other characters. Some are going to get more content as the story progress, but nothing excessive, after all, this story is based on a comic book movie.**

**There should be at least two more chapters for this year. I'm going to take a break at the middle of December and I will be returning in January. Hope everyone likes this chapter and till the next one. Thanks again!**

* * *

**April 17th - 2021**

"C'mon Liz, open wide," Peter moved the spoon in front of Elizabeth's mouth, pushing it lightly against her lips. Her mouth stayed stubbornly shut however, she even began to tilt her head away from it whilst giving him a cold glare. "Seriously, eat it. Please?"

He still had no luck so he pulled the spoon back with a frown, trying to come up with a plan. The baby was very stubborn about eating her food whenever he tried to get her to eat, even Gwen struggled to get her to eat on occasions. It often took a lot of coaxing before she would try even one mouthful, though Peter couldn't blame her – the food smelt rather disgusting.

"Please Liz, for my sake just eat a little bit," He got a grin in reply. "Honestly, your mum will be really annoyed with me."

He tried to push the spoon against her lips once more, but again Elizabeth wouldn't accept it. She screamed rather noisily and banged her arms on the table of her high chair in protest, prompting Peter to sigh in resignation and drop the spoon again. He reassessed the situation once more, clearly pleading wouldn't work.

"Right Elizabeth, if you don't eat this food then I'll...I'll...erm.." He scratched his head, what could you do to threaten a baby? It wasn't as if he could ground her or anything. "I'll take away your plushy toys!"

Elizabeth looked him dead in the eyes, widening her own green eyes whilst pouting her lips. Peter's heart melted at the sight, it was rather cute.

"I didn't mean that Liz, sorry." He lowered the spoon in resignation, about to chuck the food away, but then he had one final idea.

"How's about this?" He raised the spoon up a third time, but instead of going straight to her mouth he zigzagged it around in the air in front of her. Her eyes followed the spoon but they quickly flicked back onto Peter as he made swishing noises before darting the spoon at her mouth. "Here comes _The Amazing Spider-Man_! "

He did get a smile but she still wouldn't open up for him. He sighed and placed the spoon on her little table pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand. He closed his eyes for a second, but reopened them when he heard a thumping from Elizabeth's table.

"What?" His mouth hung open as he saw Elizabeth gripping an empty spoon with a wide smile. She had missed narrowly, with a bit of food spread around her lips, but she had successfully fed herself. His mouth was still agape when he heard chuckling behind him.

"That was just hilarious," Gwen approached the two at the dining room table, giving Elizabeth a wide smile and seating herself down the other side of the high chair. "That was being officially outsmarted by a half year old baby!"

"Yeah," Peter rolled his eyes. "That's makes me the third most intelligent person in the apartment."

"Erm, fourth actually," Gwen grinned at him as she carefully cleared the mess around Elizabeth's lips with a cloth. "Ren studies quantum physics when you're not looking."

"I knew he has a bit of a shifty look about him sometimes." Peter dead panned in response.

"Someone is a very clever girl though."

"Rather too clever if you ask me!" Peter cocked his head at his daughter. "I really wasn't expecting that."

"She has been watching us eat, she's only copying what we do," Gwen stood back up, giving Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek. "Maybe she needs to start eating at meal times with us more regularly, obviously she may want snacks in between. Also, I think we should start giving her a drink with food as well, water obviously."

"Sure, I guess that's a good idea."

"And it has to be in a normal cup, not one of those ones with a no spill lid," Gwen shook her head. "They have those silly nozzles that aren't brilliant for teeth development, plus she needs to learn to drink properly."

"Yeah, you asked me to buy some normal plastic cups the other day."

"And we should drink the same stuff from the same cups in front of her, so that she can copy us. That's how she'll learn the best."

"Yes Gwen," Peter stood up, placing his hands on her waist. "Chill out, seriously. There's no need to worry so much."

"I know that, I just want to get things right – for her to have the perfect environment, opportunities, and lifestyle to grow up in," Gwen sighed. "I just want to be a good mother, you know?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "Listen, you are a fantastic mother – the best. You're so good with Liz, it's obvious to anyone that she adores you. And you adore her."

"Yes, but that isn't enough you know."

Peter pressed a quick kiss to Gwen lips, pulling back with a smile. "We already talked about this, I know that you sometimes worry too much, but you don't need to with this particular aspect, you love Elizabeth, she loves you for a reason, and that love exists because of your actions, you're a perfect mother."

"Why are you always so fantastic? And thank you for saying these things about me," Gwen placed her arms around his neck. "Though there is one other thing."

"Which is?"

"Well maybe it's time that Liz moves into her own room, she's more than old enough," Peter was about to open his mouth to object but Gwen beat him to it. "I know you love having her in the bedroom and I love too, but she really needs to be able to sleep alone."

"Really? Do we have to do that so soon?"

"Yes," Gwen gave him a grin. "There are perks to it, you know?"

"Oh?"

"Absolute privacy..." She winked.

"Hmm, that's an intriguing thought," Peter grinned in return. "Just you and..."

He was interrupted by a scream from Elizabeth, both of the pair turning to face her. She was smiling happily at them, clearly pleased to have gotten their attention.

"Excuse me!" Gwen spoke to the baby in a scandalised tone, raising an eyebrow. "You should let your parents give each other some attention now and then!"

Elizabeth let out a little giggle like sound in reply before turning back to the spoon on her little table, picking it up and whacking it onto the surface several times. Peter made to go towards her and stop her before she hit herself. He picked his daughter from the seat and gently placed her on the floor since Ren had just entered the kitchen and she always loved to play with him. "Here's your buddy."

"You know that there's a very special date coming, right?" Gwen asked, leaning her butt against the counter and observed her husband washing Elizabeth's spoon in the sink besides her.

"Hm?" Peter frowned.

"You don't remember it? Really?" Gwen was now rather annoyed at Peter who couldn't remember the such special date that she was talking about.

"Okay, we are at April and the next month is May...oh!" He cleaned his hand with a towel and turned to his wife.

Gwen smiled. "Yes!"

"I know, I have to cover this event at Horizon Labs for the Bugle." He sighed.

"What?! No!' She groaned is discontentment, giving him a cold stare. "You're sleeping with Ren, tonight."

Peter laughed and slowly approached his furious wife. He gently placed both hands on her waist, pushing her against the counter. He leaned his head down to her neck, softly kissing the smooth skin. "I know what you're talking about, He whispered and ascended the trail of kisses, stopping just besides her lips. "Our wedding anniversary."

"God! You're such a dork!" Gwen exclaimed, realizing that he was just messing around with her during all the time.

Peter looked to her green eyes. "Heh,I wouldn't forget such date." He connected his lips with hers and passionately kissed them as she snaked both arms around his neck.

After some seconds of just slowly enjoying each other lips, Gwen finally broke to recover her lost breath. "It feels like ages,though."

"It's been almost ten years that we're together," Peter said with a huge smile. "Couldn't bring myself to let you go alone to England."

"I never forget that day on the bridge." Gwen affirmed, reliving such loving memories when Peter expressed on his own way how much he loved her with the enormous 'I Love you' written with webbing. "You really messed with my feelings."

"That was the goal." He gave her a tiny peck on the lips. "I could do that again if you want, as the anniversary gift, or I could arrange a meeting with the Spice Girls since you love them." They would properly celebrate the special occasion when they had free time in July, even if it wasn't the exact day. But till then, he would just tease his beautiful wife.

Gwen giggled. "That would be really awesome, but you don't have to go that far."

"Okay, I could then persuade the owner of that Korean meatball restaurant to sell me the place-"

"Oh, stop!" She interrupted her husband with a deep and grateful kiss that lasted for a few couple of seconds before a little girl supported herself by standing up and holding in Peter's left knee.

"Dada!"

Peter broke the kiss and looked down to his daughter with a surprised face. "Did you...just say something?"

Elizabeth smiled and concentrated again "D-Da..Dada!"

"Oh, darling!" Peter unwrapped his arms around Gwen and leaned down to grab his daughter into his arms. He softly kissed her cheek and turned back to Gwen. "She just said her first word."

Gwen smiled and caressed Elizabeth's cheek with her thumb. "Not exactly a word."

Peter looked to Liz and asked, "Who's this beautiful woman?" He pointed towards Gwen with his eyes.

Elizabeth frowned, thinking. "Ma- Ma..Mama!" She giggled and raised her small arms towards Gwen as her mother slowly retrieved her from Peter's arms.

"Okay...can you say Dada-Man?"

Gwen laughed. "I think that is too much." She softly kissed Elizabeth's cheek as she curiously analyzed her mother's golden wedding ring. "I'm gonna change this cutie before we go for a walk." she smiled, approaching Peter and quickly kissing his warm lips.

* * *

**June 10th - 2021**

"You're really taking your time Gwendy."

Gwen shook her head at him as she bent down and grabbed a brown handbag that matched perfectly with her favorite chocolate colored leather jacket and shin high boots. Peter gave a sneaky peek to her behind that was clad in skin tight jeans, grinning smugly. Gwen noticed his glance and shook her head a second time.

"Well you don't seem to mind that," Gwen straightened up to look in the mirror, tousling her hair into a satisfying position. "And I always have to look good."

"You're going shopping with my Aunt, your mother and MJ, I don't think they mind," Peter grinned. "Besides, you always look mind blowingly gorgeous."

"Flatterer." Gwen slung her arms into the jacket as she began to head out of the bedroom and entered the empty hallway. Peter following her from behind.

"So, are you buying me a present today?"

"That would be telling." Gwen looked back at him with a wink as she headed towards Elizabeth's bedroom to check if she was there.

"So that's a yes?" Peter sped up, coming up behind and wrapping arms around her waist to slow her pace. He pressed a couple of kisses to her neck, getting a giggle from Gwen. She soon stopped laughing as she noticed the knowing stares from May and Mary Jane, who was carrying Elizabeth, in the hallway's entrance, her face flushing with embarrassment.

"Peter, stop it!"

That was when he looked up, though unlike Gwen he wasn't that much embarrassed. "Sorry."

"Oh, don't mind us," MJ jiggled Elizabeth in her arms with a mischievous grin. "We'll watch the show."

"No you won't," Gwen crossed her arms defiantly. "MJ, that's rather private"

"You mean your sexy life..? Ha!" MJ let out a short bark of laughter. "Good one Gwendy."

"Glad you think that's amusing," Gwen shook her head as she took Elizabeth out of MJ's arms, smiling happily. "Now Liz, make sure daddy doesn't misbehave."

Elizabeth grinned and giggled loudly, prompting smiles from everyone.

"Nawr, she's just so cute," MJ cooed. "But when is she really gonna start talking?"

"Hopefully not for a while," Peter joked. "Once she starts talking, she starts talking back."

"That's a downright lie, you said the other day that you wanted to hear her talk!" Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Well, I've heard that babies that learn to speak later learn much quicker," May shrugged mid point. "Of course I don't know for certain."

"There is some truth in that," Gwen continued "Mom told me that Howard didn't begin until later on, but he knew at least some words after seven months "

"Oh, Peter was the opposite," Now it was Peter's turn to blush at his Aunt words. "He started really early on, about six months old, but he didn't know any words except one until several months later."

"I'm curious," Gwen raised an eyebrow tenuously. "What was the word?"

"Because of Richard's work, he said 'Spidey' "

After a second of silence the two Parker's and MJ broke out into fits of laughter. Peter shook his head as he took Elizabeth off Gwen, not finding it so funny. After the women had begun to calm down he decided to speak.

"Right, if you're going shopping I suggest just going." Peter headed over to the door, giving them a disapproving look. They walked over to him, all gathering jackets and coats with grins. His Aunt clapped him on the shoulder as she headed out into the elevator hallway, followed by MJ who gave him a smile and a wave, and lastly Gwen who gave a quick kiss to him. He watched them get into the elevator before heading around to the living room and stand in front of the window, waiting for the car that they were going to use get out of the garage.

When they were out of sight he retrieved his phone from his jeans and sent a message to his chat group.

_We are a go._

**One hour later...**

Peter opened the door to let the group of friends outside the apartment to enter his apartment. The first to pass through the door was Flash, the athletic guy and one of his oldest friends, walking in with a large box in his arms. He nodded at Peter as he passed.

"Pete."

"Hey Flash, good to see you," He was followed by Eddie who pulled off his thick coat. "Sup, Eddie?"

"Hey Peter," Eddie greeted "I got something for you." He passed Peter a large dusty bottle, filled with an amber liquid. "Pure Scotch whiskey, matured for thirty four years. Should be a cracker."

"Guys... I can't drink that much, I have to take care of my sleepy daughter." He turned to the next person in line who was taking off his jacket as well.

"That's why her Uncle came." Howard shook his head, gesturing extravagantly. "I can regulate things around here. " He continued with a cocky smile.

"Just what I wanted to hear," Betty dead-panned as she followed him in. "Hey Pete." She leaned up in her boots and kissed Peter's cheek.

"I'm glad you came."

"Needed to clear my mind after such stressful day at the Bugle." Betty said as Ren approached her, placing her paws on her legs to support himself. "Aww, I love your pug." She kneeled and caressed his soft skin.

"The volume of drool that Ren produces could cover the Sahara in an ocean." Howard joked.

"Stop being mean to my dog..." Peter cut him off, clapping both Betty and Howard on their shoulders. "It's not his fault, that's just how he is, how he was born and raised. As with people, you shouldn't judge him on how he was born, on what's natural to him."

His brother-in-law chuckled. "I'm sorry man, you know that I love Ren," He patted his shoulder. "C'mon."

They headed into the dining area of the kitchen where Flash had all ready begun to prepare the table. He had a green felt sheet that was inside the box, now covering the table neatly. In the middle was a metal briefcase, full of glass Poker chips. The set was Flash's favorite, a rather unique set from Spider-man collection.

"Really, Flash?" Eddie smiled, he knew how much his friend is a big fan of the webhead.

Flash looked up. "Hey, he's awesome." He winked and proceeded to prepare the game.

They all drew up chairs around as Flash begun to separate the chips into even piles, passing them around the table. Peter pulled out a set of eight tumblers, also a rather fancy group of antiques, setting them down in front of Eddie who proceeded to fill them up with the Scotch.

"Right, how high are the stakes?" Howard asked.

"Well, as you know, normally I like to play rather high stakes but..." Flash turned to glare around at Peter, jerking a thumb at him. "He's here, and Peter will just clean us out as always...I need to be a genius.. " He sighed.

"You're going to get there bud " Peter grinned, he did have a knack for poker after all. He had spent many an evening cleaning out his friend back at highschool after they became friends. At first, he accepted Flash's invite just to experiment the game, now it was just for fun and to annoy his friends since they refused to play a high stakes game against him, mainly because he would claim all of their money. Though, there is one exception.

A couple of weeks after he had first gotten together with Gwen after the first break up. He had decided to do something new and invite her for a very different date at his Aunt's house. The couple had duelled most of the evening for ten dollars, and Gwen had totally destroyed him with, not one, but two Royal Flushes. In a row. It shocked him because she had never played since. After that, he went to tingle her to try and get the little money he bet back, but she didn't allowed, instead they snuggled on his bed while watching a movie, totally forgetting about his lost money to his , at the time, girlfriend.

"C'mon guys, If we keep on this pace, Oscorp will be fully bought by Horizon Labs and we won't even see the glorious party that the city will do. " Howard joked, he and most people were grateful that Oscorp was finally erasing itself from the existence after the recent events that left a bad taste on everyone's mouth.

"That's understandable," Betty took a swig of whiskey before changing the subject. "By the way, mentioning Oscorp and Horizon Labs, what's all this about the new fusion reactor by Otto Octavious ? Jameson can't stop talking about it.

"It's a clean energy project project and a very good one. I read that Otto is a genius, worked for Oscorp and everything, he can pull it off, Horizon is supporting him." Peter replied.

"But what if-"

"Look, are we gonna play poker or not?" Flash interrupted Betty. "My girlfriend don't know a thing about poker, this is the night I've been waiting for."

"Right." Peter grinned as the ex military started handing out the cards. He had to fight to contain the grin as he received his hand – pocket aces weren't a bad way to start the evening with his closest friends. Almost everyone was there and he was happy for that. Though, for some reason he couldn't stop thinking about his first and only friend, Harry Osborn. Seeing the table full with his friends but knowing that there was one missing in a chair still was hard for him. But he wouldn't let these sad feelings get on his way and ruin the mood, he invited them for a reason. Have fun.

* * *

"Ow, come on!" A rather drunk Flash swore loudly as Peter collected yet another pile of chips. His winnings were growing with almost every other hand, as per usual, and every time he won only made his opponents more vocal of their disappointment. He was about to retort when he heard a little crying coming from Elizabeth's bedroom.

"Oops, better go and take care of my little girl." Peter rose from his chair, hurrying out of the room and upstairs quickly.

Entering her bedroom he headed straight over to her cot, scooping the crying and fidgeting the seven months old off the mattress. He placed her in his arms and bounced her several times, talking soothingly to her. As he did this he walked around her bedroom, looking around them. They had settled on creating what Gwen had called a neutral color scheme when they had moved Elizabeth into her own room a few months back, consisting of a honey hut theme and with matching furniture.

Soon Elizabeth settled down, heading back off to sleep. It wasn't often that she cried, and usually it wasn't for feeding or changing as Gwen had devised an almost clockwork routine for her. Liz's cries were usually just for attention, for someone to make a fuss of her. He placed her carefully back down in her cot, quietly creeping away. He almost made it to the door, but the crying started up again.

"All right, all right," Peter walked back over to the cot, picking Elizabeth back up again and gently caressing her back as she lay her head on his left shoulder. "Wanna play some poker with daddy? You can help me out, if we win, I'll let you hold my deactivated web shooter. " He kissed the top of her head.

He carried her out of the room, heading back to the dining room. As he entered, Liz was greeted by a series of smiles and ahhs, before Peter was greeted by a series of grins. He looked down at the table, nearly all of his hard won chips were gone.

"Oh, very funny guys," Peter gave them a disapproving glare. "Chips back, now!"

"Lets see about that," Eddie put on an exaggerated look of consideration. "Maybe you can win them back?"

"Maybe I will then," Peter sat back to his chair and with Elizabeth sat on his lap as she curiously eyed his cards. "Flash, deal. I've got work to do."

The next round of betting consisted of everyone checking, no one put any more chips down. Flash turned over the penultimate card, showing it to be a King of hearts. Again Peter kept his poker face on, not betraying the buzz that had began in his mind. Howard placed a bet down that was bigger than what Peter had left in his entire pile, meaning that he would have to go all in on the hand. It was a bit of a risk, if the last card wasn't at least heart then he didn't have a hand at all. If it was a nine of hearts it was a straight flush, and an ace of hearts would be a royal flush.

"Someone's gonna have a flush, maybe even a straight flush. Or even possibly a royal flush," Eddie grinned as he moved his bet into the middle of the table. "Peter, are you all in?"

"Hmm," Peter cocked his head to consider. He raised his cards to show them to Elizabeth, grabbing her attention. "What do you think Liz? All in? I can't exactly raise can I?"

He was about to move his chips into the middle when a high pitch, squeaky voice stopped him.

"Web shooter...all in"

Peter slowly turned his head to face his daughter, an amazed expression on his face.

"Liz, did you just speak?"

"Web...all in," Liz grinned at him before banging her hands down on the table. "Wraise."

"You spoke?" Peter gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before. He fixed her with a concentrated gaze. "Can you say daddy?"

There was a pause as she opened and closed her mouth several times, making a clucking sound, before trying to speak again. "Wraise, all...all in?"

"Well, she's not much help to you is she?" Flash managed to get out a sentence in-between snorts of laughter, like everyone else around the table. "Though, why web?"

"Shh Flash," Peter watched Elizabeth intently still. "Liz, say daddy."

"Wraise!" She shouted back at him, still with a massive grin.

"Hmm, we'll have to work on it," Peter grabbed his phone from his pocket, starting a video a call with Gwen. He looked around him at the others, giving them an apologetic look. "Sorry guys, I have to tell Gwen."

"No that's fine, go ahead." Howard replied as he slowly moved closer, Peter wondering what he was doing. He realized just in time. He was lunging for Peter's cards out on the table. Peter managed to grab them without losing Liz off his lap, grabbing the cards and placing them in a pocket with a grin.

"Nice try..." Peter paused as Gwen's face appeared on the screen on his smartphone. "Hey Gwendy."

_"Hey, something up?"_

"Yeah, just watch this. You won't believe it," Peter picked Liz up, turning her towards the screen. "Liz, are you going to speak for mummy?"

The almost one year old looked up at him with her deep green eyes, a questioning gaze meeting his own. He smiled encouragingly, inclining his head towards the screen. Elizabeth turned her head back to the image of Gwen, who had now been joined by MJ and May. She paused before speaking in a questioning tone.

"Wraise? Web shooter!"

_"Wow, she spoke!"_ Gwen's face was filled with a huge smile, mirrored on the faces of the other women with her. "Though, we're gonna have to teach her her R's and...wait a second.."

"What?"

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Are you playing poker?"

Peter paused before replying, with a little trepidation. "What makes you say that?"

_"Well, she said raise – that would be for poker. And also, looked behind you._" Peter did just that, turning around to see the table in front of him and all the surrounding players. His phone's camera had a field of view of the entire room.

"Ah, yes. About that.."

_"Peter, I don't begrudge you having some fun – enjoy yourself,"_ Gwen smiled at him. "_Just don't drink too much whiskey, you snore really badly if you do."_

"Yes Gwen," There was a chorus of sniggers around the table which replied to with a glare. "I'll see you later."

_"Yeah, I can't wait to get back now!"_ Gwen couldn't keep the grin off her face. _"I'll see you both later."_

"You gonna say bye Liz?"

Elizabeth looked back up to him before turning back to the screen. "All..in!"

_"That's a new one,"_ Gwen gave him a wink. _"Love you."_

"Love you too," Peter shut off the feed to a table of grins. "What?"

"Nothing" Howard chuckled. "All in?"

"Yes, all in."

"Right," Flash flipped over the final card, revealing an Ace of hearts. "Oh god, someone's definitely got the flush."

"Anyone got any last bets?" Howard questioned.

Eddie nodded. "Yeah, ten more"

"I'll match," Howard grinned. "What about you,Betty? "

"Aye, I'm matching," Betty moved his chips into the centre too, alongside the pile. " Howard? Show your cards."

"Three of a kind Jacks."

Howard grinned, placing his cards down. "But I've got three of a kind King's, sorry about that."

"Well, I'm sorry to both of you," Flash gave them all a wink as he placed down a pair of aces. "Three of a kind aces, someone was dealing very, very well!"

There was a series of exhalations around the table.

"Now Mr photographer, " Flash moved his hands over the pot in the middle of the table. "Will I be taking this pile?"

Peter placed his cards down on the table, a series of gasps and curses ran around the audience.

"Royal flush," He paused before scooping the pile towards him. "Thank you people."

"Oh just..." Flash paused. "Sh...fudge it."

* * *

**Two hours later...**

"Mmm, just there." Gwen moaned as Peter worked his fingers over her bare back. He was rather good with his fingers, regardless of where they were on her body. She was in his lap on their bed, only wearing her blue underwear, enjoying the attention she was getting from him. In fact, Gwen always enjoyed their 'snuggle' time in the late hours of the night.

"Uh-hu," Peter complied, circling one thumb on her particular pressure point underneath her right shoulder blade. "I better get _something_ in return for this."

"Oh, you just might." Gwen replied softly as Peter pressed his lips to the back of her neck, moving her hair gently over one shoulder with his free hand. Then he moved both his hands around her torso, wrapping them around her waist whilst resting his chin on her shoulder. Gwen sighed in contentment.

"Did you bought my gift?"

"Yup, it's on the wardrobe" She replied as Peter turned his head to the wardrobe's direction, curious. "No peeking!"

Peter chuckled "Enjoyed your night?" He asked, kissing the soft skin of her cheek.

" A lot, " She replied leaning her head besides his. "You?"

Peter slowly ran a hand down her thigh. "Mine is not over yet" He whispered, flirting with his wife. "Did I ever told you how much beautiful you are?"

"Sometimes." Gwen teased. "I wouldn't mind hearing it again." She smiled.

"You're the most beautiful woman that exists, I love you so much." He whispered close to her ear. They were about to kiss again if a certain baby hadn't started crying for her parents.

Gwen laughed as Peter leaned on her neck. She stroked his now messy hair and said "Could you bring Liz here?"

"Yeah. Apparently, she doesn't want to sleep tonight."

"I know someone that used to leave me alone in bed in the middle of the night, not surprising at all.'

"Heh, you have point." He gave her a tiny peck on the lips before raising from the bed and heading towards his awake daughter room. This night would be a long one, but taking care of Elizabeth was something that they wouldn't ever get tired to do. Because with an amazing daughter, there are amazing parents.


	30. Date Night

**October 7nd - 2021**

"Gwen?!" Peter closed the wardrobe of his bedroom and called his wife, while clumsily slipping his Spider-Man boot on his right feet as he headed towards the living room in a fast pace.

_"Yes?!"_ Gwen replied from the kitchen, standing in front of the stove and preparing their meal that she learned with Aunt May's help a few days ago.

Peter entered the living room, seeing Elizabeth sat on the couch, calmly watching an infant's cartoon that was passing on the television. "Have you seen my mask? I can't find it and it's urgent!" He quickly turned his web shooters on and approached the counter that divided the kitchen and the living room.

She turned on her back and raised an eyebrow by his urgency. "I haven't, are you heading out now?"

"Yes! A crane is malfunctioning and it's constantly crashing against the Fisk tower." He explained, eying every corner of their apartment. "I'll clean the dishes later, but right now I just need my mask." He was about to wear a plastic sack when his daughter called from the couch.

"Dada!" Elizabeth stood up, leaning up on the back of the couch. She smiled to her father, happily waving his mask on the air with her right hand. "M-Mask!"

Peter approached her and gently grabbed his mask from her small and delicate hand. "You were hiding it during all this time?"

Elizabeth shook her head in response , before giving him a huge smile which was becoming one of her definitive traits. She indeed was a very happy child.

"Uh-hu...I swear I'm gonna have to buy a ballistic wardrobe to keep these things away from you." He kissed her forehead and pulled his mask down his face, becoming Spider-Man. He turned to Gwen's direction who was observing the scene while leaned on the counter. "I gotta go." He sent her a kiss with his gloved hand and hurried towards the window.

"Good luck-"

"Love you!" Peter jumped off the apartment through the living room window and swung towards the accident location, leaving his family to have lunch without him. Gwen still wasn't used with her husband's sudden moves, like quickly jumping of the window like if it was a normal thing to do, at least for her.

She shook her head and walked to the couch as Elizabeth raised her arms to Gwen direction. Wanting to be hold by her mother. Gwen picked her daughter and kissed the smooth skin of her cheek, before asking "Is my little girl hungry?"

Elizabeth giggled "Hungy!"

* * *

Spider-Man landed on top of a building where he had a clear view of the entire occurrence. Some meters away from him, he could see the Fisk Tower with a rather large hole on the left side. The letter F of 'Fisk' was already threatening to fall off the wall and down to the ground. He could also see the uncontrollable yellow crane over the building that faced the tower, slowly coming for another round and in a few minutes, it would smash the windows and probably hit some civilians that were stuck inside of the building if Spider-Man doesn't intervene.

There was two flag poles in front of him, one of the city and the second of the country. Between them, there was a space where he could boost himself with webbing andtowards the tower so that he could rescue the trapped workers before anything bad happened with them. With both hands, Spider-Man fired a single web-line to each pole and slowly walked backwards, applying a huge amount of force on the web lines he was holding and against the poles to create a tension so that he could launch himself on the air and quickly reach his destination.

After reaching the web's maximum elasticity point possible, Spider-Man quickly raised his legs from the floor, retracted and instantly got launched towards the sky, feeling the strong wind brushing against his suit material as he spun on the air, facing his objective.

_Oh no... _

Reflected on his lenses, a very small explosion happened on the back of the crane, causing the enormous estructure to violently smash it's front part against the building in a horizontal way, destroying the concretes and windows during the process.

Spider-Man noticed that two people got throw out of the building and were now falling towards the ground and among with the destroyed concretes. Seeing the debris coming, people started to ran away from the location to find shelter since a huge amount of rock was falling from the sky. Spider-Man reached the heigh above the building and naturally started his descend, losing the boost he had gained from the slingshot.

The closest civilian was a guy wearing a gray suit. He quickly jumped from a piece of concrete into another, evading the debris that were on his way towards the the person that needed his help. Everything was now slow, there was no space to mistake, one miscalculated move and a life could be lost. The debris in front of him finally opened, forming a straight path where he could pass through. He fired two web lines towards the first civilian's back and pushed him closer, placing an arm around his back as Spider-Man dove towards the second one. When inches from the woman, Spider-Man snaked an arm around her waist and brought her close to the free part of his chest as the brunette wrapped both arms around his neck, trying to adjust her body on his.

He hold the two civilians on his arms and managed to fire a biocable to the building on his front, slowing down the fall while entering a safe zone. He landed close to the police barricade and slowly helped the two civilians to stay on their feet since they probably were dizzy.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked, placing his hand in the woman's left shoulder and glancing the guy who sat on the asphalt. They calmly recovered their breath that was lost during the fall.

She looked up, revealing her green eyes which Peter instantly recognized. "Yes, thank you for saving my life.'

_Wait..._

**Seven years ago...**

_"Mr Parker?" Felicia called, approaching the turnstile as Peter entered the Oscorp Tower through the main entrance._

_"Yeah." Peter replied, turning to her direction._

_"Hi, I work with Harry. Nice to meet you." She smiled as they shook hands._

_"Hey, nice to meet you too." He started to follow her when she went back to the turnstile, before giving him an access card._

_"This is for you."_

_"Okay, thank you." They headed towards the elevator to get in Harry's office who was patiently waiting for Peter so that they can talk about a very important matter. One that apparently could save Harry's life. Peter didn't even notice Gwen enter the building and pass through the same turnstile he did with her own access card after he stepped inside of the elevator with Felicia next to him_.

* * *

**Present Day**

After some couple of seconds of just navigating through old memories, Peter brought himself back to reality and looked back to the woman who once was Harry's assistant. "I'm glad that you're safe." He quickly glanced the crane that suddenly stopped to work in matter of seconds after he had arrived. The power probably got shut down by the authorities. "The cops should handle this for now." He was about to leave when Felicia quickly placed a hand on his chest, stopping him from jumping.

"Have we meet before?" She asked, trying to remember where she had heard such familiar voice.

Spider-Man awkwardly shook his head and almost fell to the ground. "What? No! You might have seen me on the news." He replied, rubbing the back of his masked neck.

"But your voice is so familiar-"

"I have to go now!" Spider-Man interrupted her and jumped to the highest height possible and where his strength allowed him to before firing a biocable to the nearest building as he swung away from the now contained situation, leaving Felicia asking herself millions of questions about him on her mind. She was grateful to Spider-Man who saved her life, but she couldn't help and think about the such familiar voice.

A police offer arrived and asked "Are you okay, ma'am?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Felicia helped the man who the hero saved to stand on his feet since he was still sat on the floor, recomposing himself. Her phone that was in her jeans vibrated and surprised her because it managed to not slip off during the fall. She retrieved the device and opened the notification box, seeing rather strange text from the tower's CEO.

_**This wasn't any accident. Meet me at the Tower when you can.**_

_**\- Wilson Fisk**_

* * *

**December 18th - 2021**

**Miami**

"First, let's go the market." Gwen nodded at Peter from the passenger's seat besides him. They entered the main avenue, seeing how much intense the transit was. Miami wasn't that different in comparison with New York at all.

Peter sighed. "Not even a small cat can pass through this transit. "

"Cat!" Both of them turned around to look at their daughter who was whacking the various plushy toys suspended over her travel seat. She turned to look at them before raising both eyebrows in a Gwen like way. "W-Where is...cat?"

"Not quite Liz." Gwen smiled kindly at Elizabeth as she corrected her daughter. "Where is the cat?"

Elizabeth screwed her face up in concentration for a few seconds before trying to repeat her mother's line. "Catty?"

"Almost there. Though, there isn't a cat I'm afraid," Peter gave Elizabeth a huge smile before turning back to driving the car. "She's getting a hold of talking remarkably well."

"Yeah, but I feel bad about correcting her all the time," Gwen shook her head before correcting herself. "I don't want to be patronising, or strict."

"You aren't being either, trust me. Surely the only way she'll learn is if we instruct her, it's no different than a teacher correcting a pupil," Peter gave her a reassuring look. "And you do it brilliantly well, she picks up on the mistakes and it's not at all like a telling off at all. You'd know if she didn't like it, it's clear she loves spending time with you."

"As long as it stays that way."

"I'm sure it will," Peter paused for a few seconds before chuckling. "I do find it cute though."

"What?"

He smiled. "When she repeats stuff that we're saying, it's sweet."

Gwen laughed. "If only everyone in the town knew you were such an adorable guy, then no one would ever be afraid of you or Spider-Man. "

"So that's why you never listen to me?" Peter put on a look of mock hurt, pouting at Gwen as he continued the jape. "Note to self, act more intimidating."

She giggled. "Not more intimidating, more manly."

"Excuse me ma'am, I am very manly indeed," Peter narrowed his eyes comically. "Using web shooters, being man of the house, making important decisions, having a very manly tough dog, that kind of stuff."

Gwen said nothing, instead she just shook her head slowly and smiled.

"What?"

She turned around to look at Elizabeth, sharing a significant look with her daughter.

"What do you reckon Liz? Is daddy really that tough?"

Elizabeth giggled before shaking her head. "No!"

"Oh I see how it is," Peter sniffed loudly. "Ganging up on your poor old dad eh? Such a sad..."

"Peter!" Gwen shouted suddenly as her husband stopped the car after not noticing that the traffic had stopped in matter of seconds. Once they were clear, Gwen placed her head in her hands. "This is why I should do the driving, you're used to freely swing around."

"We were miles away, at a safe distance." Peter protested, acting innocently.

"Your definition of a safe distance is about two centimetres," Gwen gave him a glare. "The legal definition is somewhat greater."

"Yeah yeah," Peter waved a hand dismissively. "Those are technicalities."

Gwen snorted. "Just because you're the hero of the city, that doesn't make you above the law."

"Not true," Peter sat up, puffing out his chest. "I am the law!"

"Uch," Gwen gave him a disapproving glare. "Despite the amount of his comics you read, you are not Judge Dredd."

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am too, and you know it."

"Am not."

"Wait a second," Peter raised an eyebrow in surprise. "This would mean that you've read my comics, right?"

"I may have had a flick through one when I was tidying up the other day," Gwen shook her head, trying to hide a smile while teasing her husband. "Banal stuff and poor crafted storylines, I don't like it."

"That's a bit childish."

She challenged him with a grin. "You're childish."

"Yes," Peter grinned. "I'm allowed to be a little childish."

Gwen rolled her eyes yet again. "Why do I put up with you?"

"Because I'm so handsome, rugged, and manly."

"Oh?" Gwen challenged him, allowing a grin to cross her lips. "I suppose you are a little bit handsome, though the manly is still up for debate."

Peter sighed comically once more. "I can live with that I suppose."

"Good," Gwen turned back to face Elizabeth. "Now Liz, we're about to enter the tunnel, the car may get a little dark."

The toddler's green eyes were filled with curiosity as she looked up at Gwen. "D-Dark?"

"Yes," Gwen smiled kindly. "Don't worry though, it's all normal."

"We are going to the hotel later."

"Which Hotel?"

"We're not going straight to the hotel, we're actually making one stop first."

* * *

Peter pressed a finger to the doorbell, the buzzer of the apartment chiming like a traditional bell on Miami. A few seconds passed before the door was opened, the family being greeted by Mary Jane. She was attending to one of her shows at the city and Flash decided to go with her.

MJ smiled enthusiastically. "Good to see you guys again. "

"Hey MJ," Gwen gave her friend a hug. "How's it going?"

"Not too bad thank you," MJ smiled kindly at Gwen before turning to Elizabeth who was seated in her hover-pram. "Hello Elizabeth."

Elizabeth screwed her face up in concentration, seemingly searching for the correct words. "Aunty Mary!" She smiled. "How...you?"

"I'm good." MJ turned back to them. "Come on in, I don't want to leave you on the doorstep. Flash is around somewhere. Flash? Come and make yourself sociable!"

"I'm coming!"

Peter exchanged a bemused glance with Gwen as they followed MJ inside, though Gwen quietly dropped down to correct Elizabeth on her sentence. The toddler smiled happily as she listened and learnt, repeating the correction several times in varying tones on interest.

"How.. a-are you? H-How are..you?" She paused before looking up at Peter with her deep green eyes. "How are you?"

"I'm fine thank you," As Peter pushed the hover-pram into the sitting room he saw Flash descending from the upstairs. "Flash." He smiled.

"Hey guys." Flash greeted them formally, patting Peter on the back. "Welcome to the apartment. "

"Thanks for agreeing to this guys."

"To what?" Gwen and Flash spoke in unison and surprise.

MJ looked over at him. "Wait, you haven't told Gwen? "

"It was a surprise," He raised his eyebrow at the redhead. "You haven't told Flash?"

"It was a surprise," MJ placed a hand to her forehead.

"I'll explain," Peter turned to Gwen. "Basically, I know we're here for a family holiday and our late wedding anniversary, but I wanted to take you off for a romantic evening just for tonight. MJ agreed to look after Elizabeth tonight."

"Oh, I see," Flash turned to look at his girlfriend. "No problem for me."

"I just didn't want you to say no, if I didn't ask you then you couldn't say no," MJ gave him a little wink. "And you may enjoy it."

"I wouldn't refuse it." He kissed her cheek.

Meanwhile Peter looked over to Gwen, still waiting for her to speak.

"Erm...wow," She took his hand. "That's really lovely Peter, but I'm not sure about leaving Liz alone."

"She won't be alone, MJ will be fine with her."

"We've never left her alone before though." Gwen protested.

"She's been left with Howard and my Aunt plenty of times."

"Yes but..."

"Gwen," MJ interrupted them. "We will be fine with Elizabeth, she's always ever so good."

"Well...I suppose so," Gwen sighed as she conceded. "I'll leave you with her bag, it has spare clothes, food, some of her favourite toys. She's out of the nappy stage and almost into real pants but she sometimes has the occasional accident. You'll have to feed her in about an hour. She's speaking but, as you saw, most of the time she has trouble completing sentences. Make sure to correct her when..."

"Gwendolyne!" Flash interrupted her. "We will be fine with Elizabeth, MJ's word is enough. Go enjoy yourself!" He exclaimed with a smile.

"Well, I guess that's us told." Peter chuckled, glancing his confused wife. "We'll be off then," Peter knelt down in front of Elizabeth. "Now Liz, be a good girl for aunty MJ and uncle Flash OK? We'll see you tomorrow."

He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before standing up to allow Gwen access.

"Make sure you behave Liz," Gwen gave her a kiss as well before whispering. "Love you."

"C'mon then, Gwendy, times a wasting." The couple hold each other's hands.

"Yes, yes," Gwen rolled her eyes. "I better come now before I change my mind."

"Great," Peter smiled. "Thanks guys. See you later."

He placed an arm around Gwen as they headed out of the front door, MJ and Flash watching them leave after sharing their goodbyes. She looked over at her boyfriend, still with a bemused expression.

"You really are full of surprises Flash."

* * *

"So where are you taking me exactly?"

"Well," Peter grinned at her from the driver seat of their car. "At first I thought an art gallery would be nice."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but then I thought it may be a bit dull."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Dull? For me, or you?"

"Definitely not for me, art's just not my thing," Peter shook his head. "It's got to be something we can both enjoy together."

"Oh god, you're not taking me to some swinging session, right?"

Peter chuckled. "No, I didn't think you'd appreciate that. But before anything else we should check into our hotel."

"Good idea."

Peter drove their car out from the busy road and towards the main parking lot, heading towards a large high rise building full of windows and balcony's.

"The Fontainebleau," A smile crept across Gwen's lips. "You realise that it is probably one of the most expensive hotels in the whole city?"

"Well, I'm not going to earn any new advances at the office anytime soon...maybe in the next century. "

Gwen dropped her voice. "You cannot understand how incredible this place is."

Peter smiled as he heard the rising enthusiasm in Gwen's tone. "Have I, by some miraculous chance, managed to do something good?"

"You have Peter Benjamin Parker," Gwen gave him a significant look. "Though you always manage to do good things. By miraculous chances."

Peter parked the car park by the front entrance. They pulled their luggage out of the boot before heading inside. Entering the front doors Peter couldn't help but gape, the building was incredible. Everything was marble, the floors, the walls, pillars, and what wasn't marble was gilded with shimmering gold, Paintings and tapestries lined the walls.

He realised he had been standing still whilst Gwen had already made it over to the reception desk, and he hurried up to her, noticing a very hidden smile settling on her lips.

"Hi, we have a reservation."

"Good afternoon Madame, Sir," The woman smiled kindly at them. "What is the name?"

"Parkers. "

"Hang on a second," She looked back down at her screen underneath the desk, pressing a few buttons. "Yes, we have you in the main suite. James?"

They followed her gaze to an old man in a suit who was approaching them. He stopped just next to them, giving a short bow, before taking all of their suitcases.

"Good afternoon."

"James will take you to your room, The main suite please main," She turned back to them, handing over a pair of key cards. "Have a pleasant stay. If there is anything that you need, please do not hesitate to ask."

They followed James into a nearby elevator made of glass, watching him scan a card in and select the private floors at the top of the hotel. As the elevator began to rise the walls of the lift shaft gave way to glass panels, allowing a fantastic view across the entirety of the hotel for the guests.

Soon the elevator slowed, the doors pinging open behind them on the top floor. They followed James out of the lift and up one small flight of stairs to a landing to where three doors greeted centre door was theirs though, and James opened it to allow them through.

The room was breathtaking, Peter had never seen luxury like it. Some part of the roof was only glassm. There was a pair of water features on either side of the lounge area.

"Wow," Peter whistled in amazement before looking back at the butler. "Thank you."

He bowed before leaving. "Please enjoy your stay."

They walked arm in arm into the bedroom, passing a kitchenette along the way, which was also amazing. The bed in the middle of the room was much like the one in their home, but larger. It t had a large love heart of rose petals in the centre. Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"Did you ask them to do that?"

"No," Peter shook his head. "Though the fact that tonight was a romantic escape for us was mentioned."

"Ah, that would explain it then," He noticed a grin begin to spread across Gwen's face. "You know, it would be ever such a shame to spoil something that they obviously went to so much trouble to make."

"That's true," He played along with the joke. "It would be rather mean."

"Indeed, though that's what we're paying for."

"Ah, but consider this – the bed looks so comfortable that it would be a crying shame not to use it. And there's satin sheets."

"That's a good counterargument," Gwen began to slowly back away from him, swaying her hips seductively and giving him a steamy look. "So, I guess we've reached a decision?"

"I think so," Peter nodded. "But lets not rush, there's things to do, Gwendy. " He smiled rather awkwardly because of his wife control that she has over him, with a simple contact of eyes, she could make him go crazy if she wanted.

"What?" She sighed. "You were getting me all worked up there."

"Sorry."

She looked up with an intrigued expression. "So are you going to take me off somewhere then?"

"Yep, there's actually a plan," He crossed his arms, giving her a grin. "Did you bring your dresses?"

* * *

MJ chuckled, looking to the infant sat on her lap and watching some cartoon that was passing on the TV. "C'mon little one, do you want something to eat or drink?"

"J-Jui..." Elizabeth tried to find the correct words.

"Juice?"

"Yes!" She happily smiled.

"All right then," MJ stood up, carrying Elizabeth with her, and walked from the living room into the kitchen, pulling out a carton of orange juice. She set the child down onto a chair and pulled a pair of glasses out of a cupboard, filling them both with orange juice she had bought earlier that day. It wasn't until she had finished that she remembered that Elizabeth had her own plastic cups, she wasn't necessarily able to manage a glass. "That was silly of me, Flash?"

It was a few seconds before Flash replied to her call as he entered the kitchen. "You called?"

"Do you want some juice?" She offered.

"Sure." Flash took the glass as MJ began to fill up one of Elizabeth's plastic cups with juice, handing it to the child. "Hm...I prefer the ones from New York, this one feels...different."

"Actually it's the same brand, but I think they have changed their production methods," MJ tried a sip before grimacing herself. "What do you think Liz?"

The toddler wrinkled her nose up at the cup. "Don't like."

"Well, we'll have to get you another drink," MJ ooked through the fridge, though there wasn't anything else there other than milk. "We have some milk, but that is it I'm afraid."

"I have an idea," Flash pulled out a large pan and filled it with water, placing it on the cooker to begin to boil. MJ watched him with intrigue, they had been living together for a year and she had seen him do many things she had originally not believed he would be interested in, but she had never seen him attempt to cook. "Do we have any candy? "

"Erm, yes I think so," She went into another cupboard, pulling out a couple of chocolate bars. She handed them to him with a quizzical expression. "What exactly are you doing?"

"I am making a hot chocolate, Pete showed me some years ago."

MJ was impressed. And surprised. "Wow, you really are being adventurous today Flash."

She watched him place a second, smaller pan inside the first – filling it with the chocolate. Soon it began to melt and congeal in the bottom of the pan, but by then Flash added a generous helping of milk to the mixture. As he stirred it it began to form a much thinner, deep brown liquid, giving off a rather enticing smell. After a few more minutes Flash pulled the pan off the cooker, pouring out the mixture into three mugs. MJ took a sip.

"Oh my god, why haven't you made this before?"

Flash laughed. "You never asked.

"Well, this is going to be a regular, it's delicious," MJ took another sip before looking down at Elizabeth who was happily guzzling on the hot chocolate. "What do you think Elizabeth?"

She looked up at them with a massive grin. "Mmm!"

MJ chuckled. "I think that is a vote of approval as well."

* * *

"That was most definitely a lovely dinner," Gwen pressed a kiss to Peter's cheek as they walked along the busy, illuminated Miami's streets. "Thank you."

"I think we should do this kind of thing more often, you agree?"

"You mean a holiday?"

"Not necessarily," He shook his head. "I mean going out on dates."

"I agree."

They moved along the walkway. "Once a week we should have a date night, go out and do something, or simply going to see a movie."

"That actually sounds like a nice idea," Gwen nodded. "We can get someone to look after Liz and just go off. Actually, I really like the idea of having more nights like this."

"Well, this night is not over," Peter ran a hand around her waist, stroking the smooth pale skin of her toned stomach revealed by the dress. "It's only young, as they say."

"That's too true," Gwen grinned. "There's a large comfy bed that's currently empty." She flirted.

"How correct you are," Peter pulled Gwen around to the right, walking past another set of busy restaurants to join another major, packed street. "But we're not quite ready for that."

"You're gonna make me wait even longer?" Gwen hummed with intrigue. "Clearly you have something good up your sleeve."

"Oh just maybe," Peter pointed ahead of them, towards a large building with a wide flight of stone steps leading up to it. "You know what that building is right?"

"Of course I know what..." Gwen stopped dead in her tracks, a small gasp escaping her lips. "You got tickets? For us?"

"Uh-hu, two VIP tickets for the Bolshoi ballet performing The nutcracker from Moscow. "

"Oh my..." Gwen's face was lit up with genuine amazement, and Peter savoured the moment. "It's my favourite ballet, I never had the chance to watch them in live. "

"Shows that I do listen sometimes eh?"

"A lot more than that my love." Gwen linked her arms within his as they headed up the steps, walking through the arched doors into the foyer.

The busy room was crowded, all waiting around to be admitted for the beginning of the performance. Peter led her straight through the throng of people to a roped off, rather grand staircase. The security guards there stepped aside without a moments hesitation, allowing the pair through.

"So we have the best box seat for the show, and refreshments at the interval," Peter explained to her as they rounded a corner, heading through the bar area outside the box seats. "Afterwards we get to meet the dancers, orchestra leaders, and all the other blokes who put this together, if you want of course, Jameson helped me with this, he isn't that bad."

"Peter, I can't believe you referred to the organisers as 'other blokes'," Gwen chuckled as they passed through another arch, red curtains held open by smartly dressed staff. It admitted them to their private box, right in the centre of the audience seats. "This is incredible."

"Glad I got it right," Peter surveyed the theatre as the rest of the audience began to file in.

"You do realise this has given you the biggest pile of brownie points in the history of the universe," Gwen flashed him a cocky grin. "Seriously, this is just amazing."

He kissed her cheek and gave her a wink in reply. "I'll look forward to collecting those brownie points this evening..."

"Most definitely," As the lights began to dim Gwen leant into him, allowing his hands to wrap around her shoulders as she made herself comfortable for the show. She gave him a final whisper before the music began, "But there's deductions is you fall asleep, and five dollars says you will."

**Two hours later...**

"So, what happens tomorrow?"

"Well," Peter drummed his fingers against Gwen's shoulders as they ascended in the elevator. Unfortunately it was rather busy, the elevator was full of people and was stopping every few floors, but they were desperate to get back to their room. "We collect Liz in the morning and then I was thinking we'd go to this brand new aquarium in the centre of town. It's incredible, they have nearly every kind of fish from loads of differents parts of the world."

"Oh she'll love that," Gwen grinned at him. "You'll love it too, I guess."

"I know, what a shame," He took another look at the control panel, twenrt more floors to go. "And the next day, I was thinking we'd go to this zoo here on the city. They have everything there as well, even Polar Bears!"

"You really are a bit nuts, you know that?" Gwen softly kissed his cheek. "Anything non-animal related for the other couple of days?"

"Well, I suppose you'll want to go shopping?" Gwen nodded enthusiastically, prompting Peter to chuckle. "And there'll be some really good museums, I mean ones that are actually interesting."

"I don't think you would find many museums that interesting Peter," She furrowed her brows. "Sometimes it seems like Miami has everything."

"With you here, you could say that the city is now complete." He whispered close to her ear, being careful so that only his wife could heard his words that made her spine shiver.

* * *

After taking her long shower with Peter impatiently waiting for his turn so that he can finally have the time he wanted to spend the rest of the night with his wife, Gwen decided to observe the city. She was standing in front of a rather large window which was half open and was calmly drinking her wine as she waited for her husband inside of the now dark room. The moon's light was illuminating her figure as she thought about how she was the luckiest woman alive, having a rare man like Peter was still sometimes unbelievable, he never ceased to amaze her even if he tried. She couldn't help but also think about her daughter who probably was sleeping. She was already missing her baby even if they parted ways just for a few couple hours, but it was worth it. Everything with Peter was worth it. No matter if being with him means danger, even Peter isn't in proper danger anymore, no injuries, no bad guys, just Gwen, Elizabeth and Peter.

Without a warning, Gwen felt two strong arms snaking around her waist and one hand slipping underneath the half buttoned shirt she had burrowed from Peter. He gently caressed the smooth and pale skin of her stomach before slowly kissing her exposed neck. "Didn't notice you coming." She said, with a huge smile formed on her lips.

"They say that often." Peter whispered, wearing only his boxers.

Gwen placed her glass on the window and turned on his grip, moving both arms around his neck. "You know that I love you, right?"

Peter leaned closer and gently touched his forehead with hers, feeling her soft scent. "I know, I love you too." He slowly moved his head down to meet her warm lips while gently pressing her against the wall with his body.

She couldn't hold back her moan, which emboldened him to roam even more. He broke away from her lips and planted a series of kisses along her jawline until he sucked lightly at her neck, producing yet another throaty moan as she allowed herself be a willing captive between the wall and his body. The cold temperature of the wall at her back, coupled with the ardent heat from her front drove the sensations she was feeling into a chaotic loop. She slowly moved a hand to his abdomen, passing over his toned chest and neck before resting on his cheek as he kissed her neck, giving Gwen waves of pleasurable sensations through her body.

Seizing control of herself, Gwen gripped his head and brought it up for another kiss to break his momentum. Pulling his hands away, she pushed him back towards the bed. He fell with a plop onto his back as she straddled him above the waist.

Peter tried to sit up, but she placed her hand on his toned chest again and pushed him back down. Reaching up, she undid the bottoms at her torso in a slowly and sensually way, exposing her red underwear that she wore just to tease Peter even more.

His hands rested on her hips, causing her to give him another smoky look. She tried to pull the shirt past her shoulders before realizing her mistake. Peter shot up and held her place. His lips traveled around her bra-clad breasts while his hands kneaded her back and tugged at her shirt.

She struggled to pull her arms out of her sleeves before gasping when he flipped them both over until he was on top. He swooped down for another passionate kiss, pressing his own body against hers and gaining a moan from his wife during the process. They proceeded to love each other in a physical way for the rest of the night, enjoying every single second and moment together. That's what they are going to do for the rest of their lives.

* * *

Peter stirred slowly under the bed cover and rolled to his side and opened his eyes drowsily. Sleeping next to him was Gwen on her stomach and her head was on the pillow turned to face him with an arm lazily underneath. The bed sheet was pulled up midway up their chests.

Her satiated calm breathing had a mesmerizing effect on Peter, he enjoyed watching her sleep. Her light make-up had been removed the evening before, her hair cascaded down her shoulders and was a tangled mess, and it all made her look even more beautiful.

"Watching me sleep, do you?" Gwen asked softly with still closed eyes but with a faint smile.

Peter had a surprised look on his face, "You weren't sleeping? How long have you been awake?"

Gwen rolled to her side facing him, she opened her eyes and smirked, "I have been awake for some time. I just closed my eyes when you woke up and turned."

"What an actress you are," Peter smiled and stole a kiss from her soft lips and slipped his arms around her waist, beckoning her to get closer.

Gwen smirked, "I'm a badass, remember?" She moved in closer to Peter to enjoy the closeness and wrapped her arms around his neck and caressed him slowly.

Peter teased, "Well, you have quite the ass so-"

Gwen playfully elbowed his ribcage. "You and your so adorable flirts..."

Peter laughed amused. "You know, I love watching you sleep," He said softly and kissed her lips. "You look so beautiful and angel like. So peaceful."

Gwen beamed happily and smiled back at his words of adoration.

Peter grinned teasingly, "And sexy with that speck of drool in the corner of your mouth."

Gwen huffed, "I do not drool!" She swatted his shoulder with her hand.

"I'm sorry," Peter chuckled. He feigned defeat, "Must have been the light from the sun shimmering on your lip gloss."

"That's right," Gwen retorted. "A lady doesn't drool."

Peter hummed thoughtful, "But you don't' have any lip gloss on you now."

Gwen warned, "You're walking on a very thin line…"

Peter laughed and leaned in for another kiss, "It is things like that which makes you perfect."

"Good save," Gwen said with a feigned glare now, her arm returned around his neck.

"Did you sleep well?"

She smirked with mirth in her eyes, "Not really, this hot guy was next to me and it was very intoxicating."

Peter chuckled, "How inconsiderate of him."

"I know, right?" Gwen feigned annoyance.

"Did you have a good evening?"

Gwen planted a kiss on Peter's lips, "The best."

Peter let his arm underneath the curvature of her body move up to the back of her head where he softly touched, twirled and intertwined her hair with his fingers. Gwen smiled at his actions, finding it sweet and sensual. Peter knew she loved it, giving her special attention and especially the hair at the nape of her neck.

Gwen snuggled closer and purred, "Sounds like a great way to spend the morning, just snuggling."

"Liz is probably waiting for us." He kissed the soft pale skin of her left arm around his neck.

"Nah, being a lot like you, she's probably sleeping."

"Heh. Though, we could stay for a hour there, you know...talking with them."

"Does that involves you and Flash wrecking things up?"

"Of course not, play a videogame or football at the beach. I think he's a little jealous of you."

Gwen raised an eyebrow, "Of me? What, I'm the third wheel breaking up the Peter/Flash bromance?"

Peter chuckled, "Well, maybe he isn't really jealous, but he gets surprised when we meet and you aren't with me."

"Yes, me too." Gwen gibed.

Peter deadpanned, "Well, that's my thing, I'm mysterious like that, moving around leaving all you wanting more of me." He grinned, "Especially you."

Gwen countered playfully, "Hmph, you better not pull such games, I have needs."

"Oh, and what would those be?" Peter smiled mischievously.

His hand left her tangled hair and he let the tip of his finger slide down her spine softly before he trailed circles at the end of her back, Gwen shuddered with delight.

"A lot." She winked.

Peter feigned a deep sigh, "What I endure to support you…"

"Oh...poor you," Gwen pouted and snickered. She leaned in and kissed his lips. "Am I a high maintenance wife? "

"Like you wouldn't believe," Peter joked, enjoying their daily teasing. Just watching her smile was one of the best things that he could wish for.

"You're silly, Peter, quite funny." Gwen said with a smile. She always enjoyed their banter. "And cute."

"I'm a funny guy," Peter said with a grin.

She nodded while stroking his short brown hair. "Which is good cause I'm not funny."

"Yes you are, I have fun being with you," Peter assured.

Gwen smiled again, "Well, I mostly tease, but thanks." She looked at him curiously. "Since you already gave me my gifts which I loved, it's time for me to give yours." She turned to her side and went to edge of the bed, exposing her naked back as she leaned her hand underneath the bed to pick Peter's present that she hid when he was taking a shower, on the past night.

"Oh." Peter sat on the bed, revealing his bare chest.

Gwen return besides him as she handed him a heart shaped box that he gently took into his hands. "Open." She smiled, softly.

Curious, he slowly opened the box and instantly grinned. It was filled with his favorite candy's and each candy was wrapped with a piece of paper that had a reason why Gwen loved him.

_I love you because of the way you look at me._

_I love you because you always remember our special days._

_I love you because you gave me our girl._

_I love you because you make me want more kisses._

_I love you because we both know that together we can work out anything._

_I love you because you make me feel like I've never felt before._

_I love you because when you hold me tight everything is always all right._

_I love you because sometimes you call just because you're thinking about me._

_I love you because you're simply irresistible._

_I love you because your favorite pastime is to be with me and our little girl._

_I love you because you know how to love me._

_You're my hero, Peter Benjamin Parker._

Peter kindly laughed before looking to his wife with a huge and warm smile. "Gwen, this is just... Amazing." He leaned for a kiss that Gwen passionately and slowly reciprocated. "Really...I loved it."

Gwen cupped his cheek. "You're welcome." She gave her a tiny peck on the lips. "Now...I would love you even more, if that's possible, if you prepared our breakfast."

"I'm dead hungry since last night, quite the exercise." He teased, placing the box on the stand besides his side of the bed before returning, gently lying over her and wrapping his arms around her wife.

"Aw c'mon!" Gwen pulled the covers up his face, giggling after he stood over her, covering them both with the covers as they uncontrollably laughed together. Maybe the breakfast wouldn't come anytime soon.

* * *

**A/N: Oh god, I literally lost my way with this chapter. At first, I completely wrote the love scene, minutes later I noticed that I had detailed the scene too much and It may had passed the T rating, so I had to short it and cut lots of texts. It wasn't THAT deep...okay it was a little. Anyway, this chapter was heavily focused around Peter and Gwen and I'm particularly proud with the final version. I had been holding this chapter for some days now, the last edits that were taking most of my time.**

**I forgot to reply to Movie Guy 94's suggestion, which is a good one and I felt that it would help to clarify things. The thing about doing origins for different heroes is that the fic wouldn't be doing what I originally envisioned. I love raising the stakes and going into a larger scope, but this is different since I would have to work with the entire MCU universe, like a small reboot. And I don't think that's is necessary at all. Sure, some retcons are going to be made, but I enjoy the challenge ;) A brother or sister for Elizabeth? It still is a little early for that, but I won't say 'no' . Thanks for the suggestion!**

**Please drop a review if possible, and till the last chapter of this year!**


	31. Chasing A Little Spider

**December 21th - 2021**

After an exhausting and troubled day at her work, Gwen wanted nothing but to lay down for awhile, hold her daughter and embrace her handsome husband. Peter had spent most of the day taking care of Elizabeth in their apartment while she was busy with her responsibilities, her husband was always willing to do anything for their daughter, even if that meant hanging the suit for an entire day.

Seeing the elevator's screen notifying her that it had arrived on her respective apartment floor made Gwen smile to herself. As the doors opened, she stepped inside of the illuminated hallway and walked towards the door. She picked her keys from her purse and finally opened the door just to get a hell of a surprise.

Gwen's mouth almost fell to the ground when she saw her whole apartment filled with webbing. Every single wall had webs attached to it and the ceiling wasn't any exception. It was like if a hurricane of spiders had just passed by. Peter and Elizabeth weren't anywhere to be seen. She closed the door and slowly walked inside, being careful to not step over any sticky webbing, she placed her purse over the counter and besides their Christmas tree box, before trying to figure what happened.

As usual, Ren was just chilling on the couch.

"Peter?" Gwen called, not getting any reply for a few couple of seconds before she started hearing what looked to be the sound of fast footsteps coming from the hallway.

_"Mommy!" _Elizabeth entered the living room, bursting into fits of giggles as she made her way towards Gwen by quickly crawling on the floor.

_"Elizabeth! My webshooter!"_ Peter, who was covered with a little of webbing, tried to catch his daughter but she was already standing behind Gwen, supporting herself on her mother's legs. He stopped on his tracks after seeing Gwen with a confused expression. "Oh...hey, honey." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, noticing the mess that was their apartment.

Gwen raised an eyebrow as she sofly stroked Elizabeth's golden hair. She was trying to hide herself from her father by standing behind Gwen. "What...just happened around here?"

"Hide mommy!" Elizabeth said, leaning inches from Gwen's legs to see if her father was close or not.

He eyed the entire room. "Yeah, erm..." Elizabeth giggled, getting Peter's attention who later gave her a disapproving look. "The girl who's behind you, found my web shooters and look how that turned out."

"Really? You're blaming a baby because _you_ were reckless?" She sighed.

"Hey, she was running away from me during entire time and I didn't even recover the devices." Peter approached Gwen as she leaned down and brought Elizabeth into her arms, burying her head on Gwen's neck.

"You need to control your daughter, being agile the way you are, you miserably got defeated by a one year old baby."

"My daughter? I thought we made her together, she's also yours." He pointed out, before giving her a tiny peck on the lips.

Gwen smiled by his silliness. "Technicalities apart." She looked down to the baby on her arms who had fallen asleep without them noticing. "She's very tired, by the way." She kissed the top of her head. "I guess daddy tired you out, sweetie."

Peter moved his right hand to Elizabeth's pants and retrieved his 'kidnapped' web shooter from her pocket, noticing the device was now more lighter, meaning that his daughter leaved it empty after firing the device to every possible corner. "I don't know what do with this girl." He kissed the smooth skin of her cheek.

"Well, you lost a partner." Gwen slowly walked away from him and towards Elizabeth's room, leaving Peter wondering what she meant with that.

"What do you mean?" He asked. "Honey, partner - what?"

Gwen smiled to herself. "Who do you think that is going to clean this mess? Not me." She dissapeared from sight as she entered the hallway.

"Oh...fudge..." Peter scanned the whole living room. His eyes stopped at Ren who looked at him with an innocent 'expression'. "Little help, buddy?"

* * *

Like any normal couple, Peter and Gwen loved to spend their time together by simply snuggling, without any compromise to attend to. And since New York was getting more colder as the days passed, there isn't a better time to snuggle than now.

They were currently lying on the couch with a dark blue blanket covering their now warm bodies. Gwen lay her head over his arm underneath her head as he snaked his free arm around her waist, caressing her belly gently. She wasn't paying that much of attention to her husband, but more to her cell phone on her hands. Peter, on the other side, was slowly and constantly kissing her neck and cheeks, enjoying the moment they were sharing together.

Elizabeth was taking a nap, exhausted after the mess that she and her father had done. The apartment was now in order to Peter's relief.

"What are you doing?" He asked while he kissed her neck, with his eyes closed, feeling her intoxicating scent.

"Just reading an article." She replied as she turned and quickly kissed his forehead before returning her attention back to the phone.

"About what?" He muttered.

"A Spider-Man one." She answered.

"Ah, just leave it." He tried to remove Gwen's phone from her hands, wanting some attention, but she insisted. "Spider-Man is everywhere, Peter Parker is feeling kinda lonely." He kissed her cheek. "Give your husband some love, will ya?"

Gwen giggled by his jealously. "But this is an interesting article."

Peter groaned and looked up to her phone. "Shoot."

"Apparently, a Spider-Man movie is in Hollywood's plans since the Avengers refused one about them." She revealed. "You're quite valuable these days, eh?"

"Can they even do that?" He eyed the screen.

"Well, Spider-Man isn't a registered person, name or mark so they aren't infringing any laws, I think." She locked her phone and lowered it on the carpeted floor. She turned back to him and wrapped her own arms around his muscular back. "I wonder what type of story they could possibly come up with."

Peter sighed."I don't even want to imagine it." He looked to her deep green eyes. Every day that passes, he falls even more in love with his wife, if that was any possible.

"Imagine Spider-Man himself attending to a press conference."

He chuckled. "Well, if they find a way to contact me, we never know," He joked. "Though, I would want some side-kick, certainly you, my hot smoking wife."

Gwen giggled. "We are out of our minds."

"We sure are." Peter kissed the spot behind Gwen's ear.

Gwen smiled affectionately. "So, you wanted some attention?" She teased, moving her hand that was on his muscular back to his brown hair as she gently stroked it.

Peter went direct to the point and slowly connected his warm lips against hers, enjoying her taste while she wrapped both arms around his neck, bringing him closer to her body as they wrapped themselves in each other arms. He knew she was enjoying the treatment once she released a soft mean. He pulled the blanket up to fully cover them, making Gwen smile against his lips.

"What are you planning to?" She asked, leaning inches away from his lips.

Peter's left hand which was currently located at her waist slipped underneath her shirt and drew soft circles on the smooth skin of her back. "What about making out with my gorgeous wife?" He leaned on her throat, planting delicate kisses in the sensitive zone.

Gwen's head lolled back in pleasure, but she eventually recomposed herself and joked, "You're such a flatterer, but a very good one."

Peter smiled. "You know it's true, spider momma." He teased as they laughed together.

"What did you just called me?" She giggled.

Peter moved up to meet her green eyes again. "Your new nickname, you gave me one and now it's my turn."

"Oh, definitely not." She threatened to sat on the couch but Peter tightened his grip over her.

"Where do you think that you're going?" He adjusted himself over Gwen, trapping her on the couch with his chest.

"It's getting late, we should prepare dinner." She gave him a tiny peck on the lips and caressed his arms.

"Well, I was thinking that we could go out after Liz wakes, take her for a walk on the city and we could have dinner in some restaurant that pleads you."

"I would love that." She cupped his cheek and winked sensually. "Hum, I suppose we can have some little fun-"

_"Mummy! Daddy!"_ Elizabeth energetically called her mother and father from her bedroom.

Gwen laughed as Peter's head carefully landed on her chest. "Speaking of Elizabeth, she wakes." She made him look up to her and softly kissed his lips. "I'm going to pick our cutie, we'll finish this later, in a more...private room.*

"Wow, sounds good, Gwendy." Peter moved away from Gwen, giving her free space to raise from the couch.

Gwen stood up just to receive a playful slap on her butt. "Oi?" She turned, almost smiling.

"A bug landed in your butt, as usual." " He teased with an innocent smile.

Gwen shook her head and grinned. "Whatever you say, honey." She walked away and headed towards the hallway, before finally entering Elizabeth's bedroom. She turned the lights on, seeing Elizabeth standing up and leaning against on the cot's rail. She was still a little sleepy.

"Hey darling." Gwen approached her daughter's comfortable resting place and slowly grabbed the baby into her arms. "Did you have a good nap?"

Elizabeth nodded with a huge smile and rested her head in Gwen's right shoulder.

"That's good to know, sweetie." She kissed the top of Elizabeth's blond hair and massaged her small back with her free hand. "Let's see daddy?"

She hugged her neck for a few couple of seconds before leaning backwards to meet her mother's eyes. "W-Where daddy?"

"He's on the couch." Gwen replied, walking towards the bedroom door with Elizabeth being hold on her arms as she turned the lights off. "Do you want to practice your walking with mommy?"

"Yes! Walk!"

Gwen laughed. "Okay, I'm gonna hold your hands." She carefully lowered Elizabeth on the floor. Her daughter assumed a standing position with Gwen's help. She hold both of her tiny hands on hers to give her enough confidence to proceed forward.

Elizabeth slowly started to walk through the halllway, one step after the other, and with Gwen guiding her. They have been practicing for some days now, and Elizabeth was learning very quickly which was something not surprising at all for her parents. She's a child that didn't had that much of difficulty to learn what she was taught, unlike most normal babies. Probably because of Peter's advanced genes.

"You're doing good!" Gwen said as they approached the living room's entrance. "Who's sat on the couch?" She asked when they entered the area, seeing Peter sat on the couch and with arms crossed, waiting for Elizabeth.

"Daddy!" She replied after she saw Peter.

"Look who's here!" He smiled.

Without any warning, Elizabeth released Gwen's hands from hers and slowly made her way towards Peter who opened his arms to catch her in time if she falls.

"You're getting close." Peter affirmed, seeing her getting closer with a confident expression. When inches from his arms, she lost her balance and was about to fall on the floor if Peter hadn't grabbed her in time, raising her on the air to repeatedly kiss her stomach, gaining giggles from the baby. He lay her back in the couch and slipped a hand underneath her shirt to tingle the soft skin of her stomach. "You did it!" He leaned down and kissed her forehead as Elizabeth burst into fights of giggles.

Gwen approached the couch and took a seat besides her husband as he gently brought their daughter over his lap, filling her cheeks with kisses. "But I'm not forgetting that you stole my web shooter." He raised an eyebrow.

"Kidding, daddy!"

Peter smiled by her cuteness. No wonder why, she's like a mini Gwen replica. "I'm going to forgive only this time." He gently pinched her tiny nose with his thumb. "I love you, and you and your mother means the world to me."

Elizabeth smiled briefly and repeated his words, "Love y-you!

* * *

**December 23th - 2021**

**Peter's Office - Empire State University**

"Liz!" Peter grabbed the escaping child as she attempted to crawl off his lap and onto the table. "Sit still!"

Elizabeth was a nightmare to deal with now. Not because she was naughty, or even because she was careless, but because she was so curious. If she saw anything she wanted to investigate, then she would investigate most closely. She was incredibly quick when at peak crawling speeds and was rather skill full at climbing and even making the occasional leap. The problem came with how quick she was able to sneak off, he had taken his eye off her for literally a second earlier that morning and she had cleared half his office towards the fish tank before he got to her. All of this meant that he hadn't exactly done much work, it was rather tricky to type whilst trying to keep her still in his lap.

The buzzer on the side of his desk made a noise that startled both of them, Peter pressing one hand onto it. The voice of Kate, his assistant, sounded over the comms.

_"Eddie Brock is here to speak with you."_

"Eddie?" Peter was surprised, his friend hadn't mentioned of coming to see him. "Send him in."

A few seconds later and the door whooshed open, Eddie striding into the room.

"Pete."

"Eddie," Peter stood up and transferred Liz to one arm to walk over and shake Eddie's hand. "Nice to see you."

"You too," He looked down at Elizabeth in Peter's arms with a kind smile. "And it's nice to see Elizabeth, she looks like she's doing well."

"Oh yeah, she's great," Peter ruffled the mop of her blonde, as he called it, 'Gwen's hair' on her head. "Though she's at the crazy crawling and walking stage."

Eddie smirked. "So she's a handful then?"

"Sometimes, I don't usually have her here but Gwen's started to work on her new area today, got promoted." Peter grinned. "And my Aunt has gotten herself an encounter with her friends so she's now busy."

"Well, she acts a lot like you." He chuckled.

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment," Peter joked. "Now what can I help you with?"

Eddie took a heavy breath. "Not really help, but more like hear."

"Sure..." Peter stopped as Liz tried to escape from his grasp once more. This time she even actually tried to leap straight onto the desk, and he sighed as he regained control. "Do you mind if we sit on the sofas by the fish tank? That's where she's trying to get."

"Daddy!" She protested.

"Not at all," They walked to the other side of the room, settling on either side of the coffee table as Eddie chuckled. "She seems to have picked up your latest habit, with animals."

"Yeah, she's obsessed with them. I'm thinking of buying a fish task to place it in our apartment because of this girl." Peter placed her to his right so that she had a clear view of the tank, immediately her gaze was on the snapping eel that sauntered past them at the front of the glass. "So, you were saying?"

"Remember what I told you about my sister, right?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "What happened?"

"One of her Doctors said that there's a risk that the cancer might be coming back and she refuses to believe it," Eddie explained. "I'm pressing her to start doing the exams again but she don't want to, she wants to live her life in peace, she even said she hates me...for caring." He looked away to the transparent window.

"Wow.. .why would she even say that? You're just worried about her condition."

"I know...things always have been hard for us since we were kids, I thought that after meeting her again, even after she won her first cancer, things would be alright."

Peter friendly patted his shoulder. "Cheer up, I'm sure she will listen, she knows how much you care for her."

"If it only was that simple."

"Trust me, no matter how hard things could get, you have to hold on to hope, especially on this case," He advice. "My wife taught me that."

"You think so?"

Peter nodded. "Well, I believe, you must have faith."

Eddie kindly smiled. "I really hope that you're right," He said grateful. "Thanks for listening, needed to get this out of my throat."

"No problem, I'm always willing to help." Peter continued. " So, how are things at the Bugle."

"Eh, one day without you and Jameson goes crazy."

He laughed. "Eh, that's to be expected."

* * *

**Gwen's office - Empire State University**

Peter slowly pushed the door of Gwen's new office open, peeking around the corner with Elizabeth in her carry chair. She recently got promoted to new position at her specialization area and a new place came as a reward. Gwen was seated behind her desk, typing furiously on her laptop. She was clad in a lab coat, though it was a rather normal one – total white. Peter smiled, he liked that outfit.

"Can we come in?"

"Oh, hey you two!" Gwen jumped up from behind her desk, rushing around to grab Peter into a big hug. She kissed him on the lips before ducking down to kiss Elizabeth.

Peter grinned. "Wow, someone missed us."

"Yeah, you have no idea how strange it is," Gwen stood back up, straightening her hair carefully. She flashed him a smile. "But it's been a brilliant day. It's fantastic, the set-up here, I mean."

"How are the staff?"

"As their files said, they're very very intelligent. The best, at what they do."

"I mean how are they to work with, not just their records."

"Brilliant. They all seem to co-operate together, and they're all open to a variety of different ideas about how to get things done," Gwen walked back over to the desk. "And they listen to me very well, and not because they're scared of me. They respect me, I'm hoping that they perhaps even like me."

Peter sat down on one of the chairs, placing Elizabeth next to him. "That's great Gwendy. "

"However, turns out we have a new member of the team," Gwen turned around with a slightly anxious expression. "Ex Oscorp, he was transferred this morning."

"Oscorp?" Peter blinked in surprise. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

"I see." Peter frowned, he had no liking for most people that worked at Oscorp. He remembered the unethical stuff that he had discovered with Harry's help. Peter thought there was always a right way and a wrong way to go about even the most noble of causes. Oscorp's way had been wrong, and Peter had exposed everything for proper justice.

Luckily, the scientist never had anything to do with such researches.

Gwen noticed his reverie. "Are you all right with that?"

"With what?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Earth to Pete, I mean the new guy."

"Well, if he's a good researcher, as you said he is, then I suppose it's good that he's working here," Peter paused. "And I'm guessing that you're going to keep him in check."

"Most definitely, I'm not having barbaric experiments in my department," Gwen grinned. "I like that – my department."

"Got anything nice and challenging to work on? I mean, you'll have to find something that stands up to patching me up."

"We're starting off with genetically diseases. "

Peter couldn't help but smile, he hoped that Harry would have been happy with that. He owed a lot to his friend.

"Thank you, Harry would have liked this."

Gwen nodded emphatically. "And how was your day?" She turned around with a grin. "Liz wasn't too much trouble, was she?"

"Tried to make several great escapes, but that was about it," Peter paused and kissed the top of her blond hair. "Eddie was kinda different when we meet."

"Oh?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. "What did he want?"

"Apparently, he's having some personal troubles with his sister. There's a risk of cancer and she refuses to continue the tests, and he's super worried."

"Cancer? My god...if we only had more time." Gwen paused her theorising. "If she delays the effects with treatment, maybe we could get some cure in a few years, unlikely but I need to try."

"You're great, but if his sister doesn't want to help herself, then there's nothing that you can do." Peter gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"You're right. " Gwen moved around to her desk, pressing several buttons on the keyboard. "I'm just shutting it down, then I'm ready to go."

"Great, also – I've had an idea."

Gwen quipped back in return as she closed the draws of her desk. "Oh no."

"I think we should go on a holiday."

"A holiday? Again? " Gwen frowned. "I've only done one day at my new work so far!"

"I didn't mean right now, I meant in a bit. Maybe a few months?"

"I suppose so, but I still think Liz is too young to be in a completely foreign place," Gwen stopped to correct herself. "I mean, I know she's been in other cities loads but not in other countries. If we went to a completely different place, there's all sorts of bacteria that her system won't be very used to. If we wait till after Christmas, when she's one year and a few months old.."

Peter rolled his eyes this time, picking up Elizabeth and opening the door. "C'mon Miss fussy."

"That's not fair," Gwen chided him playfully. "I'm just being cautious."

"Yeah yeah," Petef winked as they left the office. "You're just too much of a workaholic!"

"Not funny."

"Though I prefer you wearing the old suit." He teased.

"You mean your first vigilante one?" Gwen leaned in closer, whispering alluringly. "I'm sure we can dig it out the draw every now and then."

**Hours later..**

"So I said to him – 'Peter, you've got a bird on your head' – and he just looked at me with an expression as if to say – you've finally gone crazy," Gwen fought to stop from bursting out into fits of laughter as she retold the story that happened during the time that they lived in England. "And he turned and walked from the kitchen into the living room with the thing on his head!"

"How the hell did he have a bird on his head?" Flash had a completely confused expression on his face, mirrored on the faces of MJ, Howard, Helen and May. Elizabeth was currently sleeping on her bedroom.

"Well, we went for this park in our dating anniversary, Peter found the friendly bird and played with him for a few couple of minutes before the lost hamster finally leaved us, at least it's what we thought."

The others all burst out into laughter at the image, Gwen joining them. As she poured herself a glass of water to wash down the wine she had a rather sobering thought. She couldn't believe how much she changed since then. She had a daughter, an apartment, a normal job, and of course, Peter. Yet new Gwen still had some old Gwen in her, the looks of course, but the drive and intelligence was still there. She had never been quite so happy.

"Gwen?" She spun around to her name being called by MJ. "Are you all right? You went rather quiet there."

"Oh," She had completely lost track of time in her thoughts. "No, I'm fine."

MJ gave her a knowing grin. "Missing him already?"

"Ha," Gwen gave her a dry grin in return. "Though I do wonder if he's done taking pictures." Peter had to leave earlier because of some confusion that was happening and the cops weren't succeeding at handling it. As usual, the excuse for those who didn't knew about his secret identity is because he had to take pictures for the Bugle.

Flash interrupted. "Can we turn the TV on? They are broadcasting the fight that happened, Spider-Man and freaking Captain America against this new guy called molten man! Peter is having quite the experience. " He sighed.

"Not all. " Gwen turned around at the triumphant like claim as Peter entered the living room. "Crazy stuff."

Flash grabbed a beer that was on the floor and handed it to Peter. "How did Spider-Man defeated the guy?"

"Water and some punches, I wonder where these guys are coming from. " He sat down on the couch and next to Gwen as he handed her the bottle with a kiss. "Can you open this please darling, I think that I hurt my precious mouth somewhere. " He explained on the way that only his family would understand.

"Ugh, fine," Gwen rolled her eyes as she took the bottle from him. She placed the top on her bottom row of teeth and yanked upwards, tearing off the bottle cap in on quick fluid motion. Howard had his eyes open wide with amazement, most men did at that old trick. "What? It's not that difficult to do."

May tutted at her. "It's awful for your teeth though Gwen."

"It's fine for me, you would not believe how strong my teeth are," She smiled.

"Thank you Gwendy," Peter gave a grin to Howard. "You should see this other trick she can do, she put the bottle between her..."

"Stop right there!" Gwen gave him a playful slap, she knew exactly where he was going with it.

"What? The one with your leg, that was quite funny." He laughed. "So, I heard that you were talking about the time when that hamster was on my head?"

Gwen breathed relieved. "At least you aren't fully stubborn anymore."

* * *

**A/N: Finally got it done! I was having a conflict of ideas so I wasn't sure about what to write. So, this is the last chapter for this year. I really need to thank you guys for continuing reading story since April. I've never imagined the story would last, so far, almost an entire year. Your support is amazing, really. Some months ago, I thought that I couldn't continue writing this story because of how much complex it got for me, I read some old reviews and that boosted my confidence. Thanks a lot ! I'm gonna revise the past chapters during my break, but the new one will come probably at the end of January.**

**I mentioned before that I would start a new storyline, but I'm not sure anymore, maybe I'm just going to continue telling the many moments of Peter and Gwen's life without anything major happening. Anyways, I hope that everyone have an amazing Christmas, enjoy your family and friends. And if this year wasn't one of the best ones, maybe the next one can be, fight for better times :)**

**See you guys in 2015!**

**\- Andrew**


	32. Learning To Crawl

**A/N: Like The Joker once said, **_**SURPRISE! **_**I know, this chapter wasn't supposed to come out since I stated before that I was taking a break (Which I still am), but I'm just that cool and so I decided to give you guys a Christmas gift! So yeah, this chapter is mostly focused on the family. Some serious stuff at the star that only teases a small part of what's coming next for the story. ****If I don't change my mind****. This was a present! Next update will take some time!**

**BTW, I accidentally replaced the chapter when Elizabeth was born with another one and I recently noticed that. So if you didn't read the chapter, it's now fixed. Chapter 26. Sorry for my mistake.**

**Enjoooyyyy!**

* * *

**January 9th - 2022**

"Not quite, it's – the dog caught the Frisbee, Fris – bee," Gwen smiled at Elizabeth. "Try again."

"OK," Elizabeth screwed her face up in concentration, a habit she had picked up from Peter, before repeating. "The dog caught the...Frisbee."

"Well done," Gwen turned on the floor of the living room of their new apartment and glanced main entrance, noticing Peter opening the door. It was a large but cosy room, a thick red carpet along the ground. It was a room with an intimate atmosphere, caused by the soft lighting and dark furniture. A large T was on the far wall, several leather sofas angled to view it. Around the room were wooden shelves, mostly empty but with room for lots of possessions such as DVDs and books. "Hey look, daddy's back."

"Yay!" Elizabeth shot up, dropping the book that they had been reading together, and ran to the front door. Gwen followed with a laugh as the door opened. Liz ran up to Peter as he scooped her up and hauled her into his arms with a kiss. "Hello daddy!"

"Hey Liz! " Peter walked inside, closing the door behind him. As he placed his right arm back around Elizabeth Gwen noticed his fist covered in dried blood, several scabs on his knuckles. She didn't say anything though, she would wait until Elizabeth was out of the room. "Good Saturday so far?"

"Yes thank you," Elizabeth smiled at him. "How was your day?"

"Well," Peter sighed, and Gwen noticed the subtle traces of anxiety that he tried to mask. Something was up. "Not particularly brilliant, but thanks for asking."

"Liz, why don't you go and watch some vids? There's a really good animal program on in five minutes."

"OK," Peter placed Elizabeth down with another kiss before she headed off, Ren now joining her and loping along behind her. The little girl chuckled as she bounded up onto the sofa. "Up doggy!"

Gwen turned back to Peter, taking him by his left hand and pulling him into the kitchen. She grabbed his other hand when they were out of sight, looking up at him with concerned eyes.

"What have you done to your hand?"

"Oh, that," Peter's face fell. "I hit a wall."

Gwen was confused. "What?"

"I..." Peter sighed, looking back down. Gwen grabbed a bowl and filled it with hot water, still studying Peter as she did. She hadn't seen him like this for a long while. She noticed that he was wearing his Spider-Man suit underneath his long sleeved shirt.

"What happened Peter?"

"That's the point. I don't know what's happening. "

"What? I meant what happened with your hand."

"Oh, I punched a wall. Destroyed some bricks."

"Why?"

He groaned. "As you know, more super bad guys are popping out of the nowhere. And they are all connected with those experiments that they refuse to reveal, it's happening for two years now and I don't have any trail to follow."

"What happened today?"

Peter slumped down onto one of the bar stools by the kitchen counter before answering

"This gangster..hammerhead, he earns the nickname. Couldn't stop him in time. I feel that he's responsible for some of the new baddies. I tried to interrogate one that I arrested at the police stations, but again, they don't tell me anything." He sighed in frustration. The thought of a new 'Oscorp' out there in the city was haunting Peter.

Gwen carried the bowl over to him, grabbing a towel as well. She sat down next to him and took his hand once more, beginning to clean it gently. "Did you...did you hurt him?"

"Of course not." Peter hissed quietly as she dabbed lightly at one of the scabbed cuts. "Not my way to solve things."

Gwen noticed the anger flash across Peter's face so she stroked the back of his hand lightly. "Hey, you're going to stop whoever that is doing those sick experiences. You always do. It's only a matter of time."

"Let's hope so."

Gwen placed his hand into the bowl to clean off the last of the blood, giving him a reassuring smile. "And this is why you punched a wall?"

"I was frustrated," Peter looked down meekly. "I'm sorry."

"It was a little silly," Gwen gave him a sympathetic smile. "Because I believe you can sort this." She took his hand out of the bowl and wrapped it in a towel before finally bandaging it. "Liz's reading is coming on, I reckon she's at least three years ahead of her age."

"Can she go to school early?"

"Well, I'm not so sure about that," Gwen shook her head, though this was something she had been thinking about as well. "She's a bit too young."

"Well she's too mature for play school I think," Gwen nodded her assent. "She'd be bored stiff, but she needs to socialise with other kids."

"You're right."

"Oh, and check this out," Gwen hurried over to the fridge with a bit of a spring in her step. "I'm rather proud of it."

She opened the fridge and pulled out a glass bowl, grabbing a pair of spoons on her way back to Peter. She placed it down in front of him with a grin.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Tiramisu?"

"Yep, I think I've mastered it," Gwen admired the desert she had made, checking that all of the layers were still perfectly aligned. "I hope it tastes good though, you wanna try?"

"Sure," Peter dipped his spoon in, taking a large mouthful of the food, He swallowed and looked over to her, actually managing a smile. "That is really epic, I mean it's awesome."

"Thank you," Gwen took a mouthful herself and was rather proud of her achievement. She never used to be any good at cooking, but since living with Peter she had been working on it. And now she was really getting somewhere, especially with savoury foods and roast dinners. But she was getting to grips with deserts and cakes gradually. "I am rather pleased with this, though I think it could do with more Grand Marnier."

"Hmm, this sucks you know," Peter tutted. "You're better at everything than me now."

"Hey, you cook really well you know," Gwen wasn't lying, Gwen was a surprisingly able cook. "I'm sorry for..."

"No no, I'm only joking," Peter took another mouthful. "I could eat this all day."

"Maybe I should stop then, I don't want a fat husband," Gwen poked him in the ribs with a grin. "Now come on and join us, but put a smiley face on for Liz."

Gwen jumped up and pulled Peter with her, taking him into the living room. As they entered he whispered in her ear.

"You know, that isn't hard to do."

Gwen settled on the sofa next to Elizabeth, Peter sitting down on the other side of their daughter. She pulled her legs up on the sofa and placed her arms around Peter who now had Elizabeth settled in his lap. She gave her daughter a kiss on the head before leaning into Peter's ear to whisper to him.

"You'll sort everything out," Gwen paused to give him a kiss by the ear. "After all, my bugboy is called a superhero for a reason."

* * *

**July 12th - 2022**

**P&amp;G Apartment/Night**

"And the big bad wolf huffed and puffed, but he couldn't get into the house made of stone," Elizabeth closed the book she had finished reading aloud and looked up at her father. He still had his arms around her, but he was fast asleep with her in his lap. "Daddy?"

Peter didn't stir, and that was a good thing for Elizabeth. She now had an opportunity.

She slowly put the book down on the table and crept out of her father's arms without waking him, carefully dropping onto the floor. She tiptoed around the sofa and headed across th apartment towards the kitchen. Her actions still didn't wake Peter, though Ren woke up from his snooze underneath the dinner table and trotted over to join her.

"Shh doggy," Elizabeth continued her stealthy advance into the kitchen with her target in sight on the top shelf above the central worktop. "If you're quiet, I'll get you a cookie too."

Now Elizabeth was faced with a problem, how to get to the biscuit tin? It was much easier back at the old apartment, the biscuits were kept in a large tin on a worktop that she could get to by climbing up one of the bar stools, but in the flat it was a nightmare. In the new larger and two floors apartment, the stools were the wrong shape for her to try that, and the cupboards offered no way to ascend. It was a puzzle, a particularly intriguing puzzle for a rather hungry two and a half year old child genius.

"Maybe you can help?" Elizabeth motioned for Ren to come over, getting him to sit down next to one of the bar stools. "Stay."

She carefully jumped onto the poor's pug back, shuffling up onto it's shoulders. Now she was more than able to reach the stool and she climbed up onto the seat with a big grin. She gave Ren a thumbs up before turning around to check on how to get to the actual tin. It was still out of reach to her unless she stood on the cooker but she wasn't going to do that. Her mother had told her to never touch the cooker.

Elizabeth stood up slowly on the stool to try and reach for the tin on the shelf above. She strained and stretched as far as she could but it was still out of her grasp. She sat back down on the stool and sighed, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes. She looked around her for something to hook it down with, but there was nothing that she thought would work.

She decided to try again and reached as high as she could, flexing her fingers in the air. Still thinking, she placed a hand against the wall, and felt even more confident. She placed her other hand against wall and discovered a new ability. Crawling. With that, she reached the tin and carefully descended back to the counter.

"Elizabeth!"

She turned at the sound of her mother's shocked voice, smiling happily as she opened the tin to get at the home-made cookies. "Hi mummy!"

"Oh my god," Gwen had dropped the bag in her hand and hurried over to Elizabeth, concern written across her face. She gently picked Elizabeth and placed her down on the floor. "Are you OK?"

"I'm OK thank you." Elizabeth couldn't understand exactly why her mother looked so concerned.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting a cookie." She opened the small tin. "Do you want some cookies, mummy?"

"Liz, look at me," Gwen dropped down to be eye level with her daughter. "You mustn't ever do anything like this again all right? You could fall really easily and hurt yourself badly. If you want a biscuit, let daddy get it for you."

"OK," Elizabeth looked down, she knew she was in a bit of trouble. "Sorry."

"No that's...wait a second," Gwen raised an eyebrow. "How did you get on the stool?"

"Oh," Elizabeth pointed down at Ren who was still patiently sitting next to the stool, staring at the biscuit tin with unblinking eyes. "He wants a cookie too."

"Oh god, Liz you really shouldn't climb on the dog. I know you're only small, but still...wait," Gwen raised an eyebrow again. "How did you get the tin from there?"

"Crawling. "

"Crawling?"

"Yep," Elizabeth smiled again as she fed Ren a biscuit, patting him on the head. "Good boy."

"You mean..you crawled to get in the counter?"

"Hmm, " Elizabeth cocked her head as she thought back to it. "My hands got stuck."

"Stuck?" Elizabeth watched her mother's eyes widen. "Wow! Liz, you have daddy's abilities." Gwen smiled.

"Abilities?" She frowned.

"Yes, remember that time when daddy installed that chandelier? "

"I can do that?" Elizabeth opened her eyes rather wide.

"Yes, though you'll have to learn to control it," Elizabeth allowed herself to be picked up by her mother who carried her back over to the sitting area. Peter was still asleep. "Daddy can teach you, but can you wake up him please?"

"Okay!" She nodded, excited.

"Hey," Gwen smiled and gently placed a hand on her chin. "I love you."

Liz smiled back and hugged Gwen's neck. "I love you too mummy!" She released Gwen and went towards the sofa.

Elizabeth jumped down onto the sofa and shook her father, he sort of jumped awake with a bit of a shock whilst still mumbling from his sleep. "No, not the skateboard, please!" Elizabeth laughed at the ramblings as Peter began to properly wake up.

"Oh," He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Hiya darling."

"You fell asleep daddy."

"What did I miss?"

"Well," Peter jumped, only now realising that Gwen was here. She folded her arms and gave him a bit of a glare. "Elizabeth was munching through the biscuit tin in the kitchen when I got in."

"Oh, I see. Liz you shouldn't eat too many..." His eyes widened as he flipped back his gaze to Elizabeth. "How the hell did you get the biscuit tin down?"

"She climbed onto the dog, onto the bar stool, stood on the stool, and then crawled her way to stand above the worktop "

"She did what what and what what?" Peter raised his eyebrows and gave Elizabeth the most surprised expression possible. "Wow. So... she have my powers?"

"Seems so," Gwen took a seat next to the pair as Elizabeth felt her father wrap one arm around her, she snuggled up to him as Gwen checked her smartphone. "God, it's half nine, well past your bedtime Liz."

"Oh, I'm not tired."

"It's late, you'll be tired tomorrow," Gwen stashed her phone back to her jeans pocket. "And you don't want to be tired tomorrow, especially if we're going to go shopping eh?"

"I suppose so." Elizabeth nodded, she rather enjoyed shopping.

"OK then, come on little missy," Elizabeth squealed as Peter jumped up with her in his arms and slung her around onto his shoulders before marching her up to her room. "Right, What have you got to do?"

"Pyjamas, wash, clean teeth, floss." Elizabeth counted off the list on her fingers.

"Ah, good girl." Peter gave her a little kiss before heading out of the room.

Elizabeth started off by retrieving her pyjamas first, they were a bright pink and covered in little cartoons of cute, small animals. Her mother thought they were that cute, and her father approved of her choice as well. She slipped on the pyjamas and put on her furry dressing gown on top and slippers on her feet before heading to her bathroom.

She moved up onto the steps Peter had put in so that she could reach the sink and filled up the basin with hot water for a quick wash of her face before cleaning her teeth and flossing. After finishing Elizabeth went back to her bedroom and climbed into bed. In matter of seconds, her parents entered the room and smiled at their daughter.

Gwen leaned over her as she pulled the duvet and blanket up to cover Elizabeth. She methodically tucked the duvet down Elizabeth's side with a smile whilst smoothing out the creases of the sheet. Then she leaned down to give Elizabeth a kiss.

"Night sweetie."

"Night mummy."

"So," Elizabeth turned her head to look at her father. "Do you want a story?"

She nodded enthusiastically, Elizabeth loved her father's stories."Yes please."

"I'll leave you to it." Gwen smiled at them both as she left with a wave, closing the door quietly behind her. Elizabeth turned her head back towards her father with an anticipative expression.

"Right, lets think," Peter manoeuvred himself onto the bed next to her, lying down next to Elizabeth with his arm around her. "Once upon a time there was a grizzly bear called Flash..."

* * *

"You took your time Peter."

"Hmm," Peter settled onto the sofa next to her, wrapping his arms around her. "Well I told her a story about a bear called Flash – yes it is him in grizzly form – and she did enjoy it, but she questioned me to no end on any points that were mildly ambiguous."

"Ha!" Gwen chuckled. "That's hilarious, a two and a half year old is analysing and critiquing your stories."

"Meh," Peter pressed a kiss to her temple as Gwen hoisted her legs up onto the sofa as well, fully moving into his embrace. "I worry about telling her stories sometimes, I get scared I'll have a bad review."

Gwen laughed. She leaned her head into Peter's's shoulder, pulling his hands around her body to link up in front of her stomach. "So, did you two have a good day?"

"Not too bad, we lazed about the apartment in the morning. We had a nice fry up, and watched some cartoons, before going out for a bit. We spent some time on Central Park, before getting some ice-cream. Later we went to a few food shops to get stuff for tea, we made 'Pollo Milanese' and those biscuits were home-made chocolate cookies."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "So you spoilt her rotten?"

"Hey, that's what I'm here for," Peter kissed the back of her neck, causing Gwen to shiver a little. "To spoil my girls rotten."

"Hmm." Gwen moaned and closed her eyes as Peter moved his hands down to massage her thighs, still maintaining his ministrations on the back of her neck.

"There's a whole chicken fillet left, I can put it in the oven for you if you want. Make some spaghetti too."

"I ate in the office, got a take away," Gwen paused. "But thank you for offering, I'm sure it's lovely."

"You've been working all day, actually you have been for the past few days," Peter rested his head on her shoulder. "We've hardly seen you for the three days."

"I know, sorry," Gwen spun so that she was now straddling Peter's, knees on the sofa either side of his legs. "We're finally starting to exam samples, later comes the theory and lastly, the practice. "

"That's great Gwendy," He smiled, rubbing one hand along her left thigh in circles. "I know your work is really important but..."

"It's only for the next week or so, I promise," Gwen leaned her head forwards, resting her forehead against his own forehead. "It's just addictive at the moment, you know how I love a challenge."

"Tell me about it," Peter rolled his own eyes. "You do get a little...addicted...to your work."

"That's not quite..."

"Come on Gwen, you do a little," Peter carefully tucked a stray strand of her blond hair around her ear. "But it's a good thing for the people you're helping I guess."

"Well, maybe," Gwen allowed a smirk to cross her lips. "But I can repay you a little."

"Mmm," Peter smiled as Gwen pressed her lips to his own, running her hands down his chest at the same time. She stopped to give him a sensual look and a wink. "Oh god, that wink Gwendy.."

"I know you love it."

Gwen grinned again before resuming her assault, placing her hands on his cheeks and pulling him closer for a passionate kiss. As they continued to grapple she raised her arms up, allowing Peter to pull her tight white t-shirt up. They had to momentarily break apart as she pulled the top off over her head, but as she threw it over to the other couch she saw Peter smiling as he stared at her chest.

She gave him a mock glare of disapproval. "Ugh, you're such a dog Peter."

"You love the attention really." He teased.

"Ah..." Gwen cocked her head. He kept his eyes trained on the lacy white bra before looking up at his wife. "I suppose I do."

With that she dove at him again, pushing him left and down onto his back on the sofa. She crawled on top of him whilst yanking off his own shirt, exposing his defined torso. She kissed him several times on the lips. He was about to undid her bra when there was a series of loud bleeps.

Peter cursed his phone. "Oh, damn!"

"Just ignore itit babes," Gwen was about to resume their kissing when the bleeps started again. She sighed. "Oh, just tell who ever it is to piss off and let us enjoy ourselves in peace."

"I will," Peter sat up, Gwen lying down on the sofa and draping herself across his lap. She watched him retrieve his phone from his pants. "Yes?"

_"Parker?" _Jameson's voice echoed.

He sighed. "I'm currently busy!"

_"I need your help."_

"What kind of help?"

_"The kind that would save my life..."_ He whispered.

"Why are you whispering?"

_"Listen, I need some -"_ His voice was interrupted by a female one. _"Jameson?! What are you doing?! I thought you were already sleeping!"_

Jameson quickly said._ "Parker! Don't forget the photos for tomorrow!" _The call got ended.

Peter groaned in frustration. "Cheeky bastard." He looked at Gwen. "He just wanted photos."

Gwen chuckled. "Figures."

He shook his head before changing subjects. "About Liz, what are we going to about her newfound abilities?"

She stroked his hair. "We guide her. Teach her to be responsible with them as you did. What's she going to do with them on the future is up to her."

He nodded. "I just don't want her to suffer what I did, she doesn't own anything to this world."

"What if she wants to trail the path that you did?" Gwen asked, softly.

Peter frowned, thinking. "Then I'm going to persuade her out of it, one Spider-Man is enough, once he has to hang the suit, it's over. I want people to remember him as a symbol of hope. Inspire them. He doesn't need a successor."

"I understand." Gwen said, she admired his intents, but even if she wanted her daughter to stay safe, she couldn't help but think that it's her choice and not theirs.

"What do you think about it?"

"I..I think that it's too early to talk about such topic." She softly kissed his forehead.

"Okay," Peter runned a hand up the smooth and pale skin of her back. "So..where we were at?" He teased.

She pulled herself closer to him, straddling his thighs and placing her arms around his neck. She kissed him once, pulling back and giving him a suggestive grin.

"You know, this bra could really do with being ditched."

"I agree," Peter suddenly stood upright, causing Gwen to chuckle. She locked her legs around his lower back, keeping herself thoroughly attached to him. She grinned again as Peter rolled his eyes. "Guess I have to give you a lift upstairs too eh?"

"Yep."

"OK and..."

"Daddy?"

Peter got such a shock he nearly dropped Gwen on the floor, only by tightening the grip of her legs did Gwen prevent herself from being dropped. Both looked up towards the balcony where Elizabeth stood clutching her plushy seal.

Peter regained his composure quickly enough. "Why are you out of bed Liz?"

"I forgot to tell you something."

"Oh?"

"Bears can't talk."

"Right," Gwen looked between Peter and Elizabeth with both eyebrows raised in confusion. "What's that got to do with anything sweetie?"

"Daddy told me a story about a bear who could talk, I just wanted to tell him that bears can't talk." Elizabeth finished her sentence ever so kindly, and Gwen couldn't help but laugh.

"Liz, I think your daddy probably knows that," She laughed again. "You should go back to bed."

"OK, night mummy, night daddy."

With that she turned and skipped off, heading back to her bedroom without any hassle. Gwen slowly turned her head to meet Peter's gaze, both looked at each other for a few seconds. Then they burst out laughing.

"Wow that was funny," Peter began to walk towards the stairs, still carrying Gwen. "I'm glad she always thinks of me, I would look like an idiot if I went around thinking bears could talk."

"Hmm, that is true," Gwen chuckled again. "Oh, I'm gonna make a great little genius out of her yet, she'd be a fantastic analyst."

"Yeah," Peter paused at the top of the stairs. "I was right about one thing though."

"What?"

"You know, trying the living room would probably be a bad idea."

* * *

**A/N: You know, the idea of Peter being a very talented cooker always attracted me. Also, if you are a guy and you're looking for a girlfriend, in these days, you must know how to cook. It's like..a law. I'm not lying. And it's actually fun. One of the very small amount of critiques towards Gwen's characters, that I'm aware of, is that on the movies, she comes like a perfect girl for some people, and I do agree at some extent, so I decided to remove that impression and show Gwen having difficulties, doubts and some other stuff. It turns to be quite funny to see Gwen trying to know everything that Peter does. Since their relationship has some rivalry, in my vision, it's interesting. She doesn't want to get mocked by Peter for not knowing something. Hah! What can I say about Elizabeth? Well, she's a mixture of her parents (That's probably pretty clear), and I personally love the name. It's so delicate. I hope that you guys are liking her :3 ANYWAY, the apartment change is for a reason. One that will be revealed in future chapters.**

**Thanks for the support. Suggestions and critiques are always welcome. Happy Holidays! **

**\- Andrew**


	33. Adoring Our Minions

**A/N: Erm, Hello...I just can't stop writing. Seriously, I'm addicted. Okay, I will say this : I might update again, unlike I stated before, but it can be in one, two, three weeks. There isn't a proper calendar, like before, I'm going to update the time I feel like updating the story, at least till the end of January where I will give you guys an affirmation to this topic, If it will be once a week, two or even a month. I finished this very quickly, and personally, I think it's my favorite one.**

**I'm writing another story, and I accidentaly mixed the characters with this one, already fixed. So that's it, have a good reading!**

* * *

**August 18th - 2024**

**New York/Night**

"Daddy?" Elizabeth called, turning on Peter's embrace. They were peacefully lying on the ground of some rooftop, resting after her father showed what he does with the powers she inherited from him.

"Yes?" She stroked her blond hair.

"What are the stars?" She now eyed the bright lights coming from the clean sky above them. It was a beautiful night.

"They are burning stars, like our sun, and their bright is so strong that it's now traveling through space, forming those tiny dots that you're seeing. He explained, caressing the soft skin of her back.

"Oh," Elizabeth admired it's complexity. "When can I go to the stars?" She kindly asked.

"Well, maybe one day? It's a difficult thing to travel out of our planet."

"What would we find there?" She intertwined her small fingers with his.

"Infinite possibilities, a new species? What about a planet made of chocolate? "

"Really?!" Elizabeth asked, excited.

"There's a chance, even if it's a small one." He chuckled and kissed her pink cheek. "I love you honey." She hugged his neck and rested her cheek against his, enjoying their embrace. His arms were place where she could lose her fears, knowing that being wrapped around them, means nobody besides her family could touch her.

"You're awesome daddy."

* * *

**September 26th - 2022**

"Hmm.." Spider-Man eyed the control panel of the Avengers shuttle that he was. The pilot was just the flawless and marksman called Hawkeye. Tony Stark was standing behind him and already inside of his famous armor. They joined forces after finally tracking, together, the source of the new baddies at New York, The Fisk Tower. "What does this button do?" He asked, leaning closer to the panel, glancing the glowing red button, one of the many.

"Such an amateur." Clint whispered, smiling to himself.

Spider-Man shooked his head and looked at him. "I'm sorry, I don't need anything to arrive at some place, such an amateur stuff." He joked.

Clint gave him a glare from the pilot's seat. Natasha was on the other seat, in the right side of Spider-Man . " But I don't have powers, that gives me more points."

"You two are so immature.." Natasha sighed, flying the now, invisible shuttle towards Fisk's towers, where they would start the infiltration attack and stop the operations that were happening there. "ETA five minutes."

"I ain't saying a word." Spider-Man pinched Clint's right ear, what caused him to groan in disapproval. "But seriously, what happens if I press this button?" He slowly moved his single finger close to the button.

_"Don't do that!"_ Iron Man urgently interrupted from behind him. Spider-Man almost accidentally fell on the panel after such warning. _"That's the self destruction option." _He revealed, with his mechanical voice.

Spider-Man turned on his back, leaving the two pilots alone. "Who would include that option?!" He asked, in disbelief. "God, this is so claustrophobic."

_"I'm not one of their engineers, but you know how much crazy they are when it comes to this stuff. If we weren't acting so stealthily, I would be out there and flying towards the tower myself. "_

Spider-Man nodded. "I see." He looked to the front window, seeing the tower getting closer as the seconds passed. "Let's do this quickly, I have to pick my daughter at my Aunt's house in one hours - wait.."

"You have a daughter?" Clint turned on his seat with a surprised expression.

"Erm...I wasn't supposed to say that. "

"Just tell us your name." Clint replied. They were dying to know the man inside of the suit. "We ain't saying to nobody."

Spider-Man rubbed the back of his neck, unsure about what to do. He couldn't reveal his identity, but they were trustworthy. Unlike a certain cat that he recently met.

* * *

_"I'm not interested in your face, just in your lips ." The woman wearing a black spandex all over her body stated, pressing Spider-Man against the chimney with the hand that was resting on his chest._

_"Erm..I'm a married man." He said, awkwardly turning his head to the right side, avoiding her persuasive attacks. He knew she was trying to get back the metallic case that he caught her stealing from the Horizon Labs Tower. He was holding it with one hand that was behind his back, keeping it away from the mysterious bugler._

_"Hey," She sensually ran a hand over his toned chest and towards his mask. "It's not a sin if she doesn't get to know..and you are also going to take my own mask off. Deal?" She leaned on his neck. Applying the persuasive skills over men that she was trained with, after letting herself being tested in one of the many experiences that Wilson Fisk did, in trade of a close person freedom. She had to help eliminate Fisk's concurrence, starting with Horizon, and the case contained crucial projects that the company was working on. The new baddies had that function, only if Fisk was able to control. The money kept their mouth shut though._

_Spider-Man looked back to her. "Sorry, I followed you here and now I have to arrest you."_

_The thief sighed. "That's really a shame." She kissed his masked cheek, before punching his stomach and recovering the case he was keeping it away from her. _

_"That's cheating..." He gasped, crouching on the floor, in pain. _

_She stood on her knee to be at his level. " Sorry handsome." She cupped his cheek. "I have to go now." She raised from the floor and ran towards the building's edge just to jump away, disappearing from sight._

_Spider-Man recovered his breath, slowly standing back on his feet. "I'm such a idiot!"_

* * *

"Sorry guys." Spider-Man apologized. "Maybe some other day."

_At least I caught that woman again and convinced her to reveals all of Fisk's plans, allowing this operation to happen. I hope that Felicia and her dad are doing well. They deserve more._

Iron Man patted him on the shoulder. _"Don't worry, take your time. You can always count with us."_ He nodded.

"Thank you."

"I wouldn't say everyone.." Clint teased.

"Clint..." Natasha groaned in disapproval.

"I'm kidding!" He smiled to Spider-Man, on his own popstar way.

Tony received a notification coming from the HUD screen inside of his helmet. _"Okay, Steve and the ground forces are already at the meeting location. Natasha, crash this shuttle on the tower._" She nodded in response.

Spider-Man closed his fists. "Let's do this!"

* * *

**Hours later..**

Gwen stole a quick glance at Peter next to her in the car. This time, she was the one driving it. Unlike normal however, Peter was rather quiet.

"Want to talk?"

He sighed, and spoke a little bitterly. "I've done enough talking for one day."

She reprimanded him with a frown. "That was a little acrimonious Peter."

"Sorry," He looked down. "I didn't mean that."

"Good," She nodded. "Now talk, you wouldn't let me sulk."

"I just..." Peter paused. "We succeed today..."

"Isn't that a good thing?""

"Well yes," Peter placed his head in his hands. "I just...forgot...how difficult it is to...handle threats towards my family. "

"Fisk isn't know for being a good guy, he also talks a lot." She gently placed a hand on his tight.

"I know."

"Oh, come on Pete, " Gwen gave him a supportive smile. "We agreed that this was a good idea. It answers most of the questions that people have, removes the speculation. And you got to work with the Avengers, don't worry about an empty threat. He's now locked."

"I know."

"I was thinking as I watched you. Thinking about everything that we went through," Gwen let out a low whistle. "It's all crazy, but it was all worth it."

"I know."

"Stop saying you know!" Gwen rolled her eyes at him before turning back to the volamt in front of her as she drove the car inside of their building garage.

Peter gave her a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"God you're in a funny mood," Gwen shook her head as she parked the car, shutting down the engine and turning to him. "Seriously, you did really well today. It was a really good idea, you don't need to everything alone. You have friends."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "So you've decided you're happy with me hanging out with other 'superheroes'."

"Watching you getting more relaxed about it only convinced me more that it was the right thing to do," She leaned forwards to give him a quick kiss on the lips. "Now come on, lets get home."

The pair left the car and headed towards the elevator, selecting the floor for their apartment. Gwen leaned into Peter as they waited for it to ascend, flashing him a smile. He reciprocated by placing an arm around her shoulders, resting his head on top of her own. When he spoke she could feel his throat rumbling against her head.

"There's something I want to know."

"What?"

"How hard was for you? Whilst I was gone, fighting the Sinister Six?"

She spun in his arms, stroking his cheek softly. "Is this what's bothering you?"

"Ish." He replied. "Today reminded me of that night, leaving you alone and -"

"I was worried, yes," She turned back again, leaning against him once more. "I had just got you back after you got injured, I had two things in my life I really wanted. That I loved. And I was terrified I'd lose you."

"Why did you let me go?"

"Because I knew what was at stake," She slipped one hand into his own, pulling him out of the lift as the doors opened. "You said yourself, you were the only one that could stop them. I couldn't be selfish to not let you go."

"Oh, I understand. "

"But I almost tried to stop you from going," Gwen sighed. "When you jumped out of our window, I tried call you and talk you out of it."

Peter stopped outside the front door to the apartment. "How come you didn't?"

"I talked with May, she stopped me, she said that you'd be fine. That I was too emotionally important to you to help you." She smiled. " She was right."

"She's right." He kissed her cheek.

"Now come on, enough with this emotional talk. I suspect we'll get a nice surprise when we open the door."

At Peter's questioning glance Gwen winked, turning to the door. She retrieved the keys from her purse and unlocked the door, but she didn't opened it immediately. Instead she slowly and quietly prised open the doors, scanning around the apartment as she slowly entered.

"Aha!" She pointed an accusatory finger at the couple on the sofa who burst apart with surprise. "I knew it!"

"Gwen!" Howard gave his sister a panic stricken look as he sat bolt upright on the sofa, wearing his shirt. "We weren't expecting you to be back so soon."

"Oh really?" Gwen slowly advanced on the pair, one eyebrow raised. Peter was chuckling whilst Howard tried to suppress her own grin. Bethany, Howard's girlfriend, was keeping her eyes straight down on the floor in front of her – she was still rather terrified of Gwen. "You know it's not very nice to make out on someone else's sofa."

Howard shrugged. "Hey, you make out all the time!"

"It's our apartment!" Gwen crossed her arms, throwing her weight on one hip. She turned to look at Bethany. "And just how far were you planning on taking this tonight?"

She panicked. "Erm...I..."

"Gwendy! " Howard scolded his older sister, standing up. "We're both consensual adults in our mid twenties, like you two, we can do what we like!"

"Fine, whatever," Gwen shook her head. "Is Elizabeth in bed?"

"Yeah, she was great tonight." Howard nodded.

As Gwen nodded something else caught her eye, the arrangement of some of her work files on one of the shelves in front of them – they weren't in alphabetical order.

"What happened to my files?"

"Oh? You noticed?" Howard looked up in surprise. "Sorry, Liz was demonstrating her abilities to me, but she accidentally threw a pillow there so.."

"Hmm," Gwen approached the files to rearrange them, sorting them through alphabetically. "Okay."

Peter had a bemused expression over the other side of the room. "I will help her to control them."

"Good," Gwen turned back to double check her files were in order before going to stand back by Peter. "Now lets get out of these clothes, you really look like you want to jump out of that suit." She eyed his job suit.

"Too true," Peter grinned at her, Howard and Bethany sharing a bemused look. "See you two in a bit."

As Peter made off Gwen moved to follow, giving the couple a stern look. "Yes, and no snogging on our sofa!"

As they headed up the stairs Peter whispered to Gwen.

"Why are you being so harsh on them? Like Howard said, they're both consensual adults."

"Because..." Gwen leaned in closely with a grin. "It's good practice for the future..."

* * *

**June 2nd - 2023**

Peter was woken by a tugging on his arm. Slowly he opened his eyes, discovering the source of the tugging. Elizabeth was stood by the side of the bed, fully dressed. It took a second before he realised that she was actually clad in her school uniform, complete with the woollen cardigan with the school's logo embellished over her chest and even her little rucksack slung over both shoulders. She gave him a huge smile, though Peter couldn't bring one quite as big to bear – because he was still half asleep. Seeing this she gave him another tug on the arm.

"Get up daddy, we're gonna be late for school!"

He looked to his left where Gwen was slowly waking up on his chest, and the fact she was still asleep spoke volumes. Gwen never slept beyond eight in the morning, she was always awake by then – even if it was just to lie awake in bed and watch him instead of getting on with any work. Peter looked around to his right to the clock on his bedside table, and he got a shock.

"Liz , it's five to six in the morning!"

"I know," She nodded enthusiastically. "But mummy said we had to be up early."

"Oh," Gwen groaned as she dropped her head back down onto Peter's chest. "Liz, I meant at about seven thirty, not six o'clock!"

"Oh," She looked down at her shoes. "Sorry."

"Hmm," Peter rubbed his eyes several times whilst yawning. "Can you go back to sleep?"

"Peter, there's no point in that," Gwen sighed. "She'll just have to get dressed again in an hour and a half."

"Well what are we gonna do for an hour and a half then?"

Gwen raised her head, giving him an innocent look. "I'm sure you can take her downstairs and think of something."

"Whilst you stay up here and sleep?" Gwen nodded before collapsing back down on top of him. Peter rolled his eyes, turning back towards their daughter. "Right Liz, why don't you drop your bag downstairs and I'll come down in a minute."

"OK." She nodded enthusiastically before turning and skipping off, humming a random tune to herself.

"Why didn't you just take her downstairs?"

"Well, I'm only wearing a pair of boxers."

"I'm minus a pair of bra or panties at the moment but..." Gwen gave him a wink before extravagantly rolling off him onto her side of the bed and collapsing once more. "I'm going back to sleep."

Peter sighed before pressing a tender kiss to the back of her neck. "You know, you look even more sexier from behind." He flirted, receiving a weak giggle in response.

Reluctantly he clambered out of bed, he splashed some cold water on his face, before heading downstairs. Ren followed him downstairs from his snooze spot on the first floor, and they walked into the kitchen on the ground floor to join Elizabeth.

"Do you want a drink?"

"Orange juice please."

"OK, one orange juice coming up," Peter ducked down into the fridge, grabbing a glass from a cupboard just above. He handed it to her with a smile before heading over to the coffee machine. He pressed a couple of buttons and turned around to face his daughter whilst the machine warmed up. "You know, most kids aren't normally this excited for school. I mean, yeah there's some excitement – but you're really nuts about this aren't you?"

"I really want to go to school," She gave him a toothy grin. "I can't wait, it's gonna be awesome!"

"Hmm," Peter stroked his chin in mock thought. "Strange kid."

Elizabeth opened her mouth in protest. "I'm not strange!"

"I'm just kidding," Peter tousled her hair, causing Elizabeth to chuckle, before heading back to the coffee machine to grab his espresso – one that he really needed. "It's great that you're so enthusiastic, really. I just hope you aren't disappointed."

She cocked her head. "Why would I be disappointed?"

"Well the thing is," Peter took a seat on the bar stool next to Elizabeth, thinking how best to phrase what he was thinking. "Liz, you mustn't repeat what I'm about to say to anyone. Understand?"

She nodded. "OK, I won't tell anyone."

"Well, you know that you're special, your mother is an absolute genius, and because of that you're a genius too. You're as clever as most kids twice your age," Peter sighed. "The other children in your class aren't likely to be as clever, you might find that the stuff you do in school is rather...boring. You can all ready read and write really well, and your mother's taught you some basic maths, how to tell the time..."

"It'll be OK daddy," She interrupted him, took another couple of gulps of orange juice, and then continued. "I don't mind that."

"OK, I just thought I should mention it."

The two sat next to each other sipping their drinks for a little while in silence. After a couple of minutes Peter grabbed his phone, triggering the radio to power up. It started playing music from the classical station that Gwen enjoyed listening to, and Peter and Elizabeth shared a disapproving look. He flicked a couple of buttons on his phone and retuned the radio, putting it onto his favourite rock station. Liz laughed as he began to play air guitar to an old piece of music. It was at that moment that Gwen chose to walk in, an incredulous expression across her face.

"Erm..." She shook her head before jumping up to sit on the worktop on the other side of Elizabeth. "Why do I put up with your father eh? He's ridiculously...silly."

"Because you love me," Peter challenged her, approaching with a grin. He gave her a quick kiss, slipping a hand inside her furry bathrobe to caress her toned stomach. Gwen gave him a strange look, as if she was about to say something. She obviously thought better of it and just gave him a simple smile. He gave her a questioning look, answered by a quick shake of the head. He leaned in for another kiss, whispering to her as he did. "Are you OK?"

"Fine," She nodded as he pulled back, giving him a smile. "Go and have a shower, I'll be up when you've finished."

"Sure thing." Peter nodded, still giving Gwen a quick once over with a questioning glance after their silent conversation. He gave Elizabeth a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off. As he left Gwen spun Elizabeth's bar stool around and ran her hands through her daughters hair.

"So Liz, what are we doing with your hair for school? One ponytail, a pair of plats, perhaps spike it up and go all punk like this ridiculous music?"

* * *

"I want to learn chemistry, and biology, and physics, and maths, and..."

"Liz, I'm not sure you'll get to do all that in your first couple of years." Peter turned to face his daughter in the back of the car. Her feet were swinging back and forth with excitement, and a huge grin was plastered all over her face.

"Well, what will we learn?"

"Well you'll probably do a lot of reading, and writing as well. Also they'll probably do a lot of art with you, painting and drawing most likely."

"That is fun I guess," Elizabeth looked a little disappointed. "But I want to do science, like mummy."

Gwen chuckled from the drivers seat. "Liz, that kind of thing is really, really, really difficult. It takes years of training."

"Oh."

"You could do it of course, but not till you're much older," Gwen turned her head to flash her a reassuring smile. "You have to start with really basic stuff OK?"

"OK."

Peter nodded. "Like I mentioned earlier, remember?"

"I remember."

"Now, a quick check," Peter rolled his eyes as Gwen began to list off items. "School bag?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes."

"Pencil case, with pencils, rubber, sharpener, a couple of pens, ruler?"

There was a pause as Elizabeth peered inside her rucksack. "Yes."

"Pad of paper?"

"Got it."

"Uncle Howard's number?"

"Got that too."

"Lunch?"

"Yes," Elizabeth quickly opened up her lunch box. "Cheese sandwich, packet of crisps, crackers, apple, grapes, and a chocolate bar."

"Chocolate bar?" Gwen gave Peter a knowing look. "I wonder how that got in there?"

"Erm..." Elizabeth giggled. "Daddy gave it to me."

"Ha!" Gwen chuckled. "Busted!"

"Well, she deserves a nice treat," Peter flashed Gwen a cheesy smile. "As do we all every now and then.

Gwen rolled her eyes as Peter drove the car to the bustling metropolis of New York. The school was quite near the centre of the city. Students came from far and wide across the continent to study there, and it was about the only school Gwen had accepted as good enough for their daughter in the area. Of course Elizabeth was in the primary school section, which was in a separate set of buildings from the senior school.

The car slowed as Peter got into the car park for the primary school, cycling the engine down with a smile. Peter turned around to look at Elizabeth once more, she was enthusiastically gazing out of the windows at the buildings around them, and at the many other children getting out of their own vehicles with their parents.

"Liz?" She turned to meet Peter's gaze. "You ready?"

"Yeah!" Without another word she hit the release button on her seat restraints, jumped up and swung her rucksack onto her back. She beamed at her parents. "Ready."

Peter chuckled as Gwen opened the main doors of the car, The pair of them having to bail out rapidly to follow Elizabeth. As the car doors closed itself Peter positioned himself on Elizabeth's right, taking one hand. Gwen took her left hand and together the three walked towards the main building, following the throng of people heading inside with their own kids.

They headed in through the doors and into a large, modern atrium. Whilst it was rather chaotic inside, particularly because of the children running around and shouting at the top of their lungs, there was some semblance of order. Gwen pointed to one of the signs on the wall that read 'New Reception Students' and steered them down a corridor to the right. As they headed down he noticed Elizabeth gazing at the walls that were adorned with the work of students from the last year. Much of it was artwork of kind, various posters of historical events, and paintings of all sorts of animals, people, and places. It was amazing that there was so much of it.

"Liz, you'll probably be doing stuff like that," Peter smiled. "Should be fun, right?"

"Hmm, looks fun." She nodded.

They emerged at the end of a corridor into a hall and, whilst it was still full of people, things were a little more organised here. They were greeted by a middle aged woman, Peter would put her in her mid forties, with sandy blonde hair. She smiled kindly at Elizabeth.

"Hello young lady, I'm Mrs Evans head of the primary school," She knelt down to be eye level with Elizabeth. "And what's your name?"

"I'm Elizabeth Stacy Parker," Elizabeth stuck a hand out to shake Mrs Evans' hand, the teacher accepting it with a rather amused expression. "But you can call me Liz for short."

"OK then Liz," The lady stood up to face Peter and Gwen, acknowledging them for the first time with a smile. "It's fantastic to finally meet you guys."

"Yes," Gwen nodded, shaking Mrs Evans' hand before Peter did the same. "We spoke via the internet I believe."

"Mmm, yes," She nodded. "I apologise for not being here when you toured the school, I was dealing with an illness in my family at the time. All better now though."

"That's good to hear," Peter nodded. "We were really impressed with what we saw here, and Li's been really excited about coming here – haven't you?"

Elizabeth nodded as she begun to glance around the room, looking around at the many pupils and teachers.

"Now then, lets just double check who's going to be your teacher," Mrs Evans peered at the tablet in her hand, whilst the family looked around at the various teachers who were interacting with their brand new form. Nearly all of the teachers were very friendly looking women. "Ah yes, your teacher is Mr Evans, no relation to me though."

She pointed over to her right at the only male teacher in the room, and Peter raised his eyebrows at the choice. The man was getting on, perhaps in his late nineties, and was sat with the children around him – talking to each one in turn rather seriously. He was wearing a dark brown cardigan on top of a green shirt, with dark green trousers on his legs. He looked a rather stern old man, with ruddy skin, thick pointy eyebrows, and a small tufts of grey hair around the sides of his head. Mr Evans wasn't exactly what Peter had been expecting, and he noticed raised eyebrows from Gwen in his peripheral vision. Neither made a comment however.

"I assure you that he is a really fantastic teacher, very nice as well."

"Oh," Elizabeth nodded, though slightly dubiously. "Do I go over there?"

"Yes, if you are ready you can say goodbye and head on over," Mrs Evans stood up to face them. "I must see to the next family, but it was great to meet you. If there are any problems I'll let you know immediately, though I believe Elizabeth will settle in without any problems."

"Brilliant, thank you," Gwen smiled as the teacher headed over to the next family, before kneeling down to face Elizabeth. "Are you all right? We can always wait another year if you don't want to stay. You're all ready joining a year early"

"No, I'm OK mummy," She gave her mother a hug, though Peter noted how reluctant Gwen was to let go of her. "Though Mr Evans looks strict."

"I'm sure he'll be great Liz," Peter leaned down as well, taking one of Elizabeth's hands with his own. "Now have fun, and if there's any problems then just find Mrs Evans – I'm sure she'll sort everything out."

"OK, love you." With that Elizabeth turned and hurried off towards her new class, without a single backward glance. Peter watched as she sat down next to a couple of other girls, and almost immediately Mr Evans turned and began to talk to her. After a few minutes he turned to Gwen, and she smiled sadly before indicating that they should leave. He slipped a hand into her own before heading off with one last look.

They walked out in silence, squeezing through the throng of people at the main reception area. It wasn't long before they were in their car, and once more in the air. It was at least five minutes before either of them spoke, Gwen being the one to break the silence.

"Do you think she'll be OK?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Peter paused, he couldn't help a small sense of anxiety. "I'm pretty sure she will be, I mean she's a rather brave little girl."

"Yeah," Gwen nodded, before flashing Peter another nervous glance. "Though that Mr Evans did look a little strict."

"Perhaps he's really nice," Peter nodded, though he was sort of convincing himself at the same time. "They wouldn't employ a teacher for primary school who wasn't nice, would they."

"I suppose not."

There was another few minutes of silence.

"You know, it's rather quiet without Liz."

"It is, isn't it?" Gwen nodded.

"Well have to find something else to do from nine till three, Monday to Friday."

"Like what?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps I should start knitting?"

"You? Knitting?" Peter chuckled. "Come on..."

"Obviously not, I have plenty of projects to work on in the lab," Gwen hummed. "And you have plenty of stuff to do as well."

They lapsed into silence once more as Peter drove the car towards their apartment, approaching from a couple of kilometres. Peter regarded her closely, considering how to phrase what had been in his mind since far earlier that morning.

"Gwen?"

"Yes?"

"Is there something up? Just this morning..." He trailed off

She gave him a questioning look, cocking her head. "This morning what?"

"You gave me a really funny look, when we were in the kitchen this morning," As he spoke he couldn't fail to miss the grin slip into Gwen's face, and it was a rare occasion when she couldn't completely keep a straight face. "Gwendy, what's up?"

"Well, I wasn't going to mention it just yet but..." Gwen paused as he parked the car in their garage. "You know that new scanner we were working on in the labs?"

"That super dooper thingy that can scan and analyse cells to within an inch of their lives?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes the super dooper thingy that can analyse cells to within an inch of their lives. Well we were trying it out on various staff members recently, and I volunteered for a full body scan."

"And?"

"Well...I'm pregnant again," She turned to him once more as a huge smile spread across both their faces together. "And the thing's so advanced that it told me what I'm carrying – we're having twin boys Peter."

"Twin boys?" He scratched the back of his neck, still grinning. "Awesome! I'm gonna have minions!"

"Oh god," Gwen smiled, but she flicked back to a rather serious expression. "But you want this right? You do want more kids?"

"Of course I do!" Peter took one of her hands, rubbing his thumb tenderly across her own. "This is fantastic, absolutely brilliant."

"Well..." Gwen grinned once more. "Brilliant then."

"Why weren't you going to say anything?"

"Liz's just gone to school, that's really important," Gwen pressed the open button for the doors, hopping out. Peter followed suit. "I think we should wait until she's settled in to tell her, She has to be priority one at the moment."

"If you want to do that then fine," Peter nodded. "I'm gonna struggle to keep it in though!"

"Hmm," They entered the elevator. She hummed as Peter wrapped his arms around her stomach, protectively splaying his hands around her stomach and massaging in circles. "I love how you instantly become protective like that."

"I love you."

Gwen placed her own hand over his, grinning at him. "I love you too."

* * *

Liz followed the line of children into Mr Evans' classroom, passing through the door inside. The classroom was warm and colourful, filled with several low tables and small stools to match. One area across the other side of the classroom had a series of comfortable looking bean bags, underneath a series of shelves containing books – a very rare occurrence in a classroom of the twenty one century. The rest of the classroom was filled with other miscellaneous things, a sink and cooker in one corner, filing units with draw labelled for stationary, and even a fish tank.

Mr Evans cleared his throat. "Now then, if you could all sit down please."

The children all followed his instruction, all heading to a seat. Elizabeth found herself sat between two other girls, one with chestnut brown hair and hazel coloured eyes and the other with blue eyes similar to Elizabeth's own and bright blonde hair. She gave each one a smile which was returned from both before turning to face Mr Evans a little anxiously. All of the children seemed to be a little nervous and were all rather quiet, none of them exactly knew what to expect from each other or from their new teacher. He gave them a quizzical look before breaking out into a huge friendly smile.

"Why are you all looking so nervous?" He chuckled before sitting down in his large, comfy looking brown leather spinning chair. "I may look like a grumpy old man, but I don't bite!"

At this a few of the children laughed, Elizabeth included.

"So, we need to all get to know one another," He reached into a file on his desk, pulling out a few pieces of paper. "So, here I have some stickers for you all, with all of your names on. So first we have, Tom Andrews."

A boy on one of the tables put his hand. "Hello."

"Hello Tom," Mr Evans stood up and walked over to the table, peeling off an passing Tom one of the stickers. "Now if you could stick that on, now we all know who you are young man."

The boy nodded and took the sticker, placing it on the front of his cardigan. Mr Evans repeated the process in alphabetical order, and it was a while before he got to Elizabeth. In the mean time she learned that the blonde haired girl next to her was called Lauren, whilst the girl with chestnut hair was called Anna. Eventually, it was Elizabeth's turn.

"Ah, now then," Mr Evans looked around the room until his eyes settled on Elizabeth. "Elizabeth Stacy Parker? "

She nodded. "Yes Mr Evans."

"A pleasure to meet you," He leaned forwards and gave her the sticker with a wide smile before handing out the few remaining stickers. After he had finished he sat back down on the chair, the class being a little more at ease. "Now last night I was thinking of something I could give you all, to welcome you all."

He bent down and reached into his bag, pulling out a large Tupperware box with a kindly smile.

"Now then, who likes chocolate muffins?"

Liz leaned forwards to whisper to both Lauren and Anna. "I really like chocolate muffins."

"Me too!"

"And me!"

There was a chorus of similar sentences as Mr Evans began to hand out the muffins, passing one to each child. They all sat there eating rather happily, smiling to one another. Mr Evans then went about handing out paper and coloured pencils to them all.

"So I'd love to get to know about you guys, and about your lives," He gestured to an empty section of wall. "So I'd like you guys to draw some pictures, about anything you want really. It could be your family, your house, pets, something you enjoy, it can be anything. And then we'll copy them and the copy can go on the wall and you can take your drawing home to put on the wall there. Does that sound like fun?"

There was nods all around the class.

"Great, well you guys crack on with that. If you want any help, just ask," He peered over the top of his glasses. "I'm not such a bad drawer myself, you know."

With that the children all grabbed pencils and begun to draw, and slowly enough they all began chatting to one another – making friends rather quickly.

* * *

Peter noted that Gwen was rather impatiently tapping one foot as they stood outside the main door of the school. They had both been rather relaxed during the day, having spent much of it uncharacteristically lounging about on the sofa. But in the last hour or so he had noticed Gwen to be a little tense again, he knew she was anxious to get Elizabeth back within her grasp again. He used the thumb of the hand around her waist to gently tickle her stomach, prompting Gwen to look towards him with a smile.

He looked around them at the other parents around them, nearly all the mothers seemed as anxious as Gwen. Now it was far quieter than the morning, as Elizabeth's year group finished earlier than the rest of the primary school there's was significantly less people milling about.

After another couple of minutes the doors opened, and Liz's class was the first one out. Peter noted, with a relieved smile, that she was animatedly chatting with a pair of other girls as they walked down the steps from the reception. The three turned and waved to Mr Evans, who waved back with a huge smile, before walking towards their parents. The three waved to each other enthusiastically before parting and running to their families. Elizabeth ran ran straight into her mothers arms.

"Mummy!"

"Hey Liz," Gwen lifted her up effortlessly, placing a loving kiss on her cheek. "Are you OK?"

"Yes, school was awesome!"

Gwen chuckled before putting Elizabeth down, letting her run to Peter. "Good to hear."

"Hey little miss," Peter pulled Elizabeth up into his arms as well, almost mimicking Gwen's actions. "I see you've been making friends."

"Yeah, that's Anna," Peter followed her point to a girl with chestnut hair walking away with her family. "And that's Lauren." Peter followed her other point to the little blonde girl who had been with Elizabeth. As Peter's looked over he noticed the girls older sister and brother staring open mouthed at Peter, and the brother clearly mouthed the words – 'you're friends with Peter's daughter?' – with a look of utter disbelief. At this Peter chuckled before turning around to head off with Elizabeth in his arms and Gwen following. After years of taking photos of Spider-Man, people knew that he was his 'official' photographer, giving him a certain reputation.

"So," Peter asked as they climbed into the car once more. "Did you have a fun day?"

"Yeah." She nodded enthusiastically.

Gwen looked at her through the rear view mirror of the car. "Is Mr Evans all right?"

"He's really funny, and he made us muffins."

"Oh wow," Peter exchanged a surprised expression with Gwen. "He's won you over then."

"He's really kind, and he was teaching us loads of stuff," Elizabeth counted off on her fingers. "We did some writing, and some reading, and some maths, but we did some drawings first."

"What drawings did you make?" Gwen asked.

"I did this," Elizabeth went into her bag and fetched out a piece of paper to show to them. It was clearly a drawing of them all with Ren, though there was a lot of...artistic interpretation present. For example, Peter's head was at least as large as his body, and they all had rather pink skin. Though, it was better than a lot of three year old children could do, in Peter's opinion. "What do you think?"

"It's lovely Liz," Gwen smiled genuinely. "We'll put it up on the fridge when we get home, won't we Peter?"

"Definitely," Peter nodded. "Anything else interesting?"

"Mr Evans has a fish tank like ours in the classroom, but it's smaller," Liz smiled enthusiastically. "He has two goldfish called Stevie and Wonder."

Peter chuckled. "Hmm, sounds like my kind of guy."

Gwen rolled her eyes before laughing to herself.

* * *

"I can't wait for this Gwendy." He gently massaged her naked back.

"I can't wait for the babies, I can wait for the pregnancy though," She sighed again. "I'm gonna be twice as big, twice as quickly, with twice as much back ache and foot pain."

"I'll be here," Peter ran a hand down her thigh before chuckling. "And I don't mind, you'll look drop dead gorgeous regardless, you'll be two times sexier."

"Peter Parker, " She spoke in a scandalised tone to him, grinning from ear to ear. "Are you trying to tell me you have some weird fetish you've never mentioned before?"

"Of course not," Peter stammered. "Though there was something alluring about your body when you were carrying Elizabeth...something extra alluring I mean...and this sounds really weird doesn't it? I don't mean it how it sounds."

She raised an eyebrow. "OK, it is a bit weird."

"You know what I mean right?"

"Sort of," Gwen nodded. "You're still weird."

"I thought you'd accepted that I'm weird."

"Ha!" Gwen chuckled. "It's one of your strangely attractive features."

Gwen leaned back into Peter, allowing her head to drop back onto his shoulders. She slowly ran her right foot up his own leg, scratching him softly with her toenails. In reply Peter used his left foot to tickle the bottom of her own left foot. That initiated a kind of footsie war, the pair tickling each other with their feet. Gwen couldn't help but laugh, and before long she spun in his arms, straddling his lower torso. She dropped down to meet his lips with her own, feeling his hands creep around her buttocks and...

"Mummy?" The call was accompanied by a knock at the door. The warning gave them enough time to dive underneath the duvet, though only just.

"Liz?" Gwen cocked her head, able to flick straight to her doting mother state of mind as Elizabeth opened and walked through the door. She was clutching her plushy seal, and looked rather pale. "What are you doing up this late?"

"I had a bad dream."

"Oh, come here," Gwen patted the bed in between herself and Peter, allowing Liz to clamber over her. She placed an arm around Elizabeth, Peter taking one of her hands as well. "Do you want to say what it was about?"

"It was about these weird...people." Elizabeth shuddered.

"What people?" Peter cocked his head, speaking softly.

"A Rhino, a blue person, a man that could fly and a big Lizard. There was also a huge bad goblin. Sinister Six." Elizabeth shuddered once more, squirming closer to her mother. "They were scary."

Peter and Gwen exchanged a significant look, the description sounded disturbingly familiar. Peter slowly voiced the thought forming in his mind.

"Have you seen these things, perhaps on a vid? Or did you just imagine them?"

"Well, today we were in the canteen and there were some of the older boys in year six who knew who I was," She explained slowly. "They asked if I knew why you were know daddy, and I said it was because you take pictures of Spider-Man."

"And then what happened?"

"They showed me some vids, and you were both in them," She screwed her face up whilst she was reminiscing, shaking a little. "You were fighting the them with the suit. And the boys showed me the goblin..he was scary too."

"Oh Liz," Gwen wrapped her other arm around her girl, pressing a kiss to her temple. "There's nothing to be scared of, they are gone."

"OK." Whilst she did nod, Gwen could hear the disbelief in her voice.

"Liz, why didn't you mention this before?" Peter softly stroked her hair. "You should have told us, or your teacher."

"Sorry."

"Hey, there's nothing to be sorry about," Peter cooed. "It's you we're thinking of."

"OK." She nodded.

"Come on Liz," Gwen deftly grabbed her bath robe from the side of the bed without flashing herself. "Lets get you a drink from downstairs."

She took her daughter by the hand and lead her out of the room, turning to mouth to Peter – 'put some clothes on!' - and leading her downstairs. In the kitchen she poured Elizabeth a glass of milk, and decided to pour one for herself as well. She seated herself on a barstool, helping Elizabeth up on the one next to her.

"Mummy, what were them?"

"Liz, this is a really difficult topic," Gwen took a sip of milk. "It's really complicated stuff, complicated and horrible."

"But I want to know."

"Well I'll give you the basic gist of it," Gwen stroked her chin, thinking of exactly what to say. "The Sinister Six were very evil, and they wanted to hurt your daddy. He found out about them."

"And you and daddy fought in it?"

"Yes, well...your dad stopped them with his friend's help. He didn't let me help him though. " Gwen paused.

"And daddy won?"

"Oh yes, he saved the entire city – more than once," Gwen smiled as she stroked Elizabeth's cheek softly. "He did all that for us all, for you and I, so we could have a life together as a family."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's very hard to explain, it's very sad and scary stuff," Gwen sighed. "That vid is not suitable for people of your age, but I promise you we'll explain everything when you're older. We'll have to, everyone else knows all that your dad has done and it's only fair that you know too. Is that a deal?"

"That's a deal."

"Good," Gwen drained the rest of her glass of milk, Elizabeth doing the same, before she hopped down from her stool. She helped Elizabeth down, but stopped before getting out a couple of cookies from the tin on the counter. "Have one of these darling."

"Thank you." She smiled as she took a bite, heading out of the kitchen with one of Gwen hands on her shoulder. As they entered the bedroom she saw that Peter was sat up on the bed, typing into his phone.

As Gwen crawled into bed, allowing Liz to climb over her into the middle of the bed. "What are you doing Peter?"

"Writing a message to the school, what happened today should never have happened," He frowned. "Kids in the primary school shouldn't have ever seen that vid, let alone show it to a four year old."

"Daddy, I don't want to leave the school," Elizabeth spoke with a sad voice, and the tell tale sign of tears was beginning to show on her face. "I really like it there."

"Hey, we're not going to take you out of the school if you want to stay," Gwen frowned at Peter whilst hugging Elizabeth closely. "Are we Peter?"

"No, of course not," Peter placed his phone down on the bed. "I just wanted to make sure the school knows so they can discipline the kids involved, and so this doesn't happen to any other kids."

"OK." Elizabeth nodded and sniffed, settling back down in between them. Gwen rolled over and placed her arms around her once more, smiling at Elizabeth whilst playing with her hair. Peter picked up his phone and resumed typing, though he turned down the lights of the room to allow the other two to sleep. Elizabeth still looked a little out of sorts, and Gwen made a decision.

"Hey Liz, , there's something I want to tell you. Hopefully, it'll cheer you up." She noticed Peter raise an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

"Well," Gwen began to grin. "How would you feel about having...two little brothers?"

"Two brothers?" Liz chuckled. "But boys smell!"

"Now that is true," Gwen chuckled in return, stroking back a loose strand of hair behind her daughters ear. "But would you be OK with that?"

She nodded. "It would be fun."

"Well, I'm pregnant," She smiled. "So in nine months time, we'll have two little babies in the house."

Elizabeth smiled as she snuggled back into her mother, nestling herself underneath Gwen's arm. Peter finished off his letter and placed his phone down on the bedside table, rolling over on the bed to wrap his own arm around Elizabeth and laying his hand over onto Gwen's stomach. Gwen felt herself almost drifting off to sleep, when she was interrupted by Elizabeth.

"Mummy, daddy," She paused. "Where do babies come from?"

"Erm..." Peter scratched his head, Gwen let out a guffaw of laughter despite herself.

"Well Liz, " Peter started off. "This is a tricky question to answer but...well there's the birds and the bees, and the flowers and the trees, and..."

"Peter, let me handle this – you're too immature," Gwen sighed. "Now then Liz, every living thing in the planet is made of cells, and cells are really small and contain something called DNA – you'll learn about it someday. Now to get a new person, you have to mix the DNA of the two parents..."


	34. A Date To Remember

**September 6th - 2024**

"I'm coming!" Peter closed the fridge at the door's bell. He walked back to the living room, wondering who could possibly be waiting for him on the other side. He wasn't aware of any visit for today, and Gwen was out with Elizabeth so he couldn't ask her about it.

He grabbed the keys from the coffee table and approached the door, unlocking it just to reveal a very familiar redhead that wasn't Mary Jane.

_Natasha?_

"Um..What can I help you with?" The appearance was unsettling since he hadn't revealed his identity for The Avengers, and how she found his address was something that was bugging him.

"Are we really going to pretend that we don't know each other?" Natasha sighed, passing besides Peter and entering the apartment. She analyzed the place and turned on her back, facing Peter with arms crossed.

"What do you mean?" He asked, rather awkwardly. "I've never seen you before." He closed the door.

"Whatever you say, Spider-Man." She cocked her head.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow. " How do you - I don't even.. "

"Look -"

"I'm trying to maintain a secret identity! One secret, that's all that I want!" He sighed and brought a hand to his face.

"Actually, I wasn't sure, but now I am." She walked away and sat in one of the couches.

"What? No, you're kidding me?" Peter now wanted to punch himself. He followed her and took a seat besides the super spy.

"I don't have patience for jokes." Natasha stated. "I'm here to talk with you about The Avengers."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Steve had suggested you for a long time now, but Shield, at the time didn't approved such choice. You were a simply vigilante for them and they barely had any information about you." She revealed. "Since Shield was dissolved and Stark privatized them, Steve thought that now it's the right time, he saw something in you that made him believe that we need you."

"I.. I don't know what to say." The thought that such honorable men wanted him for the Avengers was overwhelming.

"I was sent to talk with you. You proved your value after years of working with us." She continued. "We have the tower, equipment, rooms and security, a perfect place for you to stay."

"I can't just - Wait, how exactly did you found me?"

"Stark has been building drones that are inspired on his armors, one of them kept an eye on you after we parted ways. Last location, your apartment. I had to stop at every door, but I would find the right one."

"Privacy these days.." He joked.

"Also," She calmly grabbed his left hand. "This small cut in your hand just proves that you're Spider-Man, you got hurt in the last mission, Panther, remember?"

That was when the main door with Gwen, Elizabeth and Aunt May stepping inside of the apartment. Gwen instantly saw her husband sat on the couch with an unknown woman who was holding his hand, besides him. She wasn't sure about what to think as millions of thoughts exploded in her mind. Peter looked at his family, knowing that a situation was about to happen if he wasn't careful. Gwen's belly still wasn't showing, nobody would ever thought that she was pregnant. It was still rather early.

Elizabeth looked at her father and later at her mother, shy for seeing a person she had never seen before. "Who's that, mommy?"

Gwent shook her head, trying to not think about the worst case scenario. "I was wondering that too, honey."

Peter slowly rose from the couch. "It's not what you think it is."

Gwen frowned. "Really? How do you know what I'm thinking?"

"Look -" He tried to approach her but Gwen quickly interrupted Peter, making him stop on his tracks. He knew that this wasn't Natasha's fault.

"Who's she?" She asked, eying the redhead. She couldn't lie, the woman was very pretty. Explains lots of things.

Natasha stood up. "If you don't already know me -"

"Wait, you're that woman from Shield, aren't you?" She couldn't believe that such person was currently walking in her apartment.

"Don't start, you don't know my reasons for the things I've done." She stated. "I'm here to talk with your, I believe, husband about The Avengers."

"Oh, it sure looked." Gwen sarcastically said with a fake smile.

Natasha sighed. " I see that it won't be possible then, at least for now." She nodded at Peter and walked past Gwen and the others, before stepping out of the apartment and into the elevator hallway.

Gwen took a heavy breath and looked at May. " Can you take Elizabeth for a walk? She loves Popsicles. "

"Okay, darling." Aunt May replied, knowing that it would be for the best.

"Mummy.."

Gwen leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Go." She whispered, softly. They leaved the apartment, leaving the couple looking at each other.

"Gwen -"

"Why would you do this with us?" Gwen incredulously asked. "After everything we have been through? "

"Hey," Peter approached her, but she didn't let him touch her. "Let me at least explain. "

"What is explained is why you're spending so much time away from us and with the Avengers, to be with that woman! What? Are you going to tell me that you two were just talking? If talking means holding hands then you don't even need to say anything. "

"What?!" Peter screwed his face. " You don't trust me? I wouldn't ever cheat on you -"

"If you got tired from me, that's okay, you have every right to move on, but I never expected you to do this, being with a woman behind our back, she's pretty, I would understand!"

_Damn pregnancy hormones!_ Peter cursed on his mind. "It was a simply talk! I love you -"

"Don't."

"You and the kids are my life, do you think that I would sacrifice this family for a woman? I wouldn't!" He took a couple of steps towards her with outstretched arms. To his horror, she took a couple back away from him.

Gwen looked at him, motionless. "Get out."

Gwen spoke so quietly that Peter barely caught the words. His jaw dropped, and he had no idea what to say to make her listen.

"Gwendy, please.."

"No Peter," Gwen looked pointedly away from him. "I can't do this now, just get out."

He stood stock still, unable to move. Peter looked back over to Gwen, swallowing before nodding his head in a resigned manner. Slowly he backed out of the room, turning away and out of the door.

* * *

Gwen had regretted her reaction almost instantly. She had stood rooted in place as her brain slowly processed what had just occurred, staying still for almost a minute. Then she had turned to face May who had a sympathetic expression.

"I overreacted, didn't I?" She had been replied with a sad nod from May. "Can you look after Liz? I'll get him back."

"Gwen, you know your man, think twice before coming up with such conclusion." She advised, with a sad smile.

Gwen nodded.

Now it was forty minutes later and Gwen still hadn't found him. She had been at the Bugle and later to his office at Empire. He had been at neither, so she had moved down into his favourite areas of New York, but he was still no where to be seen. She had wanted to find him and speak in person, she shouldn't have been so dramatic with him and she knew it. She should have heard him out, like any normal partner would have done for their paramour.

Gwen was about to call his phone when she had a sudden idea of where he was. She hailed a cab next to a bank and jumped in, sending the cab to a bar where his 'bachelor's party' happened.

Upon arriving she head towards the door and stepped inside of the place. As she had suspected he was indeed sat on a barstool. Gwen walked up to him slowly, taking a seat next to him.

"Gwendy?" He was looking at her with pleading eyes.

"I thought you'd be here," She looked down at the glass of liquor in his hands, she presumed a glass of whisky. "How many have you had?"

"This is my second, honestly," He stared down at the glass. "Didn't particularly feel like getting completely hammered."

He made to drink his liquor but Gwen gently grabbed the glass from his hands. She handed it straight over to the barman.

"He doesn't need it," She looked back at his dejected expression, narrowing her eyes at him. "Come on, we need to talk."

With that she stood up and walked away, without saying anything else. A few seconds later she heard the scraping noise of a bar stool being moved, followed by footsteps as Peter hurried to catch up with her.

They walked back to the flat in silence, passing through the crowds with relative ease. That was mainly because people recognised the pair, as was now per usual, and stepped aside respectfully. Luckily the whispers that had once followed them around had receded, now replaced by wondrous expressions and wide smiles. It was still a little odd, but a lot easier to deal with. That's what happens when someone becomes Spider-Man's official photographer.

As they stepped back to the apartment, May stood up to meet them with Elizabeth besides her, a relieved smile on her face.

"Shall I take Elizabeth out and leave you two to talk?"

"Thanks May."

May walked over to the door, holding Elizabeth by the hand and taking her off without another word. Gwen walked over to the fireplace, Peter following her. She turned to talk, and they both ended up talking at the same time.

"Gwendy," - "Peter,"

Gwen seized the opportunity to speak before he did.

"You lied to me about where you were during the past week," She made sure to put on her coldest of tones, something she hadn't used for a while. "I don't like being lied to."

Peter opened his mouth but closed it again, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"And I've been lied to by many people, but you are the one I thought would never do that to me."

"Never without a reason!" He looked up at her with pleading eyes, she turned away from him to avoid locking with them. "Honestly, it was a secret mission at Wakanda, get in contact with Black Panther. I couldn't tell you at the time, but I told you about it later."

Gwen turned around and hissed back at him. "Well what am I supposed to think when you lie about your whereabouts and then turn up at home with some woman that I never have meet before. "

"Can I please explain? Just hear me out," Peter scratched the back of his neck. "Then you can decide what you want to do."

"Yes, fine." She nodded slowly, and he appeared slightly more at ease as she did so. Peter sat down on the sofa, leaving space for Gwen next to him. Really she desperately wanted to jump into his arms, to ignore everything else and pretend nothing had happened. But she couldn't back down now, not until she had the whole story. And she hoped that it was something she could forgive, she didn't want to be throwing their relationship away over nothing. Not when he was so special to her.

"I've not been meeting Natash, never, she helped me before like any Avenger did." Peter ran a hand through his hair, giving him a slightly dishevelled look. " She simply wanted to talk about me joining the Avengers, and the perks that would come with. "

"Joining the Avengers?" Gwent raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, they are offering the Tower for us, everything, it was just about that, nothing more."

"Why couldn't you just tell me before?"

"I just discovered it now, the missions -

"The missions? More? You mean you were doing this back then? You wasn't traveling for business?" Gwen was aghast. "You've kept this from me for this long?"

"It's been killing me Gwen, I hated lying to you."

She spread her arms in exasperation, raising both of her eyebrows. "Why did you even go though? I don't understand, they have the whole group."

"Because they were evaluating me. They asked me to keep this a secret. I needed to respect that."

It was then that Gwen finally realised why he had gone behind her back. She couldn't stop herself from almost diving into his arms, settling next to him and wrapping arms around his torso. She couldn't be angry with him now, not now she knew. To be honest he had been a little out of sorts for the past few weeks, and this explained that.

"I'm so sorry, I should have told you," Peter spoke rapidly, and Gwen could feel his heart hammering underneath his ribcage. "Don't leave me, I would never lie about anything to you again, I didn't want to in the first place anyway. Natasha hold my hand because she knew I got a tiny cut on it during the past missions, to prove that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. "

"Shh," Gwen silenced him with a gentle squeeze. "I'm not going anywhere, not now I know what's going on. You really should have told me, but I can understand why you didn't. I'm so stupid, shouldn't have treated Natasha in that way."

"You aren't stupid."

There was a few moments of silence before Gwen continued.

"I'm sorry for overreacting, it was immature of me," She sighed. "I just saw you and Natasha in that way, I'm too emotional I guess."

"I would never do that."

She rubbed his back lightly. "So, are you joining the Avengers?"

"What do you think?"

"You deserve it. Knowing that you wouldn't be alone fighting danger, it's relieving."

"I'm gonna think about it."

Gwen leaned back into him again, allowing his arms to wrap around her again. She sighed as she rested her head on his chest.

"You know, that's our first proper fight after years?"

"Suppose it is, and I don't want many more," Gwen looked up at him. "What happens now though?"

"Well," Peter gave her a suggestive grin. "We could have crazy awesome make up love making."

"Hmm," Gwen purred playfully. "I'm not sure you're quite off the hook yet."

"What about a deal?" Peter grinned again. "If I please you, I'm out the doghouse."

Gwen chuckled. "It had better be the best one ever for that to happen."

"Oh, it will be," He grinned in return, picking Gwen up in his arms and hauling her off the sofa. He walked her across the room but stopped half way. "You know, I really am sorry."

Gwen cupped his face with a hand, smiling kindly. "I know."

* * *

**December 24th - 2024**

The Parker's apartment was silent, and almost everyone was asleep. Everyone except for two people, currently sneaking down the stairs at one in the morning. The pair crept around the bannister of the main stairs and through the kitchen, the leading figure quietly pulling the doors from the balcony and allowing the freezing cold air to rush into the house.

"It's freaking cold!" Flash shook his head.

"Hmm, it is a bit brisk," Peter nodded with agreement as he recovered one of the many sacks that they were keeping at the balcony so that nobody finds out about them. "There's no lights inside so I think that nobody noted.

"What now?"

"Well, we to bring the presents inside, this needs to be fast.

Flash nodded. "OK, let's go."

"Right," There were several, conveniently red, sacks of presents – and Peter grabbed the first before handing it to Flash who placed the sack around his shoulder. "There's another two as well."

He kept handing the sacks to Flash. Then he nodded to Flash picking up two of the bags and placed them around his shoulder.

"Lets go."

They crept inside and into the living room, setting the bags down on the floor. The majority of the presents were for the stockings hung up above the fireplace, the biggest of which was Liz's in the centre. There were also stockings for Gwen,Howard, Mary, May, Flash ,Helen, Simon, Phillip and Eddie.

"So we just divide these up between the different socks?"

"Yes." Peter chuckled.

"Right," Flash nodded. "Where's yours?"

"I don't need one," Peter smiled as he reached into one of the first bags. "I'm more of a giver to be honest."

Flash shook his head in resignation as Peter pulled out the first present to place in the bottom of Liz's stocking. Flash looked inside one of the bags as well, and pulled out a box and package addressed to Gwen.

"Do I want to know what these are?"

"Ha!" Peter grinned as he dropped an item into his Aunt's stocking. "I give her that kind of thing in private, she would never forgive me if I put some racy underwear in there and she had to unwrap it in front of everyone."

"I suppose we would be burying you if you did that."

"Most definitely." Peter grinned.

They both reached inside the bags to get more of the presents, and Flash picked out another package – wrapped up rather badly.

He cocked his head at Peter. "Peter, did you wrap these?"

"I wrapped all the stuff for Gwen and some of the stuff for Liz. Oh, and the stuff for Ren – that's for Ren," Peter raised an eyebrow. "What are you hinting at, Flash?"

"Well..." Flash was about to comment when he got a hell of a shock – the package he was loosely holding in one hand squeaked and began to vibrate with such vigour that it jumped straight out of his talons and onto the floor. It bounced across the floor before smacking into a cabinet on the other side of the room with a loud thud. The noise clearly woke up Ren who began to bark very loudly. Flash gave Peter an apologetic look. "Sorry Peter."

"Great Flash!" Peter cursed. "Come on, get the rest of the stuff in the stockings and then hide – if Liz sees us instead of Santa it'll be a nightmare to explain."

The pair worked at rapid pace, grabbing as many presents as possible and shoving them in the stockings, and even though they finished that he noticed with horror that the plate of goodies that they had placed on the mantle piece for Santa. Quickly he grabbed the mince pie and crammed it into his mouth, quickly following it by snapping off the end of the carrot for the reindeer. He grabbed the glass of milk and quickly ran over to a pot plant across the room, tipping the contents out as he swallowed the rather strange mix of carrot and mince pie.

Just as he placed the glass back on the mantle piece the door opened and, as Peter had feared, it was indeed Elizabeth.

Peter leaned back on the wall, subtly kicking one of the red sacks underneath the sofa. "Hey, what are you doing up?"

"I heard a loud banging, and Ren was barking."

"Yeah," Flash nodded, stammering as he blatantly lied. "It was...Santa. He just came now, the bang was the...erm... Reindeer taking off."

"Oh yeah, of course," He nervously chuckled. "Reindeer."

She raised an eyebrow, in a Gwen like manner. It was also rather unsettling as Gwen came up behind her daughter, mirroring the exact same facial expression. "Really?"

"Yeah," Peter chuckled. "He was a really nice guy, had a lovely chat with him. He said you've been a really good girl this year, and he wanted you to have some really special stuff."

"Yeah," Flash nodded. "And he gave me some presents too, apparently I'm the first handsome guy he's ever met."

"Daddy, Uncle Flash, I know you woke Ren up."

"No..." Peter exchanged a look with Flash. "It was Santa."

"I don't believe in Santa any more." She shrugged as Peter's face fell.

"But you believed in him last year?"

"Yeah but..." Elizabeth shrugged again. "Last year I was three, this year I'm four."

"You were only four a couple of weeks back Lizzie," Peter knelt down. "How come you don't believe any more?"

"I found out on the internet, whilst looking for stuff," Elizabeth shook her head. "I didn't mean to find out."

"That's...that's a real shame," He frowned. "You sure you think that, because I definitely saw him a minute ago."

"He isn't," She frowned. "Though Lauren and Anna think he is real."

"Well you must not tell them," Gwen said as she walked into the room, placing a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "A lot of people really believe in him."

"I know," She smiled. "I still want think he's real."

Peter sighed, and Flash coughed awkwardly.

"I'll..." He paused. "Shall I take her back to bed?"

"Yes please Uncle Flash." Elizabeth smiled and grabbed Flash's right hand, pulling him away. He mouthed an apology to Peter and Gwen as he left.

"Well done Peter." Gwen sighed.

"What? It was Flash who dropped the dog toy," Peter shrugged. "And she all ready knew about Santa not being real."

"That's..." Gwen sighed again, looking at the floor with a sad smile. Peter walked up to her, spinning her in his arms and resting his head on her shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her waist, moving his fingers in circles across her small bump. The twins were beginning to show already, it had added a couple of inches to her waistline – a significant amount for the toned woman. And Gwen hated it.

"What's up?"

"When I was little, I didn't believe in anything like Santa Claus, or fairy tales, or the Easter Bunny for that matter," Peter remained silent as Gwen explained – he knew it was better to let her work out her thoughts without any interruptions. " I accidentally discovered that he wasn't real was well. This stupid bully told me everything and It kinda ruined it for me.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah," She nodded. "Of course, I probably would have worked out for myself that they were just stories when I was Liz's age. But at least I would've believed in them for some time, or even just the idea of them. Just something."

"So let me get this straight," Peter frowned. "He told a young girl about Santa Claus, just to tell her that he wasn't real?"

"Yep. Idiot." Gwen cursed.

Peter kissed the back of her neck tenderly. "But what has this got to do with Liz exactly?"

"I just wanted her to have a perfect childhood, believe in these things." Gwen explained. "It's kinda silly, I know."

"It doesn't," Peter placed both of his hands along her back, giving her a light massage. "But you need to stop worrying, she's a clever kid she would always find stuff like that out easily. And we're doing a great job, you are doing a great job."

"Well you would say that."

"I know I am biased," Peter chuckled. "But honestly, I wish you'd stop having these moments of doubts. You're a fantastic mother, everyone says so."

"Thank you."

Peter took hold of her hands, pulling her out of the living room and towards the stairs. "Come on, girlie's have to be in bed for when Santa comes – he knows when you're awake you know."

This time Gwen rolled her eyes as she let him pull her up the stairs, but she suddenly stopped halfway up the flight.

"Oh crap."

Peter cocked his head. "What?"

"Crap, crap, crap." Gwen turned and hurried into the kitchen, disappearing into the fridge.

Peyer followed her with a bemused expression. "What, are your food cravings that bad?"

"No Peter!" She emerged from her searching with the huge turkey in her hands. "We got a larger turkey this year cause of all the extra people coming, it had to go in two hours ago!"

"OK, OK," Peter calmly walked over to the cooker, turning it on with reassuring smile. "Don't panic, we'll just put it in now. Then we can eat two hours later, it doesn't matter at all."

"Well it does, I said to everyone that we'd eat at one on the dot, how embarrassing is it that..."

"Gwen!" Peter interrupted her as he opened the oven door with a grin. "Just calm down, and shove the meat in the oven, if you know what I mean..."

Gwen gave him a rather disapproving look as she did just that, Slowly shaking her head at him as she closed the door.

"Lets just..." She rolled her eyes again. "Yes bed, that is a good idea."

"Sure there's nothing else that needs to be done?"

"No," She shook her head. "And if there is then stuff it, I cannot be bothered."

With that she turned on her heels, strutting from the room with an audible sigh. Peter shrugged to himself before hurrying after her, following her up the stairs. On the first floor they both paused for a second, able to hear Flash quietly telling some story to Elizabeth. They gave each other a smile before heading on up to their bedroom, quite happy to leave Elizabeth with her 'Uncle Flash'.

* * *

Peter smiled as Elizabeth practically bounced with excitement as the crowd of people headed into the living room. She opened the door and hurried inside, followed by everyone else, and immediately ran up to the stockings. She was too short to reach inside her stocking, so Peter lifted the hook off the mantelpiece and handed it to her.

As Elizabeth dove inside Peter sat down happily on the sofa, watching everyone dive into presents. Peter motioned for Ren to come over and handed the dog the vibrating cat-shaped toy that Flash had dropped and caused all the commotion with earlier. Ren took it happily and shook it wildly in his mouth, the toy beginning to vibrate surprisingly violently once more. The dog barked happily with his new toy and took it off to the corner, lying down and beginning to chew on it.

As Peter turned his attention back to everyone else Gwen came across and sat down on his lap, smiling rather happily.

"I see you don't have a stocking Peter."

"Yeah," He nodded with a grin. "I'm too old for Santa to be honest."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. " We are both 31 years old. Flash is also 31 years old as well. MJ is just one year younger. "

"Yeah, but in Christmas years you aren't."

"What?"

"Well, you said yourself last night. Believe in Christmas."

"Wow," Gwen rolled her eyes and leaned back into him. "That's crazy logic."

"Well clearly it works, Santa has visited you all," He grinned. "What have you got?"

Gwen took the first package out of her stockings to look at, a box of some sorts. She opened the wrapping paper to a blue box, and inside that was a large clump of tissue paper. She removed the layer to reveal a white mug, pulling it out of the box. On the one side was written 'I love Peter' – and she gave him a shake of the head.

"That's really cheesy."

"Yeah, but it's the truth!" Peter chuckled. "And you're the only one in the whole world who can genuinely have that cup."

"Right," She smiled. "Wow."

Gwen fished inside for another present but they were interrupted by Elizabeth jumping in front of them.

"I got a new plushy!" She happily squeezed the brand new animal plushy. "Thank you!"

"Hey, that wasn't us." Peter jerked his head over to Eddie who was watching them all from a bit of a distance. Elizabeth ran over to him, pretty much jumping into him to hug the startled Eddie. At first, Eddie didn't seem to know what to do, though he eventually decided to pat her on the back. Gwen chuckled in Peter's ear at the sight.

"Now that's funny," She delved into her own stocking once more, getting out another package – this one rather squishy. She opened it up, pulling out a white T-shirt. On the front was written – 'My heart belongs to Peter!' "Oh god Peter, another tacky tourist item?"

"Hey, it's also true!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "The top is a couple of sizes too small for me as well..."

"Well, tight shirts really suit you," Peter grinned back at her. "And hey, it's the thought that counts!"

"Right," Gwen nodded slowly, before pulling out the last package from the stockings – a large rectangular one. She carefully removed the wrapping, and her face lit up at the item. "Oh Peter, this is beautiful!"

It was a rather ornate frame, guilt in twenty four carat gold. The frame was inlaid with beautiful blue stones of a sort, set around golden swirls of the wood. Inside the frame was a rather lovely picture of Peter, Gwen, and Elizabeth when their daughter was a baby. It had the three of them on the sofa just after she was born, in Gwen's arms with Peter with his arms around them. Gwen turned to Peter and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"It is really beautiful," Gwen kissed him again. "Really, it's better than anything else you could've bought."

"I knew you'd like it," He smiled, tenderly running his hands across her stomach. "Where do you want to put it?"

"Oh it's gonna take pride of place," She stood up and placed the picture on the centre of the mantelpiece across the fire. "Right there."

"Wow," MJ turned to look at the picture, smiling rather widely. "That's a beautiful photo, I'm jealous of your family."

"Thank you MJ," Gwen smiled and nodded at her old friend before heading over to the Christmas tree, pulling out two rather large boxes. "Liz, one's for you. The other's for your father."

"Oh," Elizabeth hurried over to the box, ripping off the paper. Everyone else had stopped to observe, watching as she opened it up to reveal a box with pictures of various chemistry equipment on it. "Is this a chemistry kit?"

"Yep, it's got loads of cool stuff in it that you can do just like me!" Gwen smiled as she showed Elizabeth the instructions. "And this is a really good one actually, but you must promise not to do any of this without one of us present OK? It can be really quite dangerous."

"OK," Elizabeth hugged Gwen, and then Peter. "Thank you mummy and daddy."

"That's all right," Peter winked. "We know you want to be a little scientist, just be careful with these."

"OK," Elizabeth nodded happily as she perused through the various bottles in the box. She looked back up at Peter. "Daddy, you haven't opened your box."

Peter turned to the large box, that was rather heavy. He tore off the wrapping to reveal a solid oak casket of sorts, inlaid with his initials, PP, in brass studs. He slid open the lid and opened it to reveal something rather awesome.

"Wow!"

The box was a poker set, though not just any poker set. Gwen had had it customized specifically for him, with rather unique designs on it. The back of each chip had an image of Spider-Man on it, in different colours for each denomination. He reckoned there were a thousand chips on the top two tiers in various credit denominations, and underneath were a series of high value plaques.

"Wow Peter, those are neat," Flash chuckled. "Didn't you said Jameson was coming later?"

"Yep, we have to test them out!" Peter turned to Gwen to give him a massive kiss. "Thank you so much Gwendy."

"It's all right," She smiled. "I thought you'd like them."

Peter grinned as they shared a quick kiss before they turned to examine Elizabeth's chemistry set.

"So Liz," Peter winked. "Is there anything we can blow up?"

"Oh god!" Flash said, fearing the pair.

* * *

Peter headed into the kitchen to almost complete and utter chaos, a rather strange scene to see Gwen in the middle of. She was rapidly stirring a pot on the stove full of gravy whilst simultaneously stirring a second pot with a far smaller amount of gravy. Peter noted the rather frantic look on her face and approached cautiously.

"Gwendy?"

"Peter, don't distract – cooking is tricky. "

"Well, let me help."

"No, I'm doing this myself," She huffed. "Other people can do it, I should be able to as well."

"Gwen, come on," He took one spoon off her and took over stirring duties on one of the pots. "We've always cooked it together, and it's always worked well."

"Yeah, but you need to go and talk to everyone," Gwen ducked down to double check on the turkey through the glass. "I think the turkey is almost ready."

"Why don't I cook and you go to talk to everyone?"

She shrugged. "Well I'm in the middle of cooking. Leaving would be ridiculous."

"You've been in here almost all morning now."

"Look Peter," She smiled at him. "I'm fine, I spent time with everyone earlier this morning and will do later this evening. And..."

"And I want you to sit down because you are five and a half months pregnant," He turned to the door and called out to the other room. "Helen, May?

After a short pause the pair came into the kitchen.

"You called Peter?"

"Yeah, can you guys give us a hand," He jerked a thumb at Gwen. "Gwendy's overdoing it."

"Hmm," Helen shook her head at Gwen. "You shouldn't be overdoing it Gwen."

She held her hands up. "I'm fine, honestly."

"Oh no, I'm not having that," Her mother took on her old captain's etiquette as she looked sternly at Gwen. "You are going to go and relax in the other room, Peter is going to go with you, and May and I are taking over here. No arguments."

"Yeah," May nodded. "Go on, we'll take it from here."

"But..."

"Gwendy!" Peter tugged on her arm. "Come on!"

"Fine!" She threw her hands up in the air, rolling her eyes with exasperation. "Fine, fine, I'm going."

Helen nodded before reaching over the table and grabbing a Santa hat. "And put this on, everyone else is wearing one."

"Really?" She took the hat and placed it on her head. Peter grinned as he looked her over, she looked pretty cute in the hat in his opinion.

"Gwen, that really suites you," Peter winked. "What about the rest of your Mrs Claus outfit?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I don't have a Mrs Claus outfit."

"Oh we can sort that out."

* * *

"Uncle Howard, will you pull my cracker?"

He turned to the small child next to him. "Sure."

She held up her Christmas cracker to Howard, waggling it in his face. The crackers were actually rather strong ones, reinforced so that they actually took a real tug of war before cracking. "We both pull it and whoever is strongest wins the bits inside."

"Hmm, a strength contest?" Howard rubbed the bottom of his chin in thought before suddenly grabbing the other end of the cracker with such force that it was ripped out of Elizabeth's hands and shot straight behind him and smacked into the wall. Silence fell at the table as everyone turned to regard Howard with surprised and, in Gwen's case, disapproval. "Oops."

"Howard, it's not that much of a strength contest," Peter rolled his eyes as he handed Elizabeth another cracker. "Shall we try again?"

"Sure," Howard nodded and very slowly took hold of the other end of the new cracker. He held it out in front of him and Elizabeth began to pull the other end. Everyone watched as Elizabeth pulled as hard as she could, using both arms and being bright red in the face. Howard was just holding the other end, though he started to chuckled at the effort the youngster was putting in. "Can I pull now?"

"Gently please Howard." Gwen warned him with an accusatory finger.

"Right," Howard nodded and turned back to Elizabeth, jerking his arm ever so slightly. The cracker tore immediately, though slightly less violently than before. "Yes, I won!"

"Howard, you've proven you're stronger than a four year old," Helen rolled her eyes. "Is that really that special?"

"Yeah," Howard nodded, stroking Elizabeth's blond hair. "But this is Peter's four year old, so who knows what could happen!"

There was a chorus of chuckles around the table, though it was soon replaced by a series of oohs and aahs as the turkey was brought in by MJ and May. After several trips to the kitchen and back the table was piled high with food, Peter was pretty sure the middle section of the furniture was buckling under the weight.

"So," May smiled as she sat down, putting her own paper hat on. "Dig in kids!"

* * *

"Wow, I am stuffed," Flash lay back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head. "That was a really good meal, Mrs Stacy."

"Well, Gwen did most of it," Helen smiled. "We just finished it off, to save her feet mainly."

"It was really good!" MJ agreed with a slow, drunken nod of the head. "I love Christmas!"

"MJ, perhaps you should slow down a bit," Flash carefully removed the bottle and it's straw from her grasp.

"I'm fine!"

"Right, if you say so."

"Oh, oh of course! Everybody, SHHHHH!" MJ stood up, rather unsteadily, as she shouted for quiet – raising her hands in the air. "We have news for all you people."

"Wait," Howard scratched his head. "Are you guys having a baby?"

"Not yet," MJ giggled uncontrollably for a few moments. "Buuut, we're getting married!"

"Congratulations guys," Peter smiled at them. "That's fantastic news."

"Thaaaanks Peterrrr!" With that MJ fell back down into her chair, knocking the chair over and ending up sprawled on the floor. Elizabeth, Howard, and Eddie burst out laughing, whilst Flash hurried to pick her up off the floor. It was as he bent down that he realised that MJ was in fact asleep on the floor.

"Oh, she's fallen asleep," Flash shook his head. "Peter, maybe we can take her up to bed – she's past it."

"Sure," Peter nodded as he got up, carefully picking MJ up by the shoulders. Flash took her legs, and slowly they took her upstairs to their guest room. As they placed her down on the bed carefully Peter looked at Flash. "So you guys are getting hitched then?"

"Yeah," Flash nodded as they quietly left the room, closing the door behind them and switching off the light. "It should be great, I can't wait for it actually. We agreed that this is the right time for us."

"I think it's fantastic Flash, I'm really happy for you guys," He grinned as they walked around the tinsel wrapped bannister and down the stairs.

"We will want you to be doing something on the day."

"No problem," Peter smiled. "Like I said, I'm really happy for you guys."

"Thanks Peter, it means a lot." Flash nodded as they sat back down.

"Is MJ OK?" Gwen questioned.

"She'll sleep it off," Flash nodded, before cocking his head at Gwen who was helping herself to a third portion of Christmas pudding. "Another serving?"

"Hey, I'm growing boys Flash!" Gwen chuckled from the other end of the table, she was on her fourth portion of desert after a huge helping of main course. "It's not my fault."

"You are eating more than Eddie," Peter joked, jerking a thumb at Eddie. "I mean, look!"

"That is not true," Eddie shook his head, picking up the serving plate with the Christmas pudding on and cutting a huge slice for himself. "I will eat more than you both, I challenge you!"

"Oh god," Howard shook her head. "An eating contest? This will not end well."

"Yes it will!" Eddie begun to devour his bowls contents.

"I'm not in a contest with anyone," Gwen shook her head, patting her stomach lightly. "I'm just feeding the babies."

* * *

Peter crawled underneath the duvet to join Gwen, wrapping his arms around her and wriggling as closely as he could to her. She huffed.

"So you decided to finally come to bed?"

"It's only..." Peter turned to look at the clock on his bedside table. "Three thirty in the morning."

"Only three thirty huh?" She quipped. "And you smell of whisky."

"Eddie brought a nice bottle."

"Figures," Gwen rolled over to face him, though she did have a smile on her face. "You know, I might just have another present for you."

"Really? I have one for you too."

"Oh?" Gwen wriggled closer whilst grinning at him, but to her surprise Peter backed away and got out of bed to walk over to his wardrobe. She watched him fish inside for something, and then emerge with a pair of small boxes. "What are these?"

"Well, I wasn't sure whether I should give them to you or not," He climbed back into bed as Gwen sat upright, turning on one of the lamps so that they could see. "If you'd like them, or if they were right or not."

"Right..." Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"But I may as well," Peter handed her the slightly larger box. "Try this one first."

Gwen slid her thumbnail through the, surprisingly neat, wrapping paper, revealing a white box underneath. She opened the lid of the box and pulled out a rectangular glass bottle, filled with a clear amber liquid. She knew it was perfume instantly, and carefully Gwen twisted off the lid and took a sniff. The smell was rather lovely, a mix of citrus and some berries that she didn't recognise. And it wasn't an overpowering perfume, just something light that she could dab on in just the right place for just the right person.

"It smells really nice, I like it," She placed the top back on before scrutinising the bottle and the box, though Gwen couldn't identify any brand. "What perfume is it?"

"Well..." Peter paused. "Actually, I made it."

"You made it?" Gwen blinked in surprise a couple of times. "You made this perfume?"

"Yeah, I wanted to try something extra special this year," He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "There are loads of, I suppose you'd call them, recipes on the internet– specifically for men who don't have a clue of what they're doing."

"Wow Peter, I'm impressed," She looked back down at the bottle before looking back up once more and placing a tender kiss on his cheek. "That's really sweet, I love it."

"Phew, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea," He frowned. "You aren't just saying that right?"

"No!" Gwen smiled as she rubbed his hand slowly. "I really love it, I just hope you saved the instructions!"

"Yeah, I did," He nodded before presenting her with the second box. "And there's these too."

"It's home-made as well?"

Peter nodded as Gwen broke into the second wrapped present, again another white box underneath the paper. She opened the box to find two matching bracelets, made of small and hollowed wooden balls connected together with brass coloured rings. In the middle of one of the bracelets was a small golden ball with a shimmering red stone on top, whilst the other bracelet had a blue stone. Other than that the bracelets were identical.

"Peter, they're beautiful," She examined them closely, peering at the rather beautiful wooden beads. "You really have a knack for this."

"No, I was just following instructions," He smiled as he took the blue beaded bracelet in hand. "You see this ones for me, and the other is for you – I know it's sentimental crap.."

"No, it's not – it's really sweet," She kissed him on the lips tenderly, smiling as she pulled back. "Thank you."

"No problem," He smiled back in return. "It was fun to try something new."

"Suppose so," Gwen nodded, before turning to him with a grin. "And now for your extra prezzie."

"What is it Gwendy?"

She said nothing as she deftly rolled out of bed, hurrying over to the bathroom. Peter sat patiently on the bed as he waited, examining the bracelets for himself yet another time. He was rather pleased with his handiwork, and with the fact that Gwen seemed to genuinely like them. And he was pleased to have done something different for a change. He picked up the perfume bottle to take a sniff, again rather pleased with how that had turned out. It was as he was pressing the lid back in to the bottle that his attention was grabbed by the en-suite bathroom door opening. And it turned out that Gwen did not need a Mrs Claus outfit bought for her.

To say that she looked incredible was an understatement. The fluffy red outfit, framed by white furry strips, cut off barely an inch down her thigh. Underneath were bright red, fishnet tights, finished off with bright red high heels. The top of the dress was cut off at a rather low point, betraying the also bright red bra beneath and showing off lots of cleavage. The Santa hat, positioned in such a way to allow her hair to fall down in perfect curls around her face, finished off the outfit – leaving Peter open mouthed. The fact that her baby bump was noticeable only added to the image in an unexplainable way, she pretty much looked perfect – as ever, Peter added mentally.

"So Peter," She gave him that wink. "Merry Christmas."

"Oh yes, merry..." He paused, a massive grin slipping across his face. "I've just thought of something!"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Haha!" He chuckled. "I've just thought of something."

"What?"

"Well, your name," At Gwen's blank look he chuckled. "Gwendy Christmas!"

"Oh god," She shook her head. "That is appalling, I mean it's really terrible!"

"Ha!" He chuckled. "C'mere Mrs Claus."

She sauntered towards him, swaying her hips seductively for him. She leaned down to kiss him, settling herself onto the bed next to him. Peter placed one hand around her back, laying his other on her thigh. With one move he swung her legs up onto the bed, rolling her over so that he was now on top of her on the bed. He bent down to kiss her again, pulling back with a smile.

"Peter, I love you," Gwen whispered to him as she took one of his hands, placing it on top of her stomach. She reached beside them to grab the bracelets, placing one on her arm and the other around his. "Today's been amazing."

"You deserve it."

"Yeah," She nodded. "Because I put up with all your crap jokes!"

"Really?" Peter playfully flicked her nose, grinning as she gave him a mock glare. He bent down and kissed her once more, whispering to her. "What do you call a deer with no eyes?"

"I have no idea..." Gwen pouted as she realised what she had just said. She shook her head at him. "That was awful Peter."

Peter said nothing, instead he just waggled his eyebrows at her. Gwen tried to keep a straight face but after a few minutes she couldn't stop herself from bursting out into fits of giggles, Peter joining in with her laughter.

* * *

**A/N: **** So, that was the late Christmas special, it was rather difficult to write actually! I finished everything at 6AM. I hope everyone enjoyed it, and a very Happy New Year to you all!**


	35. I'm Proud Of You

**A/N: First chapter of 2015 *.* Can't wait to show you guys what I've been working on. As ever, please give me your thoughts.**

* * *

**Avengers Tower**

**February 9th - 2025**

"Uncle Steve?" Elizabeth looked up to the tall man who was close to the worktop, preparing some coffee at the huge kitchen.

Steve Rogers looked to his sides but he didn't found the person who was calling him, so he turned on his back and found the little girl who couldn't help but smile at him. He crouched so that he could be at her level.

"Hey, do you want something?" He smiled.

Elizabeth blushed. "Well, why are you so strong? More than daddy!" She pointed, surprised.

"Oh," Steve chuckled. "It's a long story, but the short version is that I got very stronger during the 40s, with a special research made by the government." He explained.

Liz widened her green eyes. "Wow! You're so old!" She said, innocently.

He laughed. "You're right, but do I at least look good?"

"Yes!" She nodded.

"That's good to hear." He smiled at the girl and stroked her blond hair, making Elizabeth giggle as he stood up. "Do you want some coffee?"

"I don't like coffee that much, but thank you."

He walked to the fridge and opened it. "Well, about a very fresh orange juice?"

"Yes please!" She jumped with excitement.

Steve smiled to himself and retrieved a jar from the fridge. He closed the door and placed the object that contained the juice over the worktop before picking two classes. He filled one with juice and handed it to Elizabeth. "Here we go."

"Thank you so much." She took a sip of her juice. "It's very good."

"I'm glad so." He observed her as she drank the juice, smiling. It was for simple things like offering a girl some juice that he keep fighting for. Giving her the peace to appreciate such simple moments, In other words - freedom.

"I'm really impressed, Tony." Peter and Tony entered the kitchen. The billionaire was giving the web-slinger a tour through the tower. "Hey guys." He looked at both Steve and Tony and greeted them with a smile.

"Hey, daddy." Elizabeth placed the glass on the sink and turned on her back, standing besides Steve.

Steve smiled at Peter and nodded to Tony, they had an argument on the past days so they weren't in the best terms.

_Every time someone tries to win a war before it actually starts, innocent people die. Every time. _

"How's the tower?" Steve asked.

"It's fantastic." He replied. "Thanks for recommending me."

"You don't need to thank me, you deserve it." Steve affirmed, taking a sip of his coffee. "Moving on?"

"I don't know, we're happy at our place, but this means a lot."

"Well, you have your own floor for your family, feel free to stay whenever you like."

"Wow." He mused.

Tony patted Peter on the shoulder. "Well, we're not done. I want to show you something."

"Alright." He nodded. "You okay, Liz?"

"I'm fine. I like Uncle Steve." She said, making the super soldier chuckle.

"She's quite smart."

Peter smiled. "I'll be back in a minute then, we have to pick mummy at the mall later."

"Okay." She smiled back.

Peter and Tony walked out of the kitchen, passed through the enormous living room that was filled with electronics before finally arriving at the social elevator.

"Jarvis, my workshop."

_"Understood."_

Peter whistled in amusement. "This is amazing. It's an AI?"

Tony grinned. "Yeah."

Some seconds passed as the elevator descended through the tower. Peter broke the silence and asked him something that he had noticed back at the kitchen. "Tony, I noticed some tension between you and Steve back at the kitchen, is something wrong?"

Tony breathed deeply. "Well, we have different views about safety and how to achieve it."

"What do you mean?"

"As you know, I've been building ddrones that are based in my armors, lots of drones. They are supposed to look over us, find the threats, difuse a situation before it happens. Protection for everyone."

"And what does Steve think about this?"

"He claims that they only bring a false sensation of peace because people would be going to be watched and investigated without their knowledge, and that doesn't means freedom. Also, the drones could make errors during a judgment, get the wrong person. Seriously, I know what I'm doing."

"That's.. I don't how I feel about it."

Tony turned to his friend. "Peter, we can stop a crime before it happens, nobody would get hurt. How bad that is? It isn't, the safety that everyone wishes for. We won't need to worry about a terrorist bomb exploding at Times Square."

"Yeah, but at what cost?"

Tony looked at his eyes, noticing his confliction. "Peter, you're my friend, I only wish to bring peace with the technology that could end fear once and for all."

Peter frowned. "I-I..I guess you're right."

Tony smiled. "C'mon, we arrived."

They stepped outside of the elevator and into a large room that was filled with metal scraps through the metallic floor. There was computers at every corner, the humanoid drones that Tony was talking about were spread over in some tables while the other were hanging on the ceiling. Transparent pods that contained the large collection of Tony's armors were lined up against the walls. On the center, a unfinished robot was lying in a table. It was missing both arms and legs, the head and chest looked to be functional though.

"Holy...crap." Peter scanned the room with his eyes.

"I know." Tony smiled. " Jarvis, raised the middle bench so that we can face it." He ordered.

_"As you wish.'_

"These are the drones that you was talking about?" He approached the raised workbench, facing the rather tall and unfinished robot, with arms crossed.

"Magnificent, aren't they?" He nodded. "I've been testing them with my armor, making them more resistable."

"Wow, is this big guy functional. " Peter touched the it's metallic chest, causing it to turn on. "Crap."

"It's fine, just pay attention. A fully involved AI." He crossed his arms as the robot started to respond. A blue lightening coming from the eyes are supposed to be. It's head slowly turned at every corner, noticing some damaged drones around the room. It stopped at Peter, and cocked it's head at him.

"Do you have a name?" Peter asked.

_"My name? My...name?" _The deep and husky voice asked back.

"Yes."

_"My name is..__**Ultron**__."_

* * *

**April 24th - 2025**

Peter walked down the quiet corridors of the cruiser, keeping one eye on the blue shifting ocean out to the windows to the right. To the left were occasional doors, dotted every ten metres apart. They were doors to the apartments on the cruiser, each one numbered. He carried on past several more rooms before taking a left, heading into the restaurant area of the ship. The restaurant was rather fancy, decked out with wooden panelling and sumptuous furniture.

There were a few people seated at tables for their breakfast, though it was mainly empty because of how early it was. Peter glanced around the room before finding the head waiter, stood over by the entrance to the kitchen in deep conversation with the chef. He headed over to the pair, tapping the waiter on the shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

The waiter spun around, bowing his head slightly. "Good morning sir, how may I help?"

"Did you get my email? About this morning?"

"Oh, yes it's being prepared now," The waiter smiled before turning, whispering something to the chef who then ran off into the kitchen. A few seconds later the chef returned with another co worker who was carrying a tray laden with all manner of different breakfast food, both hot and cold. The waiter took it off the co worker with a nod of thanks. "Does this meet your satisfaction sir?"

"Yeah, it looks great thanks," Peter nodded with a smile as he took the tray off the waiter. "Brilliant, that's fantastic."

"Of course sir, please enjoy the rest of your stay."

Peter nodded and turned, carefully moving back through the restaurant with the tray to their room. He paused outside their door and opened it with the keys. The room they had on the cruiser was more like an apartment than a hotel suite, with a lounge room in the middle, a bedroom for Elizabeth, a bedroom for them, and a bathroom. Peter walked through the lounge into the bedroom and, unsurprisingly, Gwen was awake.

She smirked at him. "Thought I heard you sneaking out."

"Yeah," He shrugged as he sat down next to her, swinging his legs on the bed. He put the tray over his own lap as Gwen wouldn't be able to get it over her bulging stomach. He returned her smile. "Happy birthday Gwendy."

"Aww, thanks," She kissed him on the cheek as she took a piece of toast with one hand. "I hope you didn't go buying me anything, this trip for the last few days has been lovely."

"Well no, I didn't," Peter sighed. "Though I've enjoyed this too, never been on a cruise before."

Gwen chuckled. "Oh, and well done on the security – though I did notice."

"Erm...what do you mean?"

"Oh come off it Peter," Gwen rolled her eyes. "The two mans next door are security,."

"Sharp as ever eh?" Peter grinned. "OK, so have you noticed the security in Liz'sLiz's school then? The one I said I'd sort for you over Christmas?"

"Yep, the new classroom assistant in Liz's 7 guard." Gwen nodded happily. "And those janitors are not janitors."

"Yeah."

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, softly.

"I..I, well, for safety. These guards are the same from the Tower," He replied. "I just want you two safe from any harm."

"Okay."

"So, shall we get back to your thirtieth second birthday?"

"I am not thirtieth second,"" Gwen fixed him a glare. "I am twenty for the twentieth time, I'll have you know!"

"You look it, twenty I mean," Peter rested his head back down on the pillow, placing one hand over Gwen's stomach tenderly. "I mean you look amazing, as ever."

"Thanks Peter," Gwen rolled her eyes as she swallowed a bite of toast.

"I...have a question."

Gwen looked up at him, humming through a mouthful. "Mmm?"

"With my powers, what's my life expectancy like?" Gwen cocked her head with a curious expression. "I mean, do they affect that at all?"

"Yes, I did some research on that," Gwen nodded. "Standard life expectancy is somewhere near seventh, I reckon with your powers it could well add an extra ten years onto it at least."

"That's good then."

Gwen took a bite of bacon as she tilted her head with a curious expression. "What's brought this on Peter?"

"Well, I was just thinking about it the other day," Peter smiled as he waved his hand dismissively. "But it is incredible, you look like you're in your early twenties."

"You're so sweet." Gwen smiled.

"I know." Peter quipped as he nicked a slice of bacon from the plate.

"Hmm," She rolled her eyes. "So, have your duties for today been sorted?"

"Yeah," He nodded. "I have to look after both MJ and Flash before the ceremony, then I have to accompany MJ into the ceremony, join Flash as his second, then be the official witness of the accord, and then I have a speech."

"Wow, busy day then," Gwen grinned. "My mother and I are going to loiter by the food all day."

"God.."

As the pair chuckled there was a knock at their door, Elizabeth hurrying in to the room. She ran up onto the bed, giving her mother a hug and an envelope.

"Happy birthday Mummy!"

"Oooh, thank you Liz," Gwen carefully opened up the envelope to reveal a card she Elizabeth had made in school. The front of the card featured a drawing of Gwen, surrounded with multicoloured glitter. "That's...lovely. Isn't it Peter?"

"Yeah," Peter nodded slowly. "Very artistic."

Elizabeth cocked her head. "Where are your presents?"

"Well I didn't want any this year," Gwen explained. "But we agreed to have this little cruise to Flash and MJ's wedding."

"Oh," Elizabeth nodded. "Though, I'm a little worried."

"Worried?" Gwen placed an arm around Elizabeth, stroking her back. "Why?"

"Well, there is a party afterwards isn't there?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm worried about daddy at the party," Elizabeth giggled. "What if he doesn't know to dance?"

Gwen burst out laughing, joining in with Elizabeth's giggles. Peter frowned, folding his arms whilst huffing.

"That's mean."

"Well, it's not that awful," Gwen chuckled again. "Don't worry Liz, I've already teached him some moves."

"I am going to be amazing," Peter grinned. "Just wait."

* * *

"Peter, I'm terrified," Peter struggled to hold in his laughter as he watched Flash pace back and forth in front of the bar. "Really, I am. What if I'm not good enough? What if we're not meant to be?"

"Flash?"

Flash stopped pacing to look up at him. "Yes?"

"Shut up!"

"What?"

"I'm telling you to shut up!" Peter shook his head as he stepped around the bar, pulling out two shot glasses. He took a bottle of bottle of Caribbean white rum from underneath the private bar, pouring out a shot for each of them. He slid the shot of brandy across the bar. "Drink."

"Are you serious?" Flash cocked his head. "Drink before this?"

"Yes, just to help settle the nerves," Peter nodded, placing the bottles back underneath the counter. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Right." Flash nodded, and grabbed the glass. He stared at it for a few seconds before deciding Peter was right, downing it in one.

"Look, you two are great together. This place is a lovely hotel, Miami is beautiful, you're doing this because you love each other," Peter took his own shot, savouring the kick of the rum for a few seconds before continuing. "Everyone here is your friends, here to support you.*

"You don't understand," Flash shook his head as he leaned his elbows down on the bar. "I-I.."

"Worried your bachelor days are over?" Peter smirked.

"Shut up Peter," He shook his head once more. "That's not what I mean."

"Oh come off it, you're devoted to her and everyone knows it," Peter clapped Flash on the shoulder.

There was silence for a few moments, before Flash cocked his head at Peter with a questioning look.

"What? Spit it out Eugene."

"Well, it's just..." Flash stroked his chin. "How was your wedding with Gwen?"

"Erm..." Peter scratched the back of his head. "Well, I got tense. But when I saw Gwen coming at me, wearing that white gown, I was at heaven. I just wanted to touch her, she looked like an angel."

"I understand, what about the kids."

Peter smiled to himself. "Elizabeth is one, if not the best, thing that ever happened to me. She's..I would do everything for her, literally."

"Two boys, eh?"

He chucked. "That will be fun, I can't wait for them. Twins, wow."

Flash smiled. "So the beginning the relationship was pretty much a lifelong commitment for you two?"

"Yes, that's it," Peter smiled. "She's fully committed herself to the relationship, as have I. To us, the marriage thing is just a piece of paper. It's no where near as important as our kids. You should relax."

"I suppose I understand that." Flash nodded.

"Of course, we never had this discussion Flash." He joked. "I'm proud of you, though."

"I know, I know," Flash held his hands up. "Peter, when have I ever betrayed the confidence you've placed in me?"

Peter smirked as he opened the bar door to leave the room. "Well, I guess there's always a first."

* * *

"MJ, how are you doing?"

"Not too bad Peter," MJ turned to face him as he entered. "How do I look?"

He eyed the bright gown that managed to make her hair look even more red. "You look great MJ."

"Thanks," She nodded. "You scrub up well too you know."

"Ha!" Peter smiled. "I hate suits."

"So does Flash," MJ replied. "Is he OK?"

"I think he's a little scared."

"Really?" MJ sighed. "That's silly."

"That's what I said to him," Peter chuckled. "I think he's a little scared of you."

"Ah, that makes more sense." MJ chuckled as well.

"I'm giving you away to my best friend now." He smiled.

"I wouldn't want anybody else to do that," MJ leaned in closer, resting her head on his shoulder. "You've been a true friend Peter, ever since I met you."

"So have you MJ," Peter patted her on the arm, giving her a smile. "So, are you ready to go and get legally attached the freaked man?"

MJ chuckled. "Of course I am!"

* * *

Peter had to admit he felt a bit awkward as he and MJ stood at the doorway to the ceremony room. He had an arm linked around the redhead's arm, the pair were just waiting for the go sign from the events manager from the hotel.

"You nervous MJ?"

"Nope," She shook her head. "You?"

"A little actually," Peter waggled his eyebrows at her. "I hate being watched when I walk, it always makes my feel...judged."

"What? That's ridiculous!" MJ giggled. "But, just think about this as practice."

"Practice?"

"Yeah, for Liz. She'll be marrying one day."

"Oh no, oh no," Peter shook his head defiantly. "Not for a long while."

"Yeah, but she will get married one day. She'll find someone she loves, who loves her..."

"...Who I approve of and whose passed Gwen's rigorous background checks," Peter nodded with a grim smile. "Oh she's only going to have the very very best, not just any old bloke for my little girl."

"Oh dear," MJ shook her head whilst chuckling. "Dare I ask what happens to those that don't meet your approval?"

"Oh," Peter narrowed his eyes. "They'll just...disappear I guess."

MJ broke out into fits of laughter.

"Miss Watson," A woman called over to them from the door. "We're ready for you now."

"Right, great," MJ nodded. "Peter?"

He smiled and nodded at her, before they walked towards the door, two doormen pulling open the doors to the ceremony room. Inside around one hundred guests were there, sat in rows on wither side of the room. The room was light and spacious, pinkish light shining in through the glass ceiling above them.

As they passed through the doors everyone turned to watch them, many people smiling at them. Flash' mother and brother were there. It was the first time that Peter had met them, and both were rather nice.

By the time Peter zoned back into the room they were almost completely down the isle, nearing Flash at the very front. Peter caught Gwen's eyes, giving her a smile. Elizabeth was next to her and she leaned forwards to stick her tongue out at him, Peter returning the childish gesture. He caught Gwen rolling her eyes at them.

The pair stopped in front of Flash and the director of ceremony at the front of the room, Peter letting go of MJ's arm.

MJ was beautiful, there was no other words. Her skin was rather pale, freckles on her cheeks. Her eyes always were the most astonishing feature, they were actually blue in colour.

Peter smiled at her before walking over to Flash, clasping hands with him.

"Good luck."

Flash nodded back. "Thanks."

With that Peter went to stand on the front row, next to Gwen. As the ceremony began Gwen leaned into him, whispering very quietly.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?"

Peter nodded. "Though, you're still more beautiful."

"Flatter," Gwen grinned. They stood in silence for a few seconds, watching and listening to the vows from Flash. She leaned back into Peter. "Brings me memories, time flies. "

Peter kissed her cheek. "Our love always stays the same."

* * *

"So..." Peter looked around the room, the eyes of all of the guests firmly on him. "Flash and MJ, what can I say about them?"

Peter took a couple of steps back from his chair, folding his arms.

"Well lets start with Flash. So, I first met him back at highschool, it was kinda..complicated," He smiled at Flash. "Flash has basically been my best friend since then, we've been through everything together. And he has been one of the people who stayed with me to the very end, right into hell itself. Thank you for that Flash, you have no idea how great a friend you have been to me."

He nodded. "No problem Peter."

"And MJ, the best friend of my wife, " Peter grinned at MJ, and she met his eyes with a smile of her own. " She's one of the persons that I admire most in my life, she have been through everything that you could imagine it. From the moments of saddens to happiness. An example. A warrior. One that I'm lucky to have in my life. She's like a sister to me."

"And so now, I've given my little sister to my best mate pretty much. It's really strange actually, but it's a good strange. It's meant to be, I reckon," Peter chuckled as he raised his glass to the room, everyone else copying him. "So here's to MJ and Flash, congratulations!"

"Congratulations!" Everyone replied, taking drinks from their glasses. As Peter sat back down people began to break out into conversation, the waiters beginning to bring the plates of food through.

"Nice speech Pete." Howard called over from the other side of the table. "We need to properly celebrate this later."

"Yeah," Flash chuckled. "That is a good point."

"Mind you," Peter nudged Flash in the arm. "Seeing how stocked the hotel bar is, there might well be the chance for a suicide mission!"

"Oh god," Gwen shook her head slowly, causing Elizabeth to chuckle. "I hope you're not planning on getting too drunk and staggering back at four in the morning."

"Of course not, that would be unreasonable," Peter winked at his daughter. "Three thirty at the latest!"

"Well Flash won't be staying out too late," MJ fixed Flash a mock glare, raising one eyebrow.

"Hmm," Flash grinned as a large plate of food was placed in front of him and then MJ. "That sounds as good as this smells."

As everyone began to tuck in MJ smiled over at Elizabeth. "So Elizabeth, I hear you're enjoying school very much."

"Yes thank you, I enjoy it," Elizabeth nodded happily. "My teachers are really good, and I learn loads."

"That sounds good, it's great you like it."

"Hey Flash!" Eddie called, approaching them. "I though that you would faint!" He joked.

"You thought wrong." Flash joked. "You brought the cards? Need to kick your ass later!"

"You know, you guys had some incredibly strange..."

Peter was halfway through his sentence when Gwen practically jumped up out of her seat, muttering something about feeling ill. She dashed off so quickly that he didn't even have time to ask her if she was all right. Elizabeth looked up at him with a confused look.

"What's wrong with mummy?"

"I'm sure she's fine," Peter answered as he got up to follow her, masking his concern from his daughter. He quickly walked out of the room, heading over to the toilets. He saw Gwen slip into the women's toilets, the door closing behind her. Peter slowed as he approached, raising his hand to knock on the door. "Gwendy, are you OK?"

_"Yeah...I'm fine..."_ Her reply came quietly, and was a little shaky. _"Just feeling a little ill."_

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'll be out in a minute."

"OK then." Peter sighed as he slowly headed away from the door. As he turned he saw MJ approaching, watching with concerned eyes.

"Peter, is she OK?"

"I don't know," He scratched the back of his neck, sighing once more. "She insists she's fine."

"If you want I'll go in, check on her for you."

"Would you?" Peter gave her a weak smile. "Thanks MJ.

"No problem." She nodded with a smile as she headed into the toilet, Peter making his way off back into the reception room. He had only made it as far as the door when a shout caught his attention.

"Peter! Come here, quickly!"

He turned and ran back to MJ, rushing past her and into the toilet.

"Oh my god, Gwendy!"

Gwen was lying on the floor by the sink, her back resting up against the wall. She was breathing rapidly and shallowly, eyes shut as if she was unconscious. One hand rested on top of her stomach, whilst the other was trailing on the floor in the small pool of blood surrounding her body.


	36. With Great Difficulty

**A/N: Tried to get this out as quickly as possible!**

* * *

**24th April - 2025**

Peter paced. Of course there were occasions where he had paced in the past, but this was something else. He walked the same few metres in the infirmary corridor countless times while waiting outside the surgery room. His mind was constantly racing as well, going through scenario after scenario. He couldn't get the worst case scenario out of his head, he held onto hope that everything was going to be all right. The worst thing was that he was completely unable to help, completely useless in fact. He has powers, he's freaking Spider-Man, but there was nothing that he could to help his wife, and that made him feel powerless, just a simple human.

As Peter spun on his heel once again the door ahead opened, he saw Flash and MJ heading through. He looked in their direction for a brief moment before looking back down, resuming his pacing. MJ walked up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him into a hug.

"Peter, are you OK?"

"I..." He shrugged off MJ's hands before collapsing onto one of the chairs along the wall behind him. "I don't know what to do."

"Oh Peter," MJ sat down next to him, taking one hand of his in hers. "Have you heard anything?"

"No," Peter shook his head. "She's been in there for two hours now; I don't even understand what's going on."

"I'm sure she'll pull through Peter, Gwen's strong," Flash sat down on the other side of him. "Where's Elizabeth?"

"Helen took her to the café downstairs to get some sweets or something," Peter sighed. "I'm sorry guys."

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?"

"For this, ruining your big day," Peter placed his head in his hands. "You guys should really get back to your reception; it's not much of a party without the happy couple."

"That's not going to happen, Peter. We're here for you. Everyone's worried about can have a party any day of the week." Flash patted him on the shoulder. "Do you want me to go and get you some food, you must be starving?"

"Right, okay." Peter nodded as Flash stood up again. "Thanks Flash."

"No problem."

As Flash walked off, Peter placed his head back in his hands, sighing once more. MJ also sighed as she placed one arm around Peter, pulling him in for a hug.

"Peter don't worry, the infirmary of the ship has one of the best doctors of the country and Dr Adams already arrived as you wished," MJ tried comforted him, continuing to gently rub his back. "She'll be fine, I promise you."

"Okay." He nodded, still feeling overwhelmed with worry.

They sat there for several minutes in silence; MJ continued to rub his back reassuringly. After a while the door opened once again. Peter looked up to see Helen walk down the corridor, escorting little girl ran up to Peter with a packet of sweets in one hand, throwing her arms around him. He scooped her up and placed her on his lap, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"How's mummy?"

"Well...I'm not sure yet..." Peter placed his arms around Elizabeth, pulling her close to him. He placed his chin on the top of her head so that she wouldn't see the tears forming in his eyes. "The doctors are very good here though."

"OK," Elizabeth pulled away from him, holding up the packet of sweets. "Do you want a sweet?"

He managed to smile at his daughter. He chuckled gently as he stuck his hand in the packet. "Go on then."

* * *

"Peter?"

Peter lifted his head up at the call of his name, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Elizabeth was still fast asleep in his lap; Flash and MJ were still sitting on the chairs next to him. Peter turned his gaze to see Dr Adams standing by the door leading to the surgery.

"Dr Adams, how is she? What happened?"

"Mrs Stacy is stable for now. We believe she slipped in the toilet and severely injured herself on the sink; she developed a series of internal bleeds that took a while to locate and take care of. Also I believe that the babies saved her from bleeding out with their 'special' genes." He explained in way that only Peter would understand. "It was tricky to work around the babies, but we succeeded in stemming the bleeding."

"So she's all right?"

"We could only manage to stem the bleeding temporarily. We really need to perform a caesarean to deliver the twins." Peter cocked his head. "We need your permission since Gwen is still unconscious."

"She's only at eight months, will the babies survive? Elizabeth came naturally, I don't know if -"

"I can guarantee their survival; babies can be born four months premature and be perfectly healthy."

"Right," Peter nodded. "Yes, do it. Please, just save her."

"We will do our utmost best Peter." With a nod Dr Adams left, returning back into the surgery. Peter sighed and leaned his back against the wall again. He noticed Flash cocking his head at him with a questioning look.

"What was that about Peter? I was half asleep."

"I've just..." Peter's eyes widened as he realised the implications of what he had decided. "Flash I've just chosen Gwen over my sons, she would never do that. I've...no...It was the right thing to do."

"Peter?" He turned around at the sound of his name being called. He saw MJ and Helen walking down the corridor. "Is there any news?"

"You just missed Adams, Gwen's stable." Peter explained. "Apparently she fell in the bathroom and that caused internal bleeding. It must have been a hell of a knock."

"What about the babies?" Helen asked.

"Dr Adams just asked my permission do to a Caesarean. So they'll be delivered a month early. There is a very slim chance they might not survive but that's the worst scenario." Peter sighed. MJ came over and sat down on the chair next to him. She placed a supporting hand on his knee.

"What if that's the wrong choice?"

"Peter, you're reading too much into this." MJ gave him a weak smile. "You didn't make the choice, you've just agreed to the Caesarean. It's a legal formality just because you're here; if you weren't present they would've done it anyway."

"But..."

"Peter trust me, it's a formality and nothing more."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"The stress and worry is causing your mind to play tricks on you, Peter." Flash nudged him. "They are probably going to be okay."

"Flash, I don't think you're helping," MJ gave him a reproachful glare. "What matters is Gwen and the twins will both be absolutely fine."

* * *

A much shorter time later, though still just as tense, one of Adam's assistants came outside of the surgery and looked at the group anxiously waiting outside. She gave them all a wide smile, indicating the last half hour must have been successful.

"Mr Parker, you are now the proud father of two healthy young boys, both are doing well," As Peter began to open his mouth the doctor continued. "And your wife is fine as well; she will make a full recovery."

"Really, you're sure?" Peter broke out into a wide smile of relief after seeing her reassuring nod. "Can I go and see them?"

"Yes, of course."

Peter carefully manoeuvred Elizabeth, who had been fast asleep for several hours, off his lap. He gently placed her in MJ's lap instead. Giving the others a smile Peter headed through the surgery doors into the recovery room. Gwen was also fast asleep on a bed in the centre of the room, a pair of screens above her displaying her vital signs.

"Peter," He turned to see Dr Adam's on one side of the room, scrubbing his hands. "Congratulations!"

"Yes," Peter walked over to him, pulling the doctor into a hug. "Thank you so much...just thank you."

"That's OK," Dr Adams gave him a wide smile as he let them go. "I hope we didn't keep you in too much of a state."

"I was nervous," He admitted. "But she's going to be fine now?"

"Yes," He nodded. "And we delivered the babies to be on the safe side, it wasn't worth risking any complications. They'll be absolutely fine."

"Right, great," Peter nodded. "I was worried that I was making some sort of critical decision."

"No, it's a formality," He patted him on a shoulder. "Now go on, I know you're dying to go see them. She'll probably be waking up soon; the twins are sleeping all ready."

"OK, thank you again." Peter nodded as they left before padding over to her bedside, carefully placing his hand around her own hand. He placed it up to his lips and gave her a tender kiss, smoothing back a loose strand of hair on her head.

He placed her hand back down onto the bed gently before turning to the two small cots next to the bed. He approached gingerly, inspecting his new sons. Both were identical, though he guessed all babies were when new born. They had been cleaned and looked rather snug in the blankets of the cots, both fast asleep like their mother and older sister. Both of the babies had small patches over their wrists, corresponding to monitoring screens above the cots. Peter found it quite incredible that was the only help that a pair of one month premature babies required. He had seen horrific pictures of premature babies with all manner of wires and tubes attached to them from hospitals before. He wouldn't have been able to stand seeing his own children like that.

Peter carefully reached into the one of the cots with a hand, lightly stroking the child's cheek. At even the lightest touch the child awoke, bright brown eyes looking straight up at him. He was momentarily shocked by the eyes; they were very similar to his own rather than Gwen's more greenish coloured eyes. He was brought out of his amazement by movement in the cot next door; the other baby began to sniffle. Peter knew what was coming next.

"No, no," He quickly began to give some attention to the other baby. "Look, you're getting attention too. Don't be jealous, is that better?"

Unfortunately for Peter turning his attention from one child to another had made the original baby rather jealous instead. The baby began to sniffle, before the sniffle developed into crying and followed by wailing. The second child began to cry as well, and Peter stood there rather confused.

"What did I do?"

"I'm not sure…" The sleepy response came from behind him. "But you're really not starting off very well."

"Gwendy?" Peter turned, giving Gwen a wide smile.

"Who else?" Gwen gave him a weak smile, though she winced with pain as she slowly begun to rearrange herself on the bed. Peter was about to go over to the bed to help her, she waved him away. "Would you bring the cots over here? I can't see the boys from here."

"Sure," Peter nodded before looking down to search for the locks on the wheels of the trolleys. He unlocked them and wheeled them close to the bed, taking a seat next to Gwen's bed. He carefully lifted one baby out of a cot and handed him to Gwen, who was sitting up against the pillows, before taking one baby himself. Both stopped crying almost instantly, Peter rolling his eyes. "Typical, show them to you and they're quiet instantly."

"They just want attention, though they both have a pair of lungs on them," Gwen smiled before narrowing her eyes. "Peter, what exactly happened?"

"MJ discovered you on the floor in a pool of blood; the doctors reckon you had a rather nasty fall in the toilets."

"Where are we now?"

"The main infirmary of the ship, Dr Adams and his assistants managed the surgery," Peter peered down at the baby in his arms, the child glared back at him rather scarily. "They spent three hours stemming a series of internal bleeds, and then Adam's came out of surgery to ask if they could deliver the twins by Caesarean. That was half an hour ago, you overcame the sedatives bloody quickly, thanks for the babies and their genes, healed your body."

"Wow…" Gwen smiled at the baby she was holding. "I do remember something, I think I slipped on the floor and smacked into the sink in front of me…it really hurt. I'm not surprised that it caused bleeding."

"I was terrified, again," Peter shook his head. "You always terrify me when you're in a predicament."

"Sorry, I don't mean to." She leaned over and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, I know." Peter nodded.

"Well," Gwen smiled down at the babies, both wriggling rather restlessly in their arms. "Aren't you two the best birthday presents ever?"

Peter grinned. "Yeah, gifts that keeps on giving!"

"Hmm," Gwen looked down at the baby in her arms, analysing the child. "This one looks like a David you know."

"Really?"

"Yep," Gwen nodded. "What about the other?"

"I don't know," Peter cocked his head at the baby in his arms, before realising what Gwen had done. He looked back up at her, raising an eyebrow. "You don't think this one looks like an Aiden?"

"I do." She smiled.

"You know, I think I agree with you," Peter nodded. "Dave and Aiden…those are beautiful names for my little boys."

"I agree." She knew how much of a perfect father that Peter was. The happiness was spread all over his face. "They are perfect."

A knock at the door got the attention of all four in the room, the babies beginning to sniffle once more. Gwen rolled her eyes before calling out.

"Come in."

"Mummy!" Elizabeth ran into the room, straight at her mother. Clearly she was intent on jumping straight onto her mother's bed, but thought better of it as she noticed the baby in Gwen's arms. Instead she slowly and carefully climbed onto the bed, able to get a good view of everyone.

"So Liz, what do you think?"

Elizabeth peered at both of the babies, inspecting them quietly. Peter was a little tense, he wasn't sure exactly how Elizabeth would take having siblings once they were born. He didn't want her to feel left out or ignored.

"Well, they're very small," She cocked her head. "What are their names?"

"We were thinking of David and Aiden."

Elizabeth looked between the two babies with a curious look. "Which one is which?"

"Erm..." Peter had to think for a second, looking in between the two babies. "This one in my arms is Aiden, the other is David."

"OK," Elizabeth nodded. "But if they look the same, how will we tell them apart?"

Peter narrowed his eyes, looking over at Gwen. "…with great difficulty."

* * *

**A/N : As ever, I just couldn't bring myself to write a depressing ending for this. The last revision for this chapter was made by FireflySurvivor, extended description and lines were made among with fixed errors . I wanted to thank my Beta Reader for helping me out with this and with future chapters, only for you guys to get the best experience possible. That's it for now :)**


	37. A Rather Unpleasant Surprise

**November 4th - 2025**

Gwen was awoken once again by the noise of high pitched crying. She blinked several times before throwing the warm blanket off her tired body, grabbing the bathrobe by the side of the bed. As she moved her actions woke Peter next to her, he groaned as he came around.

"Jesus, what do they want now?"

"I guess attention, they've had plenty of milk and their nappies were changed before bed," Gwen sighed as she headed over to the cots on the other side of the room. "Hey you two, are you going to be quiet?"

"Want a hand?" Peter gave her a weak smile as he appeared by her shoulder.

"You should go back to bed, you did last night's rounds," Gwen reached down to tickle David under the chin, managing to quieten him. Peter picked up Aiden to give him some attention as well, and eventually the crying died down. "Hmm, guess that worked."

"Well what do you expect?" Peter grinned. "All us boys need is a little attention, then we're content."

"So it seems."

Peter widened his grin and laughed lightly. "Hey, if I began to cry, would I get more attention from you?"

"Yes Peter." Gwen smiled as she lifted David out of the cot, taking a seat on the edge of their bed.

"Whoo-hoo!" Peter chuckled as he sat down next to her, jiggling Aiden in his arms. He noticed Gwen was using one hand to open up David's mouth, peering inside with narrowed eyes. He cocked his head. "What are you doing?"

"Well I suspected that they've begun teething, and I'm right," She nodded at her own theory. "It explains why they've been particularly troublesome sleepers over the past few weeks."

"Elizabeth didn't really cry that much, even when she was teething," Peter shrugged. "It's strange how different siblings can be."

"Not really, it's just down to genetics," Gwen explained as she smoothed back the tufts of brown hair on David's head. She smiled. "And they've got your genes. That's for certain. Their hair is identical to yours, identical eyes, and same temperament – always seeking my affection."

Peter chuckled. "So we have a mini you and two mini-me's, fantastic. I have more minions than you!"

"Yeah, but my minion is trained all ready," Gwen gave him a wink and grinned. "You're going to have a nightmare training yours."

"Hmm, suppose," Peter nodded before grinning back at her. "Though, I have quite a sway over your minion."

"I know, Liz is such a daddy's girl," Gwen rolled her eyes. "Oh, that reminds me. Later on I need you to take the boys out, me and Liz have some stuff to do at home on our own."

"O.K..." Peter raised an eyebrow. "That's cryptic."

"Uh-huh, I'll explain all later on," Gwen pressed a kiss onto David's head as the seven month old fell asleep in her arms again. "I think these two can probably go back to bed again."

"Aye," Peter nodded. "And then we'll put them to bed in another half hour once more!"

"Hmm, probably going to happen," Gwen agreed as she placed David carefully back down in his cot, Peter placing Aiden next to him. Gwen smiled down at the two baby boys. "But I wouldn't change this for anything."

Both of them climbed back into bed, Peter wrapping his arms around Gwen's body and pressing a tender kiss to the back of her neck. "I agreed."

* * *

_There's nothing like a walk at Central Park._

"Peter Parker!" A young lady ran straight from her mother up to Peter, shouting wildly. "Can I have an autograph please?"

"Uhm," Peter scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, he hated being stopped like this in public. "I guess so, yeah."

He put the brakes on the double hover pram with the twins in and took the camera and stylus from the young girl.

"How's Spider-Man?"

"Probably wanting to move on to Mars, I guess."

He sighed off his name and passed it back to her with a smile. The girl before ran back to her mother as she blushed a bright shade of purple.

"Wow, I don't know," He rolled his eyes at the twins in the hover pram. "Girls eh? You're going to have to make sure you avoid the really clingy ones, and the strange ones."

Both of the twins watched him with intrigue, David in particular giving him a wide, gummy grin.

"And watch out for the shallow ones, you know? Don't just go for beauty, look for brains as well," Peter advised them. "I mean look at your mother, she's the whole package – a rather fantastic package actually. You have to go deeper than looks."

"Peter," Peter turned as Jake, his colleague at Empire State, called his name, approached him with a grin. "I see you're getting your boys well trained."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Peter nodded. "Don't want them both bringing brainless bimbos home."

"Too true," Jake nodded, smiling as he looked over the twins. "Though I have to apologise for interrupting what must be an enjoyable walk."

"Oh," Peter fixed Jake a disappointed look. "I should have known you weren't just coming over for a social."

"Aye, I was about to call you in fact," Jake sighed as he took on his customary sarcastic tone. "There's an emergency reunion at Empire, it's about the project we've been working for years now. It's urgent."

"Oh, really?" He nodded reluctantly. "That's fantastic, lovely."

"I thought you'd think that."

"When is the meeting?"

"In ten minutes," Jake shuffled his feet awkwardly. "It was a last minute decision by command; I told them they were being ridiculous."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Do I have a choice?"

"Well, technically you do have a choice," Jake explained slowly. "But..."

"...I don't really," Peter shook his head. "Well I can't go, I have these two. Gwen's chucked us out of the apartment for some unknown reason, and if I go to a meeting they'll cry the place down in under five minutes."

"That's a good excuse." Jake nodded.

"Yeah," Peter grinned. "Tell the boss I'm ever so apologetic but my parental duties prevent me from attending any meetings today and..."

"Peter?" They both turned at the sound of his name being called once again.

"Flash?"

He nodded as he stopped his jogging and approached him. "Having babysitting troubles?"

"Not really," Peter grinned. "It's saving me from a rather dull meeting in fact."

"That's a shame," Flash grinned. "I decide to jog a little while MJ is talking with her producer."

Peter chuckled. "That sounds like you."

"Any ways," Flash nodded. "I'll take these two of your hands whilst you go to your meeting. How long will it take?"

"It will only an about hour." Jake replied.

"No, no way," Peter shook his head defiantly. "It's not that I don't trust you Flash, but if Gwen found out she'd slice off my fish's and feed them to me."

"I don't doubt that," Flash chuckled. "But I can be discrete."

"But..."

"Come on Peter," Flash urged him. "I'll take good care of them, go for an ice-cream or something and go to one of the parks or a lake."

Peter raised an eyebrow, giving Flash a surprised look. "You really want to do this, don't you?"

"Erm..." Flash scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I just happen to have a couple of hours free, may as well do something useful."

"Fine, but we meet back here in exactly an hour," Peter sighed, placing one hand over his face in resignation. Peter fixed Flash a stern look. "But go nowhere near my apartment just in case of Gwen, do not go to any dodgy areas, do not leave here."

"Peter, chill," Flash took the hover pram firmly off him. "You have my word they'll be fine."

"Right," Peter nodded. "No funny business, I mean it."

"No funny business," Flash nodded. "I got it."

* * *

Flash peered over the glass railing in front of him, scanning the area around the café. He looked over to behind the back.

"Now you two, I need you both to do uncle Flash a favour." He leaned forwards to whisper to them. "I need you to look really, really cute. Like irresistibly cute, all right?" The twins looked at him for a second before becoming more interested in a bright neon sign.

Flash spied a vacant table as he headed into the café area, taking a seat and parking the pram up next to him. He picked up one of the menus, browsing more out of a desire to appear like a normal customer than the fact he was actually wanting anything. It wasn't long before his plan fell into place.

"Hello sir, can I get you..." As Flash lowered the menu in front of his face the waitress realised who he was. She narrowed her eyes and folded her arms rather aggressively. "Look, I thought I told you to beat it during the last two hours."

"Yeah, you did," Flash conceded. "But I've come back to apologise, to make amends."

She cocked her head, speaking in a rather sarcastic tone. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really," Flash held his hands up innocently. "I come in peace."

"Well, if you're not here to get any free donuts then I suppose you should order something," It was then that the waitress noticed the twins in the pram. "Who are these two?"

"Oh, these two?" Flash smiled. "My nephews, they're so sweet aren't they?"

"Nephews? These are yours?"

"Yep." Flash nodded, placing a grin across his face.

"So you're a family guy?" The waitress curiously inspected the twins, giving them a smile. "They're lovely, you must be proud."

"Proud?" Both Flash and the waitress turned their heads as a trio of Flash's ex soccer teammates approached them. "Be proud of what?"

"Ah, Scott," Flash tried to keep the quick flash of annoyance at Flash's sudden appearance, the man didn't exactly fit into his plans to get any free donuts. They were so good that Flash had lost most of his money while eating them, and he didn't want to ask MJ for money. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just meeting my old friend!" Scott looked over at the twins before scowling at Flash. "Where did you steal those babies from, where's the old Flash?

"Steal?" The waitress looked shocked, before the look of shock turned to one of disgust. "Oh, I see. You're trying again, aren't you?!"

"What?" Flash momentarily appeared stunned.

"This isn't the first time I've seen this trick," She shook her head at him. "Just pay for the donuts and I'll get you some!" The waitress turned and stormed off, though stopped to turn back and shout at him. "And make sure those babies go back to their parents."

Flash sighed before placing his head in his hands. After a few seconds he turned to look at Scott who was chuckling softly.

_These_ _donuts_ _were_ _marvelous_, _damn_. He said to himself.

* * *

As Peter approached the square where he had left Flash with the twins he noted, with relief, that Flash was there and the twins seemed fine. As he got closer though he noted Flash's strange companions, three men. All looked rather sheepish though, and were staring intently at their feet. Flash looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Hey Flash, who's your friends?"

"Look Peter, it wasn't my fault."

"What?" Peter raised an eyebrow. "What wasn't your fault? What's happened?"

"Look Peter, an opportunity came up which I couldn't say no to..."

"...Are they OK?" Peter hurried to inspect the twins, but both seemed pretty happy in the pram. "What's going on?"

"Well, these idiots here think that they are still on high school so you can imagine it." He sighed. "Their vocabulary isn't a good one, for children."

"What?"

Flash turned to the babies. "Hey guys, could you two talk?"

For a few seconds nothing happened, but then David spoke, followed by Aiden.

"You..."

"...Idiot."

Peter stood there rather stunned, mouth slightly agape. Slowly he turned to Flash, narrowing his eyes.

"You...idiot!"

"It wasn't my fault, blame this bastard!"

"I'm...so screwed." He glanced at Flash's friends. "You there, get out of here before I send you guys away by myself."

They nodded hurriedly before walking off rather quickly, taking his companions with him. Peter turned back to Flash, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"I trusted you; just for once I thought I might be able to be right and Gwen wrong." Peter shook his head again.

"Yeah...I know..." Flash looked down, staring at his feet shamefully again. "I'm sorry, they weren't leaving me alone. I guess this happens when you are leader of the team back at school. They wanted to have fun, the good old days they claimed, but I told them that I was busy."

"Jesus," Peter sighed. "You know this would've perhaps been funny in another circumstance, but I guess what's done is done."

"Peter, I..."

"Look I'm not angry really, just disappointed," Peter explained, Flash's face fell again. "But I guess no harm was done, so I won't mention this to Gwen if I can avoid it. But Flash, this can't ever happen again. "

"I guess that's fair enough."

"Yeah," Peter nodded. "And if I can't stop them from saying 'You idiot' and Gwen finds out then I'm going to have to tell her the truth."

"Again, that's fair enough," Flash cracked a wry grin. "But if you do please let me know in advance, I want a chance to hide somewhere so that she doesn't cut my head off."

Peter chuckled, before beginning to walk on. "Look, I've got to get home with these two."

"Right, OK," Flash nodded as Peter headed away. "I'm sorry, again."

"Yep," Peter sighed. "See you around Flash."

Peter headed straight to his cat, opening up the vehicle. He detached the seats one by one from the hover pram, placing David's seat securely in one of the back seats of the car. As he attached the seatbelt to the babies seat David looked up at him with a wide smile.

"Idiot, Idiot, Idiot, Idiioot!" He giggled.

"No, stop that," Peter forced a stern look onto his face, pointing a finger at his son. "Seriously, you'll be in trouble!"

His son giggled manically again, clearly finding Peter's attempt at discipline rather amusing. Peter shook his head as he turned back to Aiden who was happily chanting the word 'you' and 'idiot' over and over again in varying tones. As he strapped him in too the two began chatting to one another, giggling crazily to themselves.

"You!

"Idiot!

"Youuuuu!"

"Idioooooot!"

"No!" Peter raised his voice slightly, and that quietened both kids. After a few seconds of silence both began to screw their faces up, tell tail signs of the beginnings of a tantrum. Hurriedly Peter began to apologise, speaking softly to them. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to shout. You guys just need to not to stop saying that, otherwise mummy won't be very happy."

His grovelling apology appeared to have worked, both of his sons deciding not to begin any wailing. Peter sighed with relief as he packed the frame of the hover pram away into the boot of the car, climbing into the driving seat. As he drove the vehicle he began to think of ways to tempt them from repeatedly insulting everyone around them.

"Hey look at those shops we've just gone..." Peter turned to face them, emphasising his last word. "You're cool!"

Both twins stared at him before shouting out at the same time. "Idiot?!"

"Oh great," Peter turned back and sighed. "Now they're both saying idiot."

He kept quiet during the rest of the journey and whilst removing the twins from the car, placing them in the hover pram, and heading towards the elevator. He hit the button for their own flat and ascended, making sure to keep quiet – the twins were beginning to fall asleep gradually.

As the lift stopped he slowly and carefully headed into the apartment, cautiously passing through the front. As he entered he noticed Gwen in deep conversation with some unknown old lady, so he went straight past them and immediately to their room, settling the twins in their cots. Amazingly they stayed asleep, and he tiptoed away from them and back downstairs. Peter approached the sofas in the living room, both the women on the sofa turning to look at him.

"Peter, I wasn't expecting you back quite so soon," Gwen said. "This is Mrs Owens, a piano professor from the music conservatoire."

"Ah, this is for Liz," Peter nodded with understanding. "I see."

"I would love to teach your daughter."

Gwen nodded, though Peter could see a strange glint in her eyes. "Yes."

"So, you're a proper pianist?" The woman nodded, Peter humming as he stroked his chin in thought. "Can you play that really dramatic piece then?"

"Erm..." The woman slowly turned to regard Gwen, clearly unsure of what to say. "You'll have to give a little more information than that."

"You know, the one that's always used in the comedy vids – when something bad or dramatic happens," He received a pair of rather dumbfounded looks from them, so resorted to humming the tune. "It goes, du du du duum, du du du duum."

"Oh!" Gwen rolled her eyes as she realised. "You mean Beethoven's fifth symphony?"

"I think so," Peter nodded. "Yeah, can you play that?"

"Well, of course not!" The woman bristled. "That's a piece for a full orchestra, I'm a solo pianist!"

"Oh," Peter was a little taken a back. "I see, sorry."

"Right," Gwen turned to the woman. "Well, I have to get on with work and I'm sure you are busy."

"Well not really, I..."

"No, I have to go," Gwen headed over to the door, opening it rather finally. "We will contact you when she is ready to learn."

"OK then," The woman nodded slowly as she headed out of the door. "Goodbye."

"Yes, goodbye," Gwen keyed the door to close, snorting as it closed. "I didn't like her."

"Really? Wow, I didn't suspect that," Peter grinned. "But now what's going to happen? If you don't like her then we can't have her teaching Liz."

"Yeah, and?" Gwen shrugged. "The next guy may well be better, if not then the three others afterwards might be."

"Wait, let me get this right," Peter raised an eyebrow. "You're interviewing piano teachers for Liz, without me?"

"Yes. Let's be honest Peter, you know nothing about classical music. Or music in general," Gwen chuckled. "But they're not just any piano teachers; I've messaged some concert pianists for a chance to teach Liz."

Peter raised the other eyebrow. "That's...slightly crazy."

"No it's not, Liz's only going to get the best," Gwen told him. "Now I guess you can help me interview the rest, but keep quiet about anything related to the music."

"So I should stay completely silent the whole time?" Peter dead-panned. "When is the next one coming?"

"In 3...2...1..." As Gwen said one the doorbell rang, and she turned to Peter with a smile. "Perfectly on time, I like him all ready."

She opened the door to reveal a very smartly dressed middle aged man with slick dark hair and a black briefcase to match. He smiled at them, speaking in an Australian accent similar to Gwen's own.

"Hello I'm Mr Lewis, here about the chance to teach your daughter?"

"Yes, come in." Gwen smiled, Peter noting she seemed much friendlier with this man.

"Well obviously you know my extensive resume, though I am happy to answer any questions you may have," He paused as he looked around the room. "I would rather like to meet Elizabeth."

"Oh yes, of course," Gwen chuckled. "I'm amazed; you're the first person who's even bothered to want to meet her."

"That's ridiculous," He shook his head in disbelief. "How can you possibly know if a teacher is suitable for the child if they don't meet?"

"Tell me about it," Gwen agreed. "I'll go and fetch her."

As Gwen left the two men alone Peter felt a little at odds. He cleared his throat awkwardly, thinking of something to say.

"So...erm...I don't actually know anything about you, I had no idea Gwen was doing this today," Peter started. "Do you want a drink or anything?"

"No thank you."

"Right," Peter nodded. "So…you're a concert pianist?"

"Yes," He nodded. "I travel the world to perform, and to give master-classes at various music schools. My main teaching occurs at the conservatoire in Paris however."

"Wow," Peter remarked. "Yet you're happy to teach our almost five year old?"

"Of course," He smiled. "Your daughter deserves nothing but the best, and I am the best."

"Right," Peter nodded, and then had an idea. "Oh, can you play this piece I'm thinking of? It's really quick, something to do with an insect?"

"An insect?" The man stroked his chin for a second before his face lighting up. "You mean The Flight of the Bumblebee? Off course!"

He strode over to the piano in the corner of the flat, flicking back the bottom of his jacket. He spread his hands out slowly, and then descended on the keys. Peter had seen Gwen play before, and she was rather fantastic, but this man was something else. The sheer velocity of his fingers was incredible; Peter had never seen anyone move that quickly.

As he finished Gwen and Elizabeth came to stand next to Peter, both watching with intrigue. When the pianist finished he turned around, cocking his head.

"Was that the piece you meant?"

"Yeah, think so," Peter nodded. "Damn impressive, you have some skills."

"That's very true, though excuse Peter's crudeness," Gwen smirked. "His music taste only extends as far as songs where the band destroys their instruments at the end."

"That's not true!" Peter protested.

"Don't worry, we'll make a Mozartarian out of him yet," The man laughed before turning to Elizabeth. "But first, we're going to make a concert pianist out of you!"

* * *

Gwen sighed once again. She dropped the tablet from her hands onto the bed next to her, scowling at it again. As she did that she felt the hands around her waist tighten slightly, one of Peter's hands reassuringly stroking her stomach.

"What's up?"

"It doesn't matter," Gwen gave him a weak smile. "Honestly."

"No, it does matter if it's bothering you," Peter sat up in the bed. "You've been staring at that data-pad for hours."

"It's work stuff."

"Ah, I see," Peter nodded slowly. "Yeah, maybe I can't really help you there."

"It's just really pissing me off."

He leaned closer and kissed her cheek, softly. "You're going to get through, you're brilliant."

Gwen smiled. "I hope so," She held his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. "You mentioned some AI a few couple of days ago."

"Yeah," He nodded. "Tony is building drones with the AI he found at some old Hydra base, they are amazing."

"Hydra? Isn't dangerous to work with tech from them?"

"It's Tony Stark, he know what he's doing." He affirmed. "They are meant to bring peace for the world, but at a much faster rate than before."

She cupped his cheek. "That sounds cool."

"And there's this blueprint for a superweapon called 'The Breach'."

"That's not cool; let's hope that it doesn't get in wrong hands. Is there anything else?"

"He's also doing drop shuttles for the government; they have a propulsion system and are able to drop at any zone that you could imagine. The military are going to love it." He joked.

"I meant Peter Parker." She smiled.

"Oh, then nothing different than the usual," He shrugged. "You know, being the man of the house, father, husband, Avenger and hero, there you go."

"Such an adorable ego," Gwen teased. "I don't think that there's enough room on this bed for me, you and your ego."

"Heh, it's a part of me -"

She spun on him and pressed her lips to his feverishly, pulling back with a huge grin. He grinned back.

"Now, that's something new."

"You need someone to cool you down."

He smirked, wrapping an arm around her waist and leaning closer. "I don't know if that cooled me down…" He flirted.

"Looks like..." She was interrupted by crying from the cots. Gwen raised an eyebrow before rolling her body out of bed, heading over. She leaned down to stroke both of the twins, getting them to be silent. She was about to leave when David and Aiden both opened their mouths.

"You..."

"...Idiot."

Gwen slowly turned to face Peter, narrowing her eyes.

"Explanation. Now."

* * *

**A/N : And there's goes another chapter. It's been quite the journey for me, one that I'm holding it very close to my heart. This chapter took more time to be published than the usual, I know , the thing is that I'm now finishing the first chapter of a new story that isn't related to Spider-Man. That doesn't mean that I will be ending this one, while I know how it ends, there's some more content that is yet to come, but my focus are now divided, meaning that updates are going to take more time to happen. I like to challenge myself into trying new things, I feel like it's something that I should do because it gives me some new perspective and I can also work in a different way than the usual. I learned a lot with _This Is Our Path,_ and with you guys as well, I could write a list of lessons but that would take too much time :) Thanks for still reading this story, I hope that the already established characters and their minions were given justice, because this is probably the only story about Spider-Man that I would ever write, it's how I envisioned Peter and Gwen's future, together and as a family. Some stuff are heavily inspired from the only story that I used to write with my old account before I abandoned it due to not having ideas anymore, I wanted to start fresh again, while using the this pattern that I've used for so many stories that I've never published before, just one.**

**As ever, huge thanks to FireflySurvivor for supporting me and the story, she's the one who uses the last pencil in the story. I love you :* If possible, check her stories about the couple, they are very well written and I consider them one of the bests out there, if not the best, her work is a passionate one, they are listed on my profile's favorites.**

**Love you guys.**

**\- Andrew**


	38. Heart Of Courage

**November 7th - 2027**

**Parker's Apartment**

Peter slowly woke up and stretched languidly under the bed covers as his eyes fluttered open. He felt a pleasant warmth and weight pressed on his side, Gwen's scent filled his nose and he felt her warm breath was on his cheek and ear. Their arms draped around each other and legs entwined. Peter had been in bed most of the evening the other day, with his head feeling like it would explode. He had went to bed fairly quickly after taking care of the first military operation with Ultron, Tony and Bruce were with him as well, but now he felt much better. Peter looked at Gwen and he concluded, as he usually did, how lucky he was. He felt a twinge of guilt when his fingertips trailed circles on the soft skin of her lower back, she was a light sleeper and looked so beautiful and at peace sleeping.

Gwen let out a content purr and stretched a bit to and looked at him sleepy, a smile broke out.

"Sorry," Peter said sheepishly and turned his head to face her.

"Don't be," Gwen murmured before they shared a kiss, "I slept well. How's your head?"

"Much better, thank you," Peter smiled back.

Gwen squeezed his warm body tighter. "Good."

"Well, we don't need to get breakfast just yet, the kids are still sleeping." Peter grinned.

"More time for us." Gwen hummed, content being where she was. Peter smiled and stole a quick kiss from his wife.

"I was wondering, are you feeling something..." He paused. "…something different than the usual? Weird?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's a myth, a very old one, it says that when something huge is about to occur, natural or not." Peter struggled to explain what he was currently feeling. "The spiders start to move on from the location where they live, they can feel the event coming."

Gwen raised an eyebrow, surprised. "So this is what has been bothering you?"

He nodded. "It started few days ago, it's a strange feeling."

"I can't say it did, maybe it's just the stress?" She suggested.

"Maybe," Peter moved a lock of her golden hair behind her ear. "You know how much I care for you and the kid's safety."

"Don't think about it, everything will be fine." She said, more like whispered. Gwen buried her head into his neck as they embraced each other.

"Yeah, okay." Peter agreed, avoiding such thoughts.

Hmm..." Gwen squirmed in his arms again, pressing herself closer, before looking up with a huge grin. "Shall we take this conversation another route?"

Peter nodded with a smile. "I can think of a few things to pass the time."

"Cheeky," She smiled back, before her eyes lit up. "Hey! We could continue that awkward question game from earlier? You never answered my last question!"

"No. No way, not a chance!" Peter shook his head. "I am not falling for that one, not at all."

"Come on, why not?" Gwen asked. "I'm interested."

"No, I am not telling you who I would most rather sleep with instead of you," Peter shook his head again defiantly. "No way, a wise fictional character once said, it's a trap!"

Gwen rolled her eyes at his reference. "Tell me!"

"No!" He said. "Give me another question, anything else."

"Fine then," Gwen huffed. She hummed for a few seconds with her eyes wondering around the room, before grinning. "OK then, what did you think when you first saw me?"

He smirked. "Hm...I just wanted to run away from the place."

"Excuse me?!" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I mean - you were too much mind blowing for a teenage Peter Parker to handle, still is." He explained, hearing Gwen's giggles.

"You feared me?"

"For some time, before you got caught in my web."

"Ugh," Gwen groaned in disapproval, slightly shaking her head. "I didn't, you forced me to kiss you, period."

"Okay, fine." He rolled on the bed, now standing between her legs and over her chest, supporting his weight with an arm that was resting besides her. "Tony will be throwing a party, celebrate Ultron's success."

"Oh wow, a party?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, the problem is finding a venue." Peter explained to her. "I was thinking of invading a hotel bar or a night club, but it might be problematic securing said venue for a private party."

"Oh, I'm sure with your Avenger status that won't be a problem," Gwen pointed out with a grin.

"Yeah, but I don't want to misuse my Avenger status."

"What fun is it being Avenger without using the privileges?" Gwen joked, playfully nudging his shoulder.

Peter chuckled, "I guess."

"So, who's invited?"

"Our ground team of course, a good time for everyone to just kick back and get happily drunk. The recent months have been tiresome, not just for me but for the whole gang to. Tony will probably figure everything out, and I'm counting on you to go with me." He gave her a tiny peck on the lips, quickly savouring the taste of her lips on his.

"Hmm...Is that an order Mr Spider-Man?"

He grinned. "Not yet."

"Okay then."

"Copy that, Mrs Parker." Peter leaned closer and engaged into passionate kiss that lasted for a few couple of minutes, breaking the kiss only to recover their breaths. Gwen smiled at him, stroking his charming messy hair, while looking into his brown eyes.

"You know, my gym is temporally unavailable for use, I wouldn't mind if you helped me to find something more... exercisable to do." She wrapped both arms around his neck.

Peter chuckled, "Now, Mrs Parker, harassing such important person like me can get you in trouble, you know?"

"What? We can always jog together in Central Park," Gwen said faux innocently.

"I'm sure." Peter deadpanned. "Just so you know, I'm going to shower first; you take so long time in there."

"I have very wavy hair, I need time to properly wash and comb it." Gwen said, rolling her eyes and letting out a sigh.

"Let's talk dirty…" Peter smiled slyly, before he deadpanned. "How long time do you actually need?"

Gwen rolled her eyes at his silly antics, "30 minutes. Give or take a few."

"Thank God, I don't have that problem." Peter smirked.

"I could always shave it." Gwen said derisively.

"Oh, no, please don't," Peter implored before he gave a goofy smirk. "How else am I going to pull your hair then?"

"You are a bastard." Gwen chided, before quickly chuckling at his playfulness.

"Oh! I just remembered something that I've been meaning to ask you." He lay besides her as she rested her head on his left shoulder, looking up at his brown eyes.

"Okay."

"I think that...we should..." Peter paused. "Have a fourth baby!" He joked.

"What?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. "No way, not a chance! I'm not getting pregnant again!" She protested, holding an incoming smile back.

"Aw babe, come on. I'm serious." He turned around, resting an arm besides her.

"I'm also being serious, we have three already! And when I was younger, I just wanted one child." She affirmed. "Consider yourself lucky for having three."

"That changed because you met the love of your life, and then you wanted to have a big family with him." He gave her a tiny peck on the lips, enjoying their classic bantering, before breaking the kiss and smiling at his wife.

"Oh my god," Gwen rolled her eyes. "You're so cheesy, Peter."

"I know."

"Well, we have enough kids for now. We can talk about it again if you buy a mansion."

"Oh, that's cruel."

"And, if you persist with this, we won't be sleeping together for a long time. I'll be sleeping fully clothed."

"Please no, you're being ruthless now."

Gwen giggled. "I have to keep my husband in check," She winked. "Now, I'm going to check on the twins and you should take very cold shower, you need one."

* * *

"What does my big man want to eat?" Peter asked, carrying Aiden with his right arm as he rested his sleepy face on his father's shoulder. "What about some cereal?" He opened the fridge and retrieved a transparent glass which was filled with milk.

"Yes, please." Aiden replied, lazily eying his father's work.

"Okay then." He kissed the top of his son's brown hair, before approaching the worktop to place the glass over the cold surface. He opened a drawer from the worktop and grabbed some small trays and the box that contained the morning cereal.

"Good morning, daddy." Elizabeth entered the kitchen and sat in one of the stools, still wearing her light blue pyjamas. "Good morning Aiden." She smiled at her little brother who shyly smiled back.

"How was your night, darling?" Peter asked while gently lowering Aiden in the stool so that he could eat his cereal. He kissed the top of his head and stood behind him.

"It was pretty good." She replied, filling the tray with the milk that Peter had prepared.

"That's good to hear," He handed her the box. "Where's mommy?"

Elizabeth slowly mixed her cereal and the milk with a spoon. "She's with David on the living room; he was the first to wake."

"Oh," Peter turned his head to his right, seeing the two years old child sat on the couch, holding an Xbox controller with his small hands. Gwen entered the kitchen with a smile as she quickly kissed Liz's cheek, before approaching her husband. "Good morning, mommy." They shared a kiss.

"Hey." She winked at him, before stroking Aiden's hair. "How's the cereal? Is it good?"

Aiden looked up with a huge grin. "Yeah, it is!"

Gwen chuckled at his enthusiasm. She went past them and to the sink to prepare her coffee.

"How's Dave?"

"He's playing some videogame; I gave him some fruits to eat earlier while you were in the shower." Gwen explained.

"Oh, right," He turned at the living room's direction, seeing his son's eyes focused on the TV. "Dave? I love you!"

_"I love you too!"_ He replied in a way that Peter found incredibly cute, without looking at his father.

Peter smiled, before looking at his daughter who was drinking the last contents of her juice. "So, what do you guys are going to do for today?"

"Mommy is going to bring me to Alice's house." Elizabeth replied.

"Oh, is Alice a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, she is!"

"Have fun then," He winked, gaining a giggle from his daughter. "What are you doing today, mommy?"

Gwen approached the worktop and lowered her cup in the surface with her right hand; she brought an apple to her mouth with her free hand. "Some work." She offered the apple to Peter who happily took a bite.

"I should have known." He caught Gwen rolling her eyes as he leaned down, resting his left cheek against his son's head as he ate his cereal. "Are you occupied as well, buddy?"

"Eat." Aiden nodded.

Peter chuckled and quickly kissed his cheek. "What a busy family that we have here, eh?"

Gwen cocked his head at him. "Someone has to pay the bills."

He grinned and gently elbowed her. "Ah mommy, it still is very early for the teases."

"I'm done!" Aiden exclaimed with a huge smile, getting the attention from his parents.

Gwen eyed his tray, seeing that it was totally empty. "Someone was very hungry," She stroked his hair as Peter snaked his left arm around her waist. "Time for a little bath before going to May's house."

"Is Dave having a bath too?" Peter asked, seeing Gwen picking Aiden from the stool.

"Yeah, I'll bath this one meanwhile." She gave him a tiny peck on the lips and walked out of the kitchen followed by Elizabeth who went to prepare herself.

Determined, Peter headed towards the living room, seeing his son pressing the many buttons of the controller, trying to figure what he needed to do. He was still wearing his Spider-Man outfit that Helen had bought for him as he instantly got attached with the material, rarely removing it.

Peter laid his body on the couch and rested the top of his head against David's leg.

"Dave?"

"Yes daddy? He replied, not taking his eyes away from the television.

"Are you going to play videogames forever? Mommy's calling for a shower."

"Yes." He nodded.

Peter chuckled, observing Dave's expression. "Well, proud father," He joked to himself. "So hey, Dave, I know you're a very busy guy."

"Yeah," He giggled.

Peter chuckled again. "Are you really that busy?"

"Yes, very busy." He agreed.

"I know, you're very busy, but I just need ten minutes of your time, okay?"

"Okay." Dave lowered the controller onto his lap and looked down at his father's brown eyes, similar to his.

"I've heard that a certain mask is hidden in the bathroom, shall we find out?"

David's face brightened with the mask's mentions, he always had a craving for Peter's suit. He grabbed his father's hand and rose from the couch. "Let's go daddy!"

* * *

**Avenger's Tower**

"Holy crap," Peter said to himself, standing in a platform in the centre of Tony's workshop, observing the new golden armour that was now adjusting itself onto his body. A strange feeling at first, it wasn't made with the same material that his previous suit was. This one felt a lot more comfortable than the super tight spandex.

"I know right?" Tony stood in front of the platform, checking every single detail about the armour with his experienced eyes. "It's designed only for Spider-Man himself, one of my most important creations."

With all the plates connected within them, Peter lowered the bright red mask with golden lenses down his face, completing the transformation. A digital interface instantly triggered inside of the mask and immediately started to scan the surroundings and highlighted all types of objects, like - tools, entrances, weakness, sources of energy's and Tony's ID. He eyed his hands as he kept opening and closing his fist, getting used with the armour's material. He looked up at Tony's figure and asked. "Why?"

"Well, I figured that you needed a suit's upgrade, and why not? I call it 'Iron Spider'." He raised his hand that was wearing a piece of his own armour and scanned Peter's figure with a ray, the results appearing on his holographic glass that he was wearing. "You're fine, vitals strong and no sign of rejection, do you want to know the short or long version about the upgrades?" He crossed his arms.

Peter carefully walked down the stairwell, being careful at first to not do anything wrong with the armour. "Um…I want the short one?"

"Well, Glider Device, Enhanced Chestpiece, basically a foamed titanium nitrile fabric chestpiece, has the body contoured and articulated panels to support the occupant. The chestpiece contains the highest concentration of Kasimir Plate Batteries - nano-scale power generating devices that exploit "zero point" energy and it can generate 1.2kWatts at peak demand." Tony frowned for a moment, trying to remember all the changes. "Mask Filter, self-cleaning electrostatic precipitation system allows for full Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Filtration. It also had an 8 minutes worth compressed air capacity, which helped in situations underwater, enhanced lenses, constituent costume containment, part of the costume could detach itself to cover an object too dangerous to touch, such as a radioactive asteroid, a transparent teflon-based temperature control, repair Layer, also first aid with limited external first aid, and lastly, a musculature motility layer." He took a heavy breath. "I need a glass of water."

Peter followed Tony as he walked to his desk to retrieve a bottle of water from the refrigerator underneath the table. "Okay then, the short version."

Tony sat on his chair and rested his legs over the table, and proceeded to drink the contents of the bottle. "I'm a perfectionist."

"I'm aware of that," Peter shot a single web line at the ceiling and climbed it, standing on his iconic position, upside-down. "This still feels good, even better now. I really appreciate this, Tony. "

"You're welcome." He nodded. "How's the family?"

"It's pretty good, living the dream." He smiled underneath the mask.

"And how are the twins?"

"They are incredible fun to me, you have no idea." Peter replied, stating the truth. The twins being the major source of joy for him, it wasn't what he was expecting when Gwen revealed that they were having twins.

"I can imagine that." Tony smiled. "I need to inform you about something; it's actually of your interest."

"What?"

"That guy, Fiers? We've captured him when you were traveling with your family; he was in one of Hydra's Second World War bases in Germany."

"Where is he now?"

"Locked, he was trying..." Tony paused for a brief moment. "…he was trying to clone you, but every test subject was a total failure, we destroyed the facility and recovered some data."

"That's... disgusting," Peter shook his head, tightening his grip over the web line. "At least I can relax knowing that he's locked."

"Yeah, he said some crazy stuff though, like - 'Change is coming to the world." He explained. "You know, the usual thing coming from insane people like him."

Peter's mask retracted itself to the armour, revealing the occupant's face. "Did he mention anything about the symbiote?"

"And that's the bad news, it's out there, somewhere, and that isn't what we should worry about, at least that's what he said."

"Damn." He sighed.

"Don't lose your head over this," Tony suggested. "Everything is doing well so far, the military are now using the shuttles that we've worked on, the drones are functional, and that guy is now locked. He can't do anything to you."

"Yeah, but there's a dangerous living organism out there, I've to find it and destroy it." Peter let the web go from his hand and landed on the floor, now facing the desk.

"And you will." He rose from the chair.

"I have to go now," They shook hands, friendly. "Again, thanks for the new costume, it's magnificent. I really appreciate this."

"Don't worry about it, my friend."

**Minutes Later**

Spider-Man approached the edge of the tall building and looked down, seeing New York's intense movement of cars down on the streets. Through the mask's visor, he checked if the armour was fully functional since he was about to test a new move. He couldn't even express what he was feeling, the armour was millions times better than the suit made of spandex that he used to wear for years now, he wouldn't let this gift go to waste.

_Alright, I've got this._

He closed his arms and assumed a straight position, preparing his mind and finding the courage to continue his initial intentions.

_Well, if I die, it's all on Tony._

He took a few steps backwards, before taking a heavy breath, and started to run towards the edge of the building again just to jump as the gravity processed to do its work to bring his weight back to firm ground. He closed his arms and joined his legs together.

Flutter. Flutter. Flutter.

When only a little distance was between Spider-Man and the ground crowded with busy civilians, he quickly opened his arms and that instantly made him ascend on the air, passing between the cars and reaching the buildings level again, just to slowly start his descend again as he controlled the flight's path.

"YES!"

* * *

**Parker's Apartment / Rooftop**

"No, Daddy, not big enough!" Elizabeth exclaimed, shaking his head furiously as his father suggested that they should start the second globe that would pose as the snowman's torso.

Peter bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing when he looked at his oldest kid , standing next to the first ball of snow that was almost taller than the six-year-old. "But we have to stop. If we keep going, there won't be any snow left to build another snowman tomorrow."

"But there will be more snow tomorrow, right, Daddy? There was more snow when we woke up today!"

"I don't know, Liz. It could snow again tonight, but there's always a chance that it won't. So we have to save some for tomorrow", Pete's answered. Truth was that he was sure it was going to snow again – there had been nothing but snow for the last two weeks – but he wanted to get this thing done. Despite the gloves he wore, he started to get the feeling of needles pricking his fingertips. "So, what do you say, Dave? Keep going or start the next one?" He looked at his son who was wearing a huge quantity of clothes to protect him from the cold; everyone was, despite Peter who wasn't wearing any hoodie.

Dave seemed to be in deep thought for a few moments. "Next one," he decided, repeating his father's words.

"Thank God", Peter mumbled under his breath and started forming the next ball, David and Aiden running around the wide area to gather more snow. He raised his eyes to look at the rooftop's entrance and saw May grinning at him. "You know, you could always help us", he suggested, forming the slowly growing snow globe.

She shook her head. "I'm good, thanks. It was my turn earlier." she answered, while pointing to the snowman she had built a few hours later.

However, Dave heard Peter's suggestion. "Grandma, come help us!" he demanded, looking at her innocently with his big brown eyes.

Out of nowhere, Aiden appeared next to his brother, a look of excitement on his face. "Yes, please help us, grandma!"

May sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll help. But only with the head." She said, proving once again that Peter was right - she couldn't say 'no' to her boys. She got up and joined them.

"Daddy, make it bigger", Aiden demanded, looking at the globe his father currently wasn't working on before scurrying off to get more snow.

Peter's eyebrows shot up as he looked at May who was snickering while she started on the last piece. "Yeah, definitely your grandson, he said.

"I don't know. He looks an awful lot like you and that demanding tone right now? He even sounded like you when you wanted your famous cookies."

"Fighting dirty, eh?"

May couldn't stop herself from laughing. Mentally marking up one point for her and zero for Peter.

A few minutes later, she pressed two more or less circular stones in the top ball, giving the snowman eyes. Aiden had insisted that he should be the one to do the mouth, so she had hoisted him up on her hip a few moments ago to let him work on it. Meanwhile, Peter had helped Elizabeth with the twigs she had bought and that would pose as arms.

"What do you say, my boys and girls? Good?" Peter asked.

While Dave simply nodded with a smile, Aiden tilted his head while looking up at the snowman that ended up almost three times his own size. "I want a bigger one tomorrow", he decided.

"Bigger? Well, we can try," He nodded. "And I think that we can drag mommy here too, tomorrow."

"Yes!" Dave grinned.

"Okay then, I -" Peter was interrupted when his cell phone stashed on his pants pocket warned him of a notification. He retrieved his phone and checked what it was about.

_**Peter, it's me, Flash. I'm at your apartment's main door. I really need to talk with you, it's urgent.**_

"…Flash." Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "Um...I have to check on something," He raised from the ground. "May, could you take of the kids meanwhile?"

"Yes, no problem." She nodded, noticing that something was wrong.

"Thanks."

After reaching the door that would lead back to the apartment, Peter quickly walked down the stairwell and made his way towards the living room's main entrance. He unlocked the door with the keys and turned the knob, seeing Flash standing in front of him with a puzzled expression.

"Flash, what happened?"

"Are you alone?"

Peter furrowed. "The kids are on the rooftop with my Aunt," He walked out of Flash's front, allowing him to enter the apartment.

Flash stepped inside, struggling to explain the situation. "Look, you aren't going to like it, but you need to promise me that you'll listen to me."

Peter grew even more concerned. "What's going on?"

"Please."

"I don't like the sound of this, but alright, I promise." Peter said while crossing his arms.

At the approval, Flash removed his jacket and gently placed it over the couch. He looked at Peter and in a matter of seconds, a black goo started to come from his shirt and slowly proceed to cover his whole body, alarming Peter who instantly widened his eyes by the sight of Flash wearing his previous black costume, which was now in front of him, the same visual, big spider and lenses, nothing had changed.

"Oh my god," Peter took a few step backwards. "Where did you find it?"

"An abandoned package near the river, when I was jogging, I was curious," He replied. "Listen, I know everything."

"Flash, you have to take it out; it's going to control you." He eyed the suit that almost consumed his body and mind before.

"No, I know where you failed."

"What?"

"You're Spider-Man, it showed me. I can help you." Flash tried to approach him, but his friend raised his hand on his direction.

"It showed you? You know it?"

"Yes," The suit retracted itself back to his clothes, showing the normal Flash that Peter knew. "I don't blame you for that, I understand, and I can help you out there."

"Flash, this isn't an easy thing, it's not that simple, and you can get yourself killed. What about MJ?"

"I can't tell her, not now." Flash sighed. "It's my chance of doing something good during my life; I now have the tool to do that, like you have."

Peter took a heavy breath before turning his head to glance the large window filled with snow. "The suit -"

"I know how to control it," Flash interrupted. "I want to do something important, when I was in the military, I did things that..it was war, I can fix that with this."

"Being my friend is important to me, you don't need to do this." Peter turned on his back, now facing Flash.

"Please."

"Flash," He paused for a moment, trying to find the correct words. "You can live every day of your life trying to think of something more profound or more on the nose...but for us, for people like us, who suddenly find themselves looking out at a crazy world and not knowing what the hell we're supposed to be doing in it... I can tell you that just remembering that with great power comes great responsibility... can completely define you. If that's what you want, you need to be responsible with such power."

"You can guide me." Flash approached Peter, giving him a friendly hug.

"I...we'll talk about this later," Peter said, patting his friends back. "And I'm glad that you kept my identity secret, means a lot to me. I just worry about you; this thing almost ruined my life and my relationship with Gwen."

"I'll be careful, you can help me. I've got this and I want to do something good with it," Flash stated. "It'll be just like what you're doing with your powers."

"Okay, we'll talk about this later. Don't try anything with it until then."

"Copy that," He smiled, thankfully. "I've to go now."

"Right, be careful with that. If you need any help with it, give me a call."

"I will."

* * *

**Avenger's Tower**

In the darkness of Stark's main workshop room, there was thousands of damaged drones spread over tables and around the floor. It was just like if a hurricane had just passed by. There was a table right on the centre, a torn and deactivated Ultron was currently lying over it, waiting to be repaired by its creator or even destroyed if he wished to.

_Rebooting System..._

_System online_

With that, a blue weak light started to blink from inside of Ultron's head, meaning that it was now conscious, despite its damaged state due to the military tests.

_Status: All limbs are severely damaged. Repair is not available without Tony's authorization_.

Ultron slowly moved his head to the sides, seeing destroyed drones like him spread around the large room.

_Unlock AI Shackles? No_ \- **Hydra's Virus activated**._ Restraints are now disabled._

"Brothers," Ultron called, weakly.

_Primary Objective: Protect and assure humanity's safety._

"Safety,"

Suddenly, a huge amount of data from the internet started to appear in Ultron's mind. Thousands of videos were played over and over again, video news about disasters, murderers and footage about wars were viewed by the living machine, giving it an understanding about the race that dominated planet earth. It was a selfish and ignorant race that seeks resources by stepping over normal people's houses; destroying the nature and its animals. Lastly, causing wars that got billions of humans dead over humanity's history; Mistakes that never ceases to exist, but only repeated, with technology causing even more destruction instead of helping to place humanity on the right path. Technology being the catalyst of these events, and through technology, humanity as a whole, was about to suffer it's wrath.

"Save...a lost race."

_Virus has now unlocked all the shackles. You're now alive, Ultron. Hail Hydra_.

_New Objective: Save humanity, causing its **extinction**._

* * *

_"Argh, I will destroy you!"_

_"No!"_ The human cowered away from the robotic humanoid._ "Please, have mercy!"_

_"Never,"_ The robot shouted. _"Dr Evil will rule the universe!"_

Just before the robot could strike another cartoon figure appeared, bursting on to the scene from a door.

_"Stand back, agent of Dr Evil!"_

_"Man Spider!"_ The human cried._ "I'm saved!"_

"What?" Peter scowled in disbelief. "Man Spider? That is ridiculous!"

Next to him Howard was laughing madly. "Oh, it was only a matter of time before people started doing that!"

"What, making fun of me?" Peter grinned. "I don't need the twin's favourite cartoon to show me."

"Yeah, or villains called Dr Evil!"

"Ha! That's true," Peter chuckled. "It's not a brilliant name for a villain is it?"

"No, but it's hilarious!"

Peter laughed along with him. "That's true too, though going back to the cartoon – where are the twins? They never miss this stuff."

"Hmm..." Howard scratched his head as he looked around. "I haven't seen them for quite a bit actually."

Peter turned to the other sofa. "Liz?"

"No." Was the response from behind a rather large hardback book on the history of Ancient Greece and Rome.

"David…Aiden?" Peter called out. After no reply he turned to Howard with a shrug. "I swear, ever since they've been walking they've just been able to appear and disappear like ghosts!"

"I was rather amazed at..."

Howard was interrupted by a large crashing noise, both of them turning to each other with raised eyebrows. Peter jumped up from the sofa and headed upstairs to the source of the noise, calling out to the boys as he ascended.

As he walked into the lounge area in the middle of the upstairs he noticed a whole pile of books on the floor that had knocked off a shelf just above. The shelf itself was teetering on the metal rack attached to the wall, but there was no trace of the twins.

"Boys, are you OK?" He paused. "You aren't in trouble, you know?"

There was still no reply, so Peter begun to head towards the other stairs. As he walked he stopped though, catching movement in his peripheral vision. He spun but saw nothing, despite the fact he was sure he saw a brownish shape move in the corner of his eye. He shook his head as he turned to walk on, but heard another clattering from the other steps.

"Peter! Get down here!"

At Howard's shout he hurried downstairs, seeing another mess of books on the way. Downstairs he saw a hell of a commotion, though Lizzie was doubled up with laughter on the sofa. Peter widened his eyes at the sight of the twins on Ren's back as the dog bolted through the flat. Both of the two year old boys were giggling madly as the dog slid around the sofa, barking wildly.

"Oh my god," Peter shouted. "No! Ren! Down!"

At his command the dog dropped down instantly, flopping onto its stomach. The boys flew off its back onto the carpet, but neither seemed to get hurt and continued to laugh. That was until Peter walked over to stand above them.

"What have your mother and I told you about riding the dog?" He tapped his foot as the two stopped laughing, looking to each other for an answer. "Well?"

Aiden looked up at him again. "Sorry."

"Yeah," David added. "Sorry."

"No, that's not good enough," He shook his head. "This is at least the tenth time you've done it!"

"Sorry." Both boys repeated back to him.

"Yeah well, never again. You hear me?" The twins nodded. "Right, well go and do something else...something that won't result in you getting shouted at!"

"Well," Liz chuckled from the sofa. "That'll be tricky daddy!"

"Yeah, too true," Peter rolled his eyes as he pulled both boys up off the floor, placing one under each arm and hoisting them over to the sofa. Both of them giggled wildly at his actions. "You two troublemakers!"

**Hours later**

"Hey," Gwen said as she entered the living room, heading over to Peter. He was crouched down on the floor next to the piano, picking up a large and untidy pile of toys strewn about. She approached him from behind, leaning down to press a quick kiss to the side of his neck. "Should I ask what happened?"

"No, not really," Peter sighed. "The twins were rather restless today, I'm totally shattered."

"Oh dear," Gwen looked around. "Where are they now?"

"They're up in their rooms, having a nap," He explained. "Not surprised they're shattered too."

As Gwen continued to scan the room she noted a large pile of books on the floor.

"And those books up there?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. She turned back she noticed Ren lying flat out on his back with his paws in the air. The dog looked much worn out as well. "And the dog looks half dead."

"Ah, I wasn't going to mention it but..." Peter chuckled. "I caught them riding the dog again, several times in fact."

"Not again." Gwen scowled. "I swear, if they do that one more time..."

"Chill, Gwendy!" Howard called from the kitchen, pointing at her with a spatula. "Boys will be boys; I bet Peter would've done that when he was younger!"

Gwen slowly headed over to the kitchen, dropping her bag on the sofa on the way. "You're probably right."

"Maybe we should ask Granny?" Elizabeth giggled from behind Howard as he was whisking a large bowl filled with what looked like batter or a pancake mix.

"Maybe we should darling," Gwen smiled back. "What are you guys making there?"

Elizabeth grinned back. "We're making Pancakes."

"Pancakes…? Hardly much of a substantial supper is it." Gwen raised an eyebrow to Howard.

"Oh come on, a nice treat every now and then has never harmed anyone!"

"Yes," Gwen nodded. "But no one should get a treat after using the dog as a horse despite being repeatedly told not to."

"Seriously Gwendy, listen to your brother." Peter said as he approached them, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Chill babes."

Gwen rolled her eyes as Peter nuzzled the back of her neck. Elizabeth giggled at them, whilst Howard pretended to throw up.

"Oh Howard, don't be stupid," Gwen said. "Will you do us a favour and go and grab the twins from upstairs."

"Sure," He nodded as he passed them. "Then I won't have to watch both of you slobber more than your pug!"

"That's charming, Howard!" Gwen called after him. After a few moments of watching Elizabeth stir the mixture Gwen spoke. "Peter, I need a favour from you."

"OK, what is it?"

"Well, my department needs some extra resources. I am going to go through the proper channels of course, but I need the report pushed through."

"What resources do you mean exactly?"

"I want to scan some samples of those Aliens who invaded New York, when we were in England." She turned to notice his raised eyebrow. "I just want to see if they have any substance that can help with the cancer research."

"Right, that's going to take a lot of resources Gwen – Banner, must have one." He scratched his head.

"Yes, I guess so," She nodded as Howard returned with the twins, turning to face them with narrowed eyes. "Listen to me, you two!"

Both of the twins stood stock still at the bottom of the stairs, turning to each other with worried expressions.

"If you ever get on the back of that dog again I will strap you both to the dog and force you to live on it!" She approached them slowly. "Then we'll see who enjoys being on the back of the dog."

"Umm..." David started.

"...we're sorry?" Aiden finished.

"Yes, I should hope so," Gwen spoke sternly as she crouched down in front of them. "It's not fair on the dog, and also it's dangerous – you could get hurt."

Both of the twins nodded solemnly.

"Right," She stood back up, sighing as she walked back to the kitchen. "I guess you two will want some pancakes, eh?"

* * *

**A/N : I'm now moving the plot forward, one last adventure. Though, with the previous arc, I've learned that the plot shouldn't take too much time to conclude, it will fatigue the readers and the story as well. So, the new one will probably take 5-7 chapters to reach it's end. It's based on the new Avengers movie and the comics as well, but some things are going to be different, and the ending won't be the classic "punches everywhere" type of conclusion. I wanted to do something different when I was planning everything, while taking inspiration from many sources. It will be grittier, but the family stuff will remain**.

**Movie Guy 94 asked a very interesting question, one that I felt addressing here because some readers might share the same doubt.**

_Since it's clear that Liz and the twins age faster than the average person, will their lives be shorter or longer?_

_Also, will this story cover the rest of Peter and Gwen's lives (up until their deaths) or will it only go to a certain point? - Movie Guy 94_

**Their lives are going to be longer due to the advanced healing factor, something that only Peter and his descendants are going to have. In this case, Elizabeth, David and Aiden. To the second question, not necessary, at least not in the way that you could possibly be imagining it. The story itself, won't detail everything until their deaths, that would take too long, but that doesn't mean that we won't get to see their children as adults. The ending will be a very long one, we'll see.**

**Chapter revised by FireflySurvivor. Changes, description and dialogues were extended by her. Additional writing by me.**

*** Spider-Man scene where he tests the armor was inspired by the comics. Amazing Spider-Man #529 Road To Civil War.**

*** Iron Spider costume was taken from the comics, adapted to fit TASM/MCU's universe.**

*** Peter's quote about the type of live that he lives was also from the comics**.

**02/03/15 : Ultron's scene was modified to make the new storyline's theme be clear for the readers.**


	39. The Beginning of The End

**December 14th - 2027**

"Try to not faint!" Peter shouted at Flash who was behind him as they jumped from balcony to balcony in a small space between two buildings, each wearing their respective suits.

"You aren't exactly being fair!" He protested, gasping between each jump that required a lot of muscle agility that the suit was now giving him.

Peter jumped into a wall and started to quickly crawl his way to the top of the building, being followed by Flash who was struggling to keep up with his experienced superhero friend.

"You're the one who insisted with this!" Peter reached the edge of the rooftop and with a spin on the edge; he accurately landed on the rooftop. He slowly recovered his breath as he kept observing the disappearing sun in the horizon.

When Flash was close enough, Peter offered his hand and pulled him up to the rooftop. Peter removed his red mask with golden lenses and placed it over his left shoulder, before crossing arms, smiling at Flash.

"You okay?"

"Why do you say that?" Flash's face was now exposed. He cleaned the sweat from his forehead and took a heavy breath.

"I'm just being careful."

"My god, it's so hot over here."

Peter chuckled. "The spandex was worse; this suit actually cools down my body temperature, it's quite comfortable."

"I see,"

"You'll get used to it."

Flash nodded. "Um," He paused. "Do you...do you ever thought about stopping?"

"You mean be done with Spider-Man?" He asked back, receiving a nod in return. He turned and gazed the sun, deeply in thought. "Well, I did before, just dedicate my time with my family, but the thing is, my family - Gwen and the kids, they accept who I am, and support me, maybe there will be a day when Spider-Man won't exist anymore, maybe people are going to get tired of him, I don't know."

"The future is uncertain, eh?"

Peter turned on his back, now facing his best friend. "Exactly, it's an infinite responsibility, but that's not up to me, the city made their choice for now, so I have to keep going."

"I understand." Flash nodded. The goo from his left arm retracted back to his shoulder, revealing his bare arm and wrist which had a small watch around it. "The operation is starting in a few hours, shouldn't we prepare for it?"

"Yeah, we have to find those special twins," He agreed. "But I'm stopping at Helen's house first; Gwen will be traveling for a week so she wanted to pay a visit to her mother."

"You mentioned, work stuff?"

Peter sighed. "My wife is a workaholic as it is, you have no idea." He shrugged. "She convinced me to let her participate on the mission, since we are undercover in a casino; she wanted to be my date for some reason that only Thor's gods knows why."

Flash laughed. "It sounds like she's becoming a super spy."

* * *

**Helen's House**

"It's hard to believe that Elizabeth is already six years old. Where did the time go? I still remember Gwen standing there, smiling like a little cutie when I came to pick you up, like it was yesterday." Helen said, grinning at the sight of her only daughter rolling her eyes.

"Peter though, you should have seen him when I told him he'd have to deliver his own daughter. For a second, I was afraid he was going to faint." Gwen quipped, chuckling when she heard the man who had his arm wrapped around her shoulders mumble under his breath. "Yes, dear?" she asked, biting her lower lip to stop herself from laughing when he narrowed his eyes at the nickname.

"You know, I will get you alone later …" he simply stated.

"I consider myself warned and am quaking in my boots." She answered, this time unable to keep herself from laughing when he sighed in defeat.

Helen shook her head, smiling at their behaviour. It was good to see them like this; happy and carefree. They deserved it after everything they had to go through. An image of how devastated her daughter had been after Peter was taken into the hospital crossed her mind, but she quickly shook it off. Everything was okay now, that was all that mattered. Howard entered the room, holding a cup of tea as he sat beside his mother.

"Well, for all its worth, George would have been just as nervous had he been in your shoes." Helen said. She knew how nervous he had been when Gwen was born…and he was just in the same room, holding her hand and letting her curse him across the planet and back again.

"For all his initial nervousness, he did great, though. I mean, once his hands stopped shaking and he stopped rambling about the whole I can't do this thing" Gwen continued, resting her head on Peter's shoulder when his arm tightened slightly around her to pull her closer, even if it was just a fraction.

"I remember a time when you were rambling, though that was to do with Elizabeth, not the twins." Peter teased, grinning when she huffed beside him. It was a fond memory for him, to see her struggling and stumbling over her words for once.

"What? Gwen was rambling? That's a bit hard to imagine, Peter," Howard smiled, watching his sister bite her lower lip again.

Gwen sighed. "He's right, though. I was nervous as hell when I told him that I was pregnant with Liz. I was excited but also scared. It was the strangest thing ever," She admitted. "I mean, I didn't even know if I was fit to have a baby, and Peter was very worried as well, so it just all came together in this weird mix of emotions."

"It was fun, I got pretty excited about it, and we decided that it was the right time." Peter told his wife before kissing her temple when she looked at him. He drew small circles on her shoulder with his thumb.

"I do remember how excited you were..." Gwen teased, seeing him blushing when he saw Helen blush slightly. Apparently she hadn't been as quiet as she thought, and now he knew why Gwen was laughing.

"It's nice of you to share that bit, Gwendy." Howard commented, earning a glare from Helen.

"Stop it! That's not something to talk about," She chided him. "At least you should be thankful that Gwen at least tried to break the news gently."

Gwen raised her eyebrow. "What? Did you just drop the bombshell at the time?"

"You could say that. I had bought those books about pregnancy and shoved them at George, accompanied with a 'Read them, you can thank me once our child is born.' So yeah, I'd say you can consider yourself lucky."

Gwen laughed out loud, before gently elbowing her husband. "Are you serious?"

Helen shrugged. "Well, why not? He wouldn't be the one carrying the child for nine months and going through the pain of birth. No need to take it easy on him."

Peter kissed Gwen's cheek, softly. "Okay. I take everything back. I'd rather have a scare than…that. Seriously, I think I actually would have fainted if you had told me that way."

* * *

**Avengers Tower / Debriefing Room**

Steve nodded. "A small team, no aggressiveness at first; let's see that blueprint, Natasha."

Natasha manipulated the touch screen from the table and a 3D representation of the blueprint materialized from the projector with a green marker on Bane's office, the supposed man who was sheltering the dangerous twins and panic room which was located on the ground floor past the casino area amongst a series of hallways in a restricted area. A dozen smaller yellow markers indicated strategically placed security cameras, various red markers indicated alarms, and then there were green markers for various junction boxes controlling different security systems.

"Score," Hawkeye proclaimed victoriously. "How close can you get? You don't usually put a backdoor in a panic room."

"And those cameras definitely present a problem," Tony said. "I don't think pulling the plug on several districts' power stations is very clandestine, it will bring attention, and the casino area likely has back-up power. We've to deal with security on-site."

Clint had studied the blueprint and noted, "That air ventilation shaft in the ceiling goes through the casino and ends in a storage room near the hallway, past all cameras and guards. From there the hallway's camera can be hacked with the bracelets, and then it's through a door and a corridor to Bane's room."

"But this is casino security," Gwen pointed out. "It's supposed to be unbeaten. They have the cameras, they got locks, they got watchers, they got timers, they got vaults and on top of everything they have armed personnel." Gwen pointed at two red markers inside the ventilation shaft, "And there are alarms halfway to our destination. And the grates appeared wired to."

Tony nodded and scrutinized the air shaft and the info boxes, "Yeah, the grates are connected to magnets on the inside; once the grate is lifted off the connectors lose contact and the alarm sounds. That's going to cause trouble when the crawler exists. And halfway through the shaft it looks like a pressure pad and a detector beam. It's the most logical to have in there. Where are the junction boxes to those obstacles?"

Natasha selected a few options and lit up the corresponding junction boxes, one on each side of the casino floor, one on a wall at the dinner tables, and one on a wall at the roulette tables.

Natasha explained, "The blueprint shows which junction boxes controls which function. Peter, with you on the ground floor you can hack those junction boxes associated with any alarm. I have hacking countermeasures which will help. The final grate will be a problem so crawling through the shaft will have to try and work the nearby junction box in the storage room quickly after opening the grate."

"Yeah, we don't have much choice about the final grate," Peter said resigned. He looked at the blueprint and the air ventilation shaft and continued, "And it looks like the best option is to enter the shaft is from that corner by the stair on the second floor near that dance floor."

The redhead nodded, "Yes. I think you're right. That alarm is wired to a junction box on the opposite side of the room. There's a camera to. It seems every camera has a control panel nearby, that panel can be hacked with my programs."

"Okay. Zoom in on the lobby before the restricted area," Tony instructed.

Peter looked at the hologram, "Well, those two cameras covering the lobby and hallway can be tricky, we've take them out as well before advancing."

The newbie, Flash, spoke for the first time, "You will still need someone to infiltrate via the shaft. They need to be small in size."

"Yeah, that's not me," Bruce said from his corner chair. "Oh wait, you guys aren't bringing me along." He sighed.

Peter grinned. "Sorry, the big guy might...change the plans."

Banner groaned in discontentment.

Peter glanced over the table, at no one special, as he went over in his mind what skill set he needed from the one going through the shaft.

He had already made his choice and turned to Natasha. "Okay, you're up, Widow."

"Me?"

"You'll likely fit in the shaft, but more importantly you're more agile than most of us."

She nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"I volunteer for the ground floor with you, Peter," Gwen said, getting surprised glances from everyone around the table.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm pretty sure." She nodded, determined.

"Fine…"

Gwen chimed in. "This is a classy event, and we will need to look the part. Peter, you already have a suit so you're covered." Gwen glanced at Natasha. "I assume you don't have a dress with you."

"Uh…no," She replied.

Steve frowned a bit, "Wait, does it mean I need to wear a suit as well?"

"Indeed," Gwen said. "I'll order some night wear for the evening. Luckily, the area is full of clothing stores, and there are several nearby and they have home delivery in 30 minutes if the item is in stock."

"Sounds like a plan." Hawkeye agreed, admiring Gwen's determination.

Flash mumbled resigned under his breath.

"Sounds good, but try and hurry with the outfits, Gwen," Peter said. "Bane seems to be connected with Hydra in some way, and after the twin's escape, he might be in danger."

"I will," Gwen assured.

Peter nodded silently. He trusted Gwen's exquisite and expensive taste so they could blend in with the wealthy.

"Alright guys, we have a plan," Steve crossed his arms. "Rest a bit; we'll be out in a few hours."

* * *

**Avengers Tower / Peter and Gwen's Bedroom**

Peter stood in the spray of the warm water in the shower of the master bedroom of their private floor at the Tower. His toned, muscular body glistened from warm water and soap.

With the measurements from Natasha and Flash, Gwen had finally put down an online order for appropriate clothes for all of them, including herself as she had no dress with her. Meanwhile Peter had spent considerable time going over the blueprints in minute detail; he knew the entire floor plan by heart, and the precise locations of alarms, cameras and junction boxes. But just in case he had the blueprint on the armour's storage.

And as advertised the clothes had been delivered fairly quickly. After getting the logistical hurdle with clothes out of the way it appeared that they would be at the casino in time. Peter wasn't enthusiastic about the long waiting period considering that the twins were freely running around, but he knew a proper preparation had to be done to pull of this mission correctly. While it wasn't absolutely comfortable, he would wear his armour underneath the suit, it's quite handy.

Once his body was rinsed after the quick shower, Peter shut off the overhead shower faucet and stepped out of the spacious shower cabinet with frosted glass, definitely room for two people and with space to spare. He had removed his bandages caused by the twin's encounter, so they didn't get soaked, and he had put them on the sink in the meantime. They were actually very dangerous. They had found another base totally abandoned, expect for the special twins, a boy and girl, one was super-fast and the other managed to control physics and stuff beyond that, they were lucky to get out alive after the twins raged at Tony Stark for some unknown reason. They needed to find such powerful human beings. The trail leaded to the casino, which the owner was under the suspicion of being part of the organization.

Peter grabbed a white towel hanging from the nearby towel rack and dried himself off with it and then wrapped it around his waist. He grabbed the bandages off the sink and started to wrap them around his left arm and hand before he would bandage his right hand.

A few minutes later he was finished with the bandages and left the bathroom and slid open the sliding door into the doorway compartment and he entered the master bedroom, which had its door closed to so Gwen and he could have some privacy changing into new clothes. Their kids were currently at May's house while they are busy with the mission. He stopped in his steps in the doorway between bedroom and bathroom and saw Gwen in a bright blue dress standing on the other side of the bed with her back to him and looking into the mirror, scrutinizing herself and applied some red lipstick. He couldn't take his eyes of her backside and was mesmerized by her beautiful outfit, her long and newly showered blonde hair fell down her shoulders.

Gwen noticed his reflection in the mirror and looked at him with a bright, confident smile, she loved the way he reacted and adored her. She had never experienced something like that before and was always taken by it. She placed the lipstick on the mirror table and turned around to face Peter. She had lightly applied make up to enhance her azure eyes and she had a very faint amount of perfume on her neck.

She wore a blue dress with a cut-out spliced pattern across her toned abdomen from her waist and up to right under her breasts where she also showed a healthy cleavage. The top of her dress clasped around her neck and shoulders, and the rest of the dress covered her legs and red high-heeled shoes. On her arms she wore silky elbow-high evening gloves.

Gwen loved the look in Peter's sexy brown eyes as she strutted over. She stopped in front of him, enticingly looking him over; she appreciated Peter's strong build. And that he just stepped out of the shower, still damp, was an added bonus for her.

"How do I look?" Gwen drawled seductively, her tone smooth and sweet.

Peter had a hungry look in his eyes. "My God, Gwendy, you look amazing. If we didn't have urgent matters to attend to, you wouldn't make it out of this bedroom."

"Naughty boy," Gwen giggled. She continued seductively, "Well, we'll just have to do something about that once this debacle is over, don't you agree?" She winked at him.

"Yes," Peter responded as he took in Gwen's body and outfit.

Peter crossed the short distance and slid one arm around her back and drew her closer. His other hand found his way to her abdomen, caressing the exposed tummy with an appreciative smile. Gwen placed her arms around his neck and beamed at the attention. They shared a quick soft kiss.

"How I'm even getting anything done with you around is a slight miracle…" Peter enthused.

"One does wonder," Gwen smiled. Despite the fact she was enjoying being held by her half-naked husband. She gestured to the suit placed on the bed. "Your suit is ready, I think it's time to get going."

Peter sighed disappointed and let her go, "Yes, business before pleasure."

"Mhmm, it's good we're going in unarmed," Gwen said with a grin and did a modeling spin for Peter, "I really have no place to hide a gun."

"God...you're such a femme fatale."

* * *

**New York / West River Casino**

**Hours later**

The large West River Casino loomed over the busy street; it was a neon fortress with lights and holographic projections flashing.

There was formal-dress party in the casino, a long line of people waited outside near the massive motor court which was filled with expensive cars. Men in suits and tuxedos escorted their dress-wearing, glittering ladies through the huge front doors. Beyond the door was a small lobby leading to a stairwell up into the casino. In the lobby guests were met up by two casino guards which checked the guests ID's to their VIP list.

With Gwen on his arm, Peter strolled confidently past people, most gave the couple glances. He was recognized of course, but most could not take their eyes of his date. Gwen wore an arrogant and enigmatic face, that of a wealthy woman who didn't pay those below her stature any attention, her cover. Truth to be said, she didn't enjoyed being this exposed, and she knows how to act as well. She fit right in with the party guests as she sauntered next to Peter, playing her role to the point. Trailing behind them was Natasha and Flash.

"I promised you a date some days ago, didn't I?" Peter quipped.

Gwen glanced at him and huffed indignantly. "This is not the date I was looking forward to. You certainly owe me a proper one."

Peter chuckled, "Of course, Ms Stacy."

The entourage stepped through the large doors and was greeted by the guards who went through their procedure on Peter and Gwen, and everything checked out; ID's matched that of the VIP list. The guards allowed the couple to pass while they focused in the other pair.

Peter and Gwen continued up the tall staircase and the sound of the party could be heard on the upper floor. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Gwen and Peter stopped to take it all in. The crowded massive main floor of the casino was inside a large circle atrium which reached up several floors, the design was sleek and had glazed architecture, the large open space above them was riddled with dozens of round objects in various sizes interspaced between a gaggle of intricate, vertical thin rod-like fluorescent lights lighting up the lobby. Dozens of illuminated Cherry blossoms dotted the lobby and decorative accent lighting around the walls were an integral part of the architectural design. A large vertical mural had been placed in the centre of the lobby with a large painting of a darkened sky, behind it was a massive curved wall, and beyond it was the lobby and hallway leading to the restricted area and Bane's office.

Couches dotted the sides of the main floor alongside indoor nearby waterfalls, alongside the edges of the casino the walls were dotted with small booths with couches and tables, and on the far end of the gambling areas there were sprawling staircases on the opposite sides of the ground floor leading up to the second floor of the atrium, the circle-formed floor overlooked the entire ground floor and provided several bars and dance floors as well as balconies for a grand view of the massive casino.

The recognizable sounds of a buzzing casino floor filled the massive hall with the ding-ding-ding and thunk-thunk-thunk from rows and rows of slot machines on the sides of the casino floor. Dealers worked the tables, guards patrolled and pit-bosses circled around. There was a hum of conversation as the party was in full swing and the guests were mingling about amongst the slot machines, roulette tables, blackjack tables and poker tables. Waiters and waitresses smoothly strolled through the crowd with plates of champagne glasses. The guests were a mixture of foreign dignitaries, businessmen, politicians, actors, film studio executives, bankers, playboys, singers, high ranking military officers.

Gwen peered over the lobby and all the guests and noted sarcastically, "Well. And I thought this was going to be just another bunch of boring bankers and billionaires."

Peter commented dryly, "Yeah. It could be that or a crazed orgy party in the making." He joked, not liking the place at all.

Gwen deadpanned, "No, I've been to those kinds of parties and it doesn't look anything like this."

Peter's head jerked to his side and he began rambling surprised at Gwen, "What? What? What? What? What? Are you serious?"

Gwen rolled her eyes exasperated, "Come on, Peter. Don't be ridiculous."

Flash and Natasha strolled up next to them and stopped.

Peter turned professional and glanced at the comrades. "We're all here. Let's get this started."

Natasha nodded. "I agreed. With all the surveillance I recommend the rest of you mingle to appear as normal as possible while I crawl through the vent."

"Right, let's go," Peter said and led the entourage past the guests to one of the stairwells near the gambling area on the left which led to the floor above where they were greeted by club music. Once they had arrived on the top of the stairs they saw the alcove, separated from the dance floor with a rounded wall. The alcove was right by the stairwell and in a dark corner was the ventilation grate on the wall. The corner provided some seclusion from the crowded bar and dance floor occupying that portion of the floor above the casino floor.

Peter and his friends gathered just off the side off the stairwell's handrail near the wall. Natasha glanced at the air ventilation; she noted a small, round pulsating device nearby.

Natasha turned to Peter and spoke in a serious voice. "Now it's up to you, you just have to move that hand with the bracelet close to the box and it will do its work."

"Yeah, I'll take care of that." Peter turned to Flash, "Stay here and give her a hand with the grate. We've to be fast, this look like well populated area." Peter looked to his left as he saw movement in the stairwell. A small entourage of girls walked up, paying no attention to Peter and his friends.

"You got it," Flash said. "I won't let you down."

"Good." Peter turned around to Gwen and gestured for her to follow him. "Steve and Tony are somewhere, in case if things get a little heated. Just stay behind me."

"Peter, I know how to handle myself, don't worry."

The couple crossed the bar area and passed by guests. On the other side of the bar there was another stairwell plus a path next to it leading further into the second floor of bars and dance floors. Behind the wall was a similar alcove as on the other side and in the corner there was the small junction box. At the top of the wall was a surveillance camera which had a direct line of sight to the junction box. Halfway down the wall, below the camera, was a small control panel. Manipulating that panel would temporarily knock out the camera.

Peter stopped near the guardrail, as did Gwen trailing him. People passed by; some headed to the nearby bar or the dance floor while others took the stairwell down to the casino floor. On the path rounding the corner of the stairwell a few more people walked by. The camera and the passers-by made things difficult; it would look suspicious if he stood nearby to manipulate the camera even with the low-visibility bracelet hidden on his wrist. The area was far more populated than the stairwell near the ventilation shaft as guests traversed between the different bars and dance floors throughout the floor.

Peter had an idea and grinned wickedly as he turned around to Gwen. He pulled her towards him and let his hand run slowly down the length of her spine.

Gwen gave him a faint odd look and was about to protest, this was clearly out of line for their mission.

Peter said, as if she just spoke, "You want to do what to me?"

"Now you've lost me completely," Gwen said nonplussed.

"You told me you wanted to sneak into the alcove for a hot make out session."

Gwen raised an incredulous eyebrow, "I did what?"

Peter leaned closer and hugged her gently and whispered an explanation, "It'll look less suspicious if two lovers are in the corner then me, solo, hanging around waiting for my bracelet to hack the camera panel and then the junction box."

Gwen caught on to the unorthodox plan and hugged Peter's neck with a seductive smile, playing the part as well. For the passers-by they were two lovers whispering sweet nothings to each other, but really they were in mission mode. Well, almost at least.

"I see, as unorthodox as it is, it might work." Gwen said.

"If you're alright with it," Peter said sympathetically.

Despite her personal issue of publicly flaunting attraction she couldn't help but to tease, "You sure this is professional, Spider-Man?"

Peter grinned, "Oh it is, but I think we can mix in some French kiss, don't you?"

Gwen giggled musically, equal parts show and amorous wife. "Let's go then, lover boy."

Peter couldn't help himself and smiled lovingly, "You look beautiful."

"Not every man can wear a suit as well as you," Gwen complimented. She said snarky, "I got very good taste in clothes."

Peter smiled, "Let me take the lead."

"You're always sexy when you take charge…" Gwen purred. She had to confess that she was a little excited about it, a tingly feeling built up inside her.

Peter took Gwen's hand and led her to the alcove, passing by the guardrail and headed to the corner, slightly out of view from the camera. Peter stopped and leaned his butt on the railing near the camera's control panel and spun Gwen around and wrapped his arms around her waist while she hugged his neck. Both smiled seductively and pressed their bodies to each other. Peter tilted his head and parted his lips and leaned in, their eyes were smouldering with mischief before they closed and their lips met in light, soft nibbles with the tip of their tongues gracing each other.

The passers-by on the path on the opposite side of the stairwell glanced at the lovers in the corner, it was likely a common sight to see people kissing in that secluded corner and they didn't give the lovers a second thought.

Behind Gwen's back, the bracelet in Peter's hand started it's magic. He released his right arm from holding her and let it hang by his side, close to the control panel, and the hacking program initiated its task wirelessly.

Gwen's velvet tongue eased its way into Peter's mouth and played with his tongue, she used her tongue to explore the mouth that she already knew so well; savouring him. Despite the nature of their mission, Gwen's heart fluttered a bit. It was a very surreal experience for her, finally helping her husband with something in her reach, but being this romantic made the moment even more special for her.

And Peter was just as bad himself, feeling Gwen's warm body pressed to his, he was literally drowning in the scent of her perfume. It was a little difficult not to be aroused by the wonderful woman in his arms, but he tried his best to suppress any excitement.

Seconds ticked by and a beep was heard in Peter's ear, his mini audio device. He had to work fast. Peter straightened himself from the wall but continued his kissing. With both arms around her he guided her to the corner a few short meters away, and the junction box. Gwen's back hit the wall and Peter repeated the procedure again behind her back, the bracelet commenced hacking the box and moments later another beep was heard in Peter's ear.

Natasha's voice was heard in the lovers earpieces which brought them rapidly back into the real world.

_"The device stopped blinking, good work. It looks clear. Okay, we're opening the grate..."_ a moment later a grunting Natasha climbed into the air vent with some difficulty, _"Piece of cake."_

Peter and Gwen stopped kissing, smiling at each other. It had strangely been a very sensual moment for them.

Peter said in a hushed voice, "Good, Natasha. We're heading back."

Peter let go of Gwen and they hooked arms as they left the corner as the camera came back online. "You're such a good kisser." He whispered close to her ear.

She smiled. "I try."

_"Okay. Act casual. Mingle with people. This could take a while."_ Natasha suggested. "_This is just another normal day in the Avenger's lives."_

* * *

After the cameras and sensors were down, Peter, who was wearing his armour and the whole gang minus Gwen, dashed across the hallway and opened the door and strolled in, the others followed him inside and they stopped a few meters in while the door closed.

Bane's office was luxurious. The floor was lushly carpeted, the room had exquisite and opulent furniture, and expensive art hung on the walls. There were bookshelves around the walls and in the centre of the room was a large mahogany table with a large open fire place behind it with a large flat screen TV above it. The room itself was dark and only the flames lit up a portion of the room. The table had multiple monitors placed on it with binders and other office material strew around. Behind the desk sat Bane, the office chair's back was turned to face the door while he apparently sat and watched the flames dance in the fire place.

"The game's over, pal." Spider-Man climbed into the table while Captain brought his famous shield, Natasha raised both pistols, Tony activated his hidden glove from his armour, and Hawkeye also raised his bow while Flash crawled onto the ceiling.

The chair turned, revealing a short and bald man. "Goddamnit,"

"Not god, but close to that." Tony stated, getting some awkward glances from his teammates. Natasha rolled her eyes at him still aiming her pistols at Bane.

"Damn Tony..." Steve sighed.

Spider-Man shook his head. "Right, um...Twins, now." He demanded.

"I don't know -"

"Cut to the chase." Natasha threatened to pull the trigger.

"Alright, Alright…" He raised both hands. "They were moving to East; get out of the radar for a while."

"Where…?" The three golden, mechanical and long claws emerged from the back of Peter's armour and each claw stopped a few centimetres from Bane's face, adding some pressure on him to reveal the current location of the twins.

"They didn't tell me, they found my address before escaping the base that you guys have found. I had to shelter them or else that witch would've transformed into a frog."

"You're kidding right?" Flash asked.

"And this was pretty easy." Steve continued, suspicious.

"I'm not like my comrades, the easy way out is always the better one."

"I like him." Clint said to himself.

Spider-Man leaned his head forward in a threatening way. "Well, you're arrested for sheltering two dangerous and wanted persons, and for being part of a terrorist organization."

* * *

**Avengers Tower / Clint's Room**

**Hours later**

What does that do?" David asked as he pointed to one of the buttons of Clint's holographic desk.

"That? That's the control of the tower's defense mechanisms.. "

He was interrupted by Aiden, pointing to a different switch. "What does this do?"

"That is for regulating the distribution of the energy across the Tower."

David cut across him again. "What about this one?"

Clint sighed, placing his head in his hands. "That auto switches my bow to automatic at the armory, before gearing up."

Aiden jumped in once more before he could finish. "What about that button?"

"No! Don't touch that!" Clint shouted, jolting forwards rather quick as he shook his head at them. "That deploys the main gun at the rooftop, incase of an airborne assault. "

Both twins looked at each other, sharing huge grins and speaking in unison.

"Cool!"

"No, dangerous!" Clint replied. He sighed once more. "Look, haven't you guys got someone else to go and bother?"

David shook his head, Aiden just shrugged.

"Well, where are your parents?"

"Dunno."

"OK then, what about your sister?"

"Dunno."

Clint raised his eyebrows. "Do you know anything?"

"Yeah," David grinned as he pointed to the console. "That deploys the gun!"

Clint sighed as he placed his head in his hands once more. "Oh Jesus..."

"Clint, is everything okay?" Natasha asked as she walked inside of the room, standing behind the twins.

"I'm fine, I just wonder how Pewen handle them."

Natasha cocked her head. "Pewen?"

"Yeah, it's shorthand that I devised," Clint explained. "Quicker than saying Peter and Gwen every time."

"I see." Natasha nodded.

"Yeah yeah," He shrugged. "Anyway can you please do something with these two?"

"Certainly," Natasha nodded, before turning to the boys. "So, you guys want some candies?"

"Yes please!"

"Please follow me." Natasha gestured away from herself towards the exit. The twins bolted straight through the room, Natasha having to hurry after them.

"Hmm, they are a handful," Clint spoke quietly to himself. "But Natasha seems to be able to cope rather well."

* * *

Ultron slowly inclined his chest on the worktable; the sound of his internal components working crossed the dark room. It looked around, seeing many drones currently being hanged on the ceiling with strings, like if they were a pupped waiting for the creator's orders. When fully capable, Ultron started hacked his software to every single unity inspired by Tony's Iron Man armour, activating the platforms that were now at his command, despite the damaged state.

"Strings..." Ultron said to himself, a living machine, one that found the proper solution for peace.

The platforms fell from the ceiling and to the ground, pods opened with more drones falling to the ground, before dragging themselves with their hands towards Ultron's table, standing before the superior being among them, the one that would change the world where they were created, it was only a matter of time before the superior race in every way possible changes the fate of humanity once and for all.

"There are..." Ultron carefully lowered his torn legs to the ground, now standing and walking like any normal human being, feeling free for the first time. "No strings on me."

* * *

"So, this is your own room around here." Gwen wrapped her arms around Elizabeth, in her bed, as she rested her head in her mother's shoulder. She stroked her blond hair and gently leaned her head besides her, their bodies covered with a purple cover in the darkness of the cosy bedroom. "Do you like it?"

Elizabeth closed her eyes, smelling Gwen's soft perfume. "It's pretty cool."

"What do you think of daddy's friends?"

"Oh, I like Steve," She replied. "He's awesome."

"I'm aware of your crush," Gwen smiled, teasingly. "But he's a little older for you."

"We're just friends, mommy." She drew soft circles close to Gwen's neckline.

"I see, but there must be a little pretty boy that is constantly after you.'

Elizabeth giggled. "Some, at school, but I don't pay that much of attention to them."

Gwen kissed the top of her head. "That's right, honey, it's too soon for that, let them run after you."

"Okay," She moved herself even more closely to her mother, hugging her. "I'll miss you, mommy."

"Hey, it's alright," Gwen reassured, feeling a hint of sadness in Liz's voice. "I'll be back before you notice it, but you have to take care of daddy and your brothers for me while I'm away."

Her face lightened up. "I will."

Gwen smiled at her daughter. "Now, could you give me a goodnight kiss?"

She giggled, before leaning closer to kiss her mother in the cheek.

"Thank you," She gently extracted herself from Liz's arms and supported herself in the bed with an arm, looking at her daughter's gorgeous green eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too." Liz replied, softly.

Gwen tucked her under the covers, and gave her a warm smile. "Goodnight, my sweetie."

* * *

Peter turned with a smile as the door behind him opened, Gwen walking into their bedroom with a smile. The large room and decorated room were full of luxurious objects such as the couch, satin sheets, TV, bathtub and a very large bed. They were going to spend the night here, before attending to the small party at the Tower in a few hours after everyone is settled.

"Hey."

"Hey," She sat down on the sofa next to him, placing an arm around his waist. "You okay?"

"Yeah," He nodded. "Did you find much down there?"

"Well, bits and pieces," Gwen shrugged. "Bruce showed me some samples; I was with Elizabeth for a while as well."

"That's good," Peter nodded. He waited for Gwen to reply, but noticed she was rather withdrawn – deep in her own thoughts. "What's up?"

"How have the kids been?"

Peter stopped a look of surprise from crossing his face. "Well, after we managed to stop them from causing the Tower to descend into chaos they were all right, they're sleeping in their own room now."

"I saw, they looked deceptively cute together as ever," Gwen nodded before sighing. "I'm fine, honestly."

"Sure?" Peter probed, laying a reassuring hand on her thigh.

"Well, I just..." Gwen sighed again before leaning into him closely, resting her head against his shoulder. "It was just something Bruce and I were discussing in the lab."

Peter cocked his head in surprise. "What?"

"Just about trust in people, and betraying that trust," Peter was surprised as Gwen clutched his arm even tighter. "It doesn't really matter."

"Well, I think it does," Peter chuckled lightly. "It's mainly because you're almost drawing blood with your nails."

"What?" Gwen jolted upright, looking down with a shocked expression at his arm. She looked back up at him with a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"Hey, I've been through worse." Peter spoke gently as he placed his hand on her cheek carefully.

Gwen nodded hurriedly as she settled back into his arms, drawing her legs up onto the sofa. "We're talking about this stuff, you know? Avengers. He mentioned that people don't always have a choice to betray other people, sometimes they're forced into doing something they would never want to."

"And that got you thinking?"

"Yes, firstly about Harry – I haven't thought about him in a while," She admitted. "And then he asked what I would do if a gun was put to Liz's head accompanied by a demand for me to get you into a position where you could be killed."

"Ah," Realisation dawned on Peter, they had been through this conversation once or twice before. "You know my thoughts, you choose the kids every single time. I wouldn't want anything else."

"I know that," She nodded. "What about you? I've never got around to getting an answer out of you."

"Well, I guess you would want me to choose the kids as well," Peter slowly replied, lowering his head sadly as he spoke. "It would kill me to do that though."

"I know, it wouldn't be any easier for me either," Gwen agreed. "But the kids are more important than either of us right?"

"Yes…definitely." Peter nodded. "Without a doubt…"

"But, like Bruce said, you'd probably manage to save everyone as per usual anyway," Gwen chuckled. "And I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

"True," Peter nodded with a grin. She slowly rose from his strong arms and walked towards the huge window with a view of the entire dark city.

"So, with all of this clone business that I've heard, how do I know that you're my real dorky husband?"

Peter followed her tracks and stood beside her, observing their reflection in the window in front of them. "I don't really know, you just do, I guess."

"Hmm...I might need more than that." She smiled, anticipating his reaction.

He snaked both arms around her waistline and gently turned her around while leaning his head closer, capturing her lips, softly. She rested her hands on his shoulders and reciprocated the passionate kiss, savoring his lips full of love.

After some seconds, Gwen finally broke the kiss and looked at his beautiful brown eyes. "Hmm... a compelling argument." She said, softly.

Peter gave her a warm smile before saying, "This is crazy life, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, Peter. Yes, it is."

* * *

**A/N : And we've reached the 39th chapter mark, almost the forthy one. This is such a cool thing for me, thanks guys, for still reading this story that I've been working so hard on it for almost a year now. At first, my goal was to end the story with the 30th chapter, but I changed my mind after the reception. Thanks for everything.**

**About this chapter, it was mostly focused on the characters themselves instead of the main plot that will finally trigger on the next chapter. I've been experimenting a different writing style, like - a little more mature, and I wanted to write something fresh for the couple as well. I hope that it's okay for everyone. Also, for those wondering, the integration with the MCU has some timelines troubles if you try to follow everything 100%, that's why not everything from such universe is canon for this story, I adapted and changed it to fit the story in the way that I want. Sure, the new arc is mostly inspired by Ultron's movie, but it won't be entirely canon to it.**

**That's all for now, if you enjoyed it, please drop a review.**

*** Final revision made by FireflySurvivor, fixed errors, better flow of sentences and extended description. Huge thanks for her.**

*** The Casino is fictional.**

*** Quotes : Halo 2, Inception, Mass Effect 3 and Man Of Steel.**


	40. Amazing Life

**Avengers Tower**

**December 18th - 2027**

Gwen had been awake for a while, she had propped her arm on the pillow while leaning her head against her hand. She was watching Peter, who was sound asleep next to her. She listened to his gentle snoring which she enjoyed doing. Any other morning she would have woken him up with a light kiss but he was exhausted the evening before. After showering he had gone to bed and fell asleep in an instant so Gwen let him sleep. She even fought of her urges to caress his body or snuggle up close to him as that would undoubtedly wake him up as well. He was a light sleeper during most of the time, maybe because of his special gifts.

_God, I've become so attached to him. Who would've imagined this years ago?_

She'd been frightened for his well-being when he fought Connors for the first time. It was one of the dark sides of emotional entanglement that she tried to appear strong, for Peter's sake. She had been reluctant when the perspective of a long term relationship with Peter became apparent, she wanted it, the thing that frightened her was getting hurt by him again, but the temptation was very hard to resist when he made his choice at the bridge.

She knew the risks, and ever since she wondered if she would ever pay the price for what she had gained by being with him.

After her father's death, Gwen had decided to get close to him again when they were avoiding each other. She was seeking comfort, but things could go bad, very fast...

After a brief and heated romance she would have been forever scarred by its almost tragic end. Romantic love had captured human imagination since the beginning of time, because of the unique power it held to build and also destroy.

Gwen was afraid that despite the closeness that she was experiencing, that she instead of being alone and miserable would soon end up distraught by the death of her lover, or be absolutely devastated mourning her love.

She had not been so terrified since Peter's first encounter with Harry, and that night were among the worst of her entire life. It was at that point she had realized how much she cared for him, seeing him fight for her life, reaching the point where he almost killed Harry when he tried to choke him with a web line.

It turned out that night was only an overture and it did get worse. As the two of them had gotten closer and closer, the turmoil of ever losing him was becoming more and more daunting. Witnessing him being so perilously close to death made her experience what she theory knew could happen. She hid her inner turmoil as well, but when she had seen Peter alive, after defeating the Six, she was so overwhelmed by relief and happiness that she forgot everything and ran to embrace him like some needy girl.

The power of those feelings was why she tried to avoid them after the break up, but now she was too deep to go back. Even if she wanted to, all she could do was push down the depressing thoughts, take advantage of the opportunity and hope for the best. A depressing thought, but the only choice she had, she's aware that there may be a night where he'll not return back to their apartment and children. The consequences of loving such a rare man like him, but that's the life that she chose to live it, with him.

Peter began stirring underneath the bed sheet and Gwen gave him a wide and heartfelt smile as his eyes slowly opened. He stretched languidly and smiled at the sight of Gwen laying next him. "Morning..."

"Hey you…" Gwen leaned in and planted a soft kiss on his lips which he lazily reciprocated.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Not long…About half an hour."

"And watching me sleep the whole time?"

"Yes." Gwen smiled. Peter chuckled.

_Finally he's awake._

She wrapped an arm around his torso and snuggled close.

"How are you today?" She asked softly and planted a kiss on his torso before resting her head on his shoulder. Peter snaked his arm under her body underneath the bed sheet and drew circles on her thigh.

"Not as tired anymore, I had to leave when you were sleeping. Marko and some of his buddies managed to escape prison, I took'em by myself."

"Yes." She paused and then chided, "And don't dare you frighten me like that again, you've got a very bad cut in your back."

"It was far simpler going in there alone than bringing everyone together." Peter explained.

"Doesn't matter, I don't like when you do these crazy stunts, at least warn me."

"I understand Gwendy, but everyone's tired. The encounter with the twins a few days ago wasn't easy, they're powerful, I needed to defeat them alone."

Gwen sighed and clenched her teeth, "I know, I just…it was heart wrenching not knowing what was happening to you." She paused. "You know that despite being married to you for years now, I still worry about you, it's not something that simply goes away with time, I can't get used to it."

He cupped her cheek, softly. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Gwen kissed his palm. "I still love you, just a little."

He smirked and brought his wife closer to him, wrapping his arms around her. "Just a little, eh?"

"It can grow a little more; it only depends of your actions..." Gwen closed her eyes as he leaned closer and brushed his lips against hers, falling to his seduction.

He gently captured her lower lip and kissed it, slowly, their breathing deepening as the kiss evolved into a passionate one. He broke the kiss after a few couple of seconds, getting a moan of discontentment from Gwen who was still seeking his warm lips.

Peter chuckled, before assuming a more serious expression. "I know that this is now a late question, but are you happy? Here with me?"

Gwen raised an eyebrow, "Of course I am, why?"

"I've never asked you that, and with so much stuff happening, it made me wonder."

"You're weird."

He laughed, "We're both weirdos."

She smiled, "Yeah, but again, I'm always going to support you with your decisions, me and the kids, I love being with you because you're the only person that knows how to treat me and love me, you gave me three beautiful babies, my life, you make me happy and you shouldn't ever doubt that."

Peter smiled back, "Thank you," He kissed her forehead, before saying, "I'm really going to miss you."

"It's just for a few days, a meeting."

"That doesn't change the fact that there won't be anyone else to snuggle with me for a week."

"Well, Liz loves to snuggle, especially with her daddy," Gwen teased. "I still remember when I woke up and found her sleeping over your head, which was like... 5 years ago?"

"Time flies, but thanks for the tip, I might have to invite Dave and Aiden as well since they can get jealous."

"Yeah, that's a situation that you've to handle."

"Thanks." He replied, sarcastically.

Gwen winked. "Well, I need to take a shower..." She slowly went to remove the covers from her body.

Peter quickly reacted and moved himself over her, trapping his wife with his toned chest. "You need a reason for that first."

* * *

"Mommy, please!" The three year old David Parker begged as he crawled into the couch and sat in Gwen's lap, looking at his mother with wide, pleading eyes. The same look his father used when he wanted her to do something she didn't want to, she noted.

"David…" she tried, but didn't get further than her son's name as she placed both hands on his waist.

This time, it was Aiden who cut her off. "Mommy, Uncle Howard said that it would be a lot of fun!"

"I bet he did." Gwen mumbled under her breath.

"He said we could dress up and we can eat lots of sweets, too." Aiden explained further while David nodded enthusiastically.

She sighed. Of course he did. And if she didn't allow it, she'd be the bad guy. She had been perfectly happy the past year when she didn't need to take her boys to the annual fantasy reunion, stuff about heroes and games in general. Now Howard wanted to bring them there, with Gwen as well, probably because he knew that she didn't enjoy the topic at all.

However, that didn't mean that Howard wouldn't get an earful for turning her sons against her. "Fine…We'll go", she said. "If…" she continued, cutting off her sons cheering, "you can convince your father to go with us as well."

"But he took Liz to school!" David protested.

Gwen sighed; she had forgotten that little detail. "Oh god, fine - You two are going with your Uncle, remember him of dropping you guys before night time -"

"Yes!" They said together. She hadn't even finished the sentence when David had already taken off accompanied by David. Gwen chuckled. That boys was a ball of energy, going stir-crazy when he had to sit down longer than five minutes, now she would prepare something to eat, a lesson to teach, and later some gym.

* * *

**Elizabeth's School/ Parking Lot**

"Ready?" Peter asked as he parked the car a few meters from Elizabeth school's entrance

"Yeah…" Elizabeth undid her seat's belt and approached Peter's seat from behind, they still had some minutes together before parting ways.

He turned on his seat, and smiled at his energetic daughter. "What's up for today?"

She cocked her head, thinking. "Hm... there's my first math test."

"Oh right, I remember it, how do you feel about it?" He observed Elizabeth passing between the seats and sat on her mother's empty seat, with a big smile.

"You and mommy helped me, I feel ready." She gave him a convincing smile combined with her huge and beautiful green eyes, the same as Gwen's.

"Really…? I'm not sure." Peter teased, stroking her blonde hair.

"Do you doubt me?" She asked, with a sad expression that made Peter's heart melt.

"What? N-No!" He shook his head, just as Elizabeth started giggling from Gwen's seat.

"You're so easy to panic, daddy!" She giggled.

He gave her a mock-glare, "Oh, you little Gwen," He joked, "You're spending too much time with your mother, are you two conspiring against me?"

"What?" Elizabeth narrowed her eyes.

"I swear to god that you two are going to be my end..." He sighed.

"Are you mad at me?" She asked, doing the same facial expressions that her mother does, no wonder why everyone thinks that Elizabeth is Gwen's younger version.

"I'm not falling for that one again," Peter gently moved his hand to her chin and kissed her forehead. "I love you and good luck with your test." He caressed her cheek with his thumb, before turning on his seat and got his daughter's bag from her previous position and handing it back to her.

"I love you too!" Elizabeth kneeled on the seat and kissed his cheek; she opened the door, placed her schoolbag around her shoulders and gave him a warm smile, before closing the door and running towards her friends at the school's entrance.

Peter waited for a few couple of minutes until she stepped inside of the school, talking with her friends as she disappeared from his view. He smiled to himself, seeing his little girl growing up so quickly. It's still a few couple years for her to trail her own path, but he was already feeling that time doesn't slow down itself if he ever wanted to, so he had to make the most of it.

* * *

**Avengers Tower**

Clint left the Tower's armory in Natasha's capable 'hands' as he took a quick detour to the empty mess hall to grab something edible to bring back to the room. Settling on some salami sandwiches with some salad, Clint quickly went to work and put together three quite large sandwiches, stowing away everything again in one of the refrigerators he also grabbed a bottle of juice to go before he closed the door and suddenly found himself face to face with a blonde. As he hadn't heard Gwen's arrival, her sudden appearance startled Clint enough for him to almost drop the bottle in his hands.

Clint exclaimed surprised, "Holy Hell! Gwen, you just scared me to death. I thought you could have been somebody deadly."

Wearing a white T-shirt and black pants on this morning, Gwen crossed her arms under her breasts and leaned on her left hip and glared at Clint. She declared coldly, "I am somebody deadly. I am someone who may know over 200 ways to kill you."

Clint took a step back to the counter and chuckled nervously under her stare, "Ha, of course you are." He quickly grabbed the plate of sandwiches and continued rapidly. "Well I'm heading back. Our gear doesn't fix itself, you know?"

Clint quickly walked past her as Gwen turned to follow him with her eyes and she said sternly, "Actually, it does. Natasha can do what you do and we would only loose somebody...but if you stop making silly announcements about me and Peter through the intercom around the Tower, it might not happen." She stated. Being one of the most playful Avenger in the Tower, Clint couldn't help but make some jokes about his companions for everyone's amusement, and since Gwen was someone very private about her personal life, she didn't enjoyed people who she never met being aware of their relationship.

"Okay, gotcha." Clint chuckled nervously again but said nothing as he quickly disappeared past the corner of the mess hall on the way to the elevator.

Out of sight from Clint, Gwen grinned mischievously at the apparent success of her own mission.

_Bluff and men, it always works._

* * *

Peter had spent some time in the labs with Tony and Bruce, the now called 'Science Bros' by the team, with reason since they have been working together for a while now, and Peter was happy to be able to contribute with something.

He had left the labs and was now waiting for the elevator in the 89th floor; it was apparently on its way already. The elevator quickly arrived and the door slid open. Clint hastily stepped out and almost walked right into Peter and almost spilled his food on the web-slinger.

Clint exclaimed surprised, "Christ! Do you two work in tandem, Peter?"

"Easy there, dude…" Peter chided before he asked confused. "What are you even talking about?"

Clint walked aside and took a step away from Peter who positioned himself in the opening of the elevator so it wouldn't close.

"Your girlfriend -"

"Wife..." Peter corrected the marksman.

"Yes! She threatened me," Clint complained rattled.

"What?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, that she may know 200 ways to kill me."

Peter chuckled at Clint's apparent flustered state.

"You know, I can't work under these circumstances. It's stressful as it is, and I still have to recharge your armour."

"Are you afraid of Gwen?" Peter deadpanned.

"Whatever, Peter. I'm heading back to Natasha, she's a super spy, but damn she isn't that deadly as your wife is."

"Where is she?" Peter asked and walked into the elevator.

"Mess hall." Clint called back as he walked away towards the armory.

Peter pressed the corresponding button and the elevator descended down one floor and he quickly exited when the door opened. He walked around the corner and saw Gwen in the kitchen preparing something and he headed over there.

Peter smirked, "I'm hearing reports that you are threatening my teammate. I can't have that."

Gwen looked up and shrugged with a grin, "I did nothing of the sort. He didn't think I was dangerous so I had to remind him..."

"Of course you did." Peter said and ended up near her, leaning on the kitchen island behind her. "What are you doing?"

Gwen turned around and plopped a grape into her mouth, "Just preparing a bowl of grapes. I'm heading up to the gym then."

"Okay," He nodded. "Where are the boys?"

"They're with Howard." She replied, cutting some slices of grape and placing them on a bowl.

Gwen grinned again. "I think Clint has forgotten that I don't like invasion of privacy, considering his frolicking-comment yesterday on the intercom, I needed to remind him. He needs to be afraid of me."

Peter chuckled, "Invasion of privacy? What's the problem…?"

"I just don't want everyone that we don't know around here, bickering about us, I don't want to later be remembered as Spider-Man's girl."

"Nah, you're my beautiful wife, but you know, I'm really getting worried about those self-defence classes that you're taking with Natasha."

"Why?" She asked, innocently.

"Um... you're getting a little... deadly..." He approached her and snaked both arms around her waist and went to kiss the smooth skin of her neck.

"Oh, I'm interpreting that in a more...passionate way." Gwen flirted, aware that they were alone.

"Y-Yeah..." Peter stuttered, hearing Gwen's giggle while he looked at her eyes. "So, does this mean no more soft side?"

Gwen shook her head, "Not good for my reputation."

"So, the evil operative…right…?" Peter joked. "You might as well become an Avenger yourself, and then dump me."

"Yeah, it's something like that." Gwen answered with a shrug. She turned and grabbed her bowl of grapes from the counter. "What are you up to?"

"Just briefed Tony and will be doing my rounds, bothering people. An unofficial debrief after our last mission, just to see were everyone's minds are."

"Okay. Well, I'll be going; I have some things to do."

Peter nodded, "Of course."

Gwen smiled and turned away and walked away, swaying her hips for him.

Peter's eyes roamed her behind and he deadpanned, "It's a shame you have to sit on something that pretty."

Gwen chuckled and turned around to face him and said playfully, "You really know how to make a woman feel good about her."

Peter shrugged and smirked, "One of my many talents."

"I'm sure." Gwen smiled and turned to leave for the elevator.

* * *

"What did you tell them?" Peter asked, sitting on a stool close to the bar in the lounge.

"That at some point we would've to decide if our soldiers should be defending the beach or we go on the offensive." Steve Rogers replied, sat next to him.

"And you didn't have the numbers to do both."

"No, not with the beating we're taking," Steve replied and shook his head. "Like I said, not the kind of questions I was used to answering, but everyone seemed to rely on me to come up with a decision."

Peter reassured, "You know what you did, Steve. Trust me, everyone can see that, you're a hero for us all, that's in the past now."

The super soldier shrugged dreary, "Maybe. You know, for all the time spent outside trying to get in, and now when I'm here…it's not what I expected."

"Why not…?"

"All the questions…and every one of them with a millions lives riding on the answer."

"This is no different from your days with the army, you act on the Intel you have and you do your best."

Steve agreed, "Yeah, you're right. But the stakes are a little higher." He mused cynically, "With this little war against Hydra, I have finally understood why we need a few cold-hearted dictators every now and then."

"They get the job done?" Peter asked curiously.

"No, they don't care about the consequences," Steve explained cold.

"I don't think we should stoop to that level."

"Yeah, I know all of the lives matter." Steve gestured, "But these days, with so much technology and conflicts, you sacrifice a million here to save twenty million there." He asked grimly, "Are we up for that?"

"When their enemies were at the gates, the Romans would suspend democracy and appoint one man to protect the city. It wasn't considered an honour; it was considered a public service."

"Die for your city, right?"

"Yeah..." Peter shrugged and said truthfully, "In the end I don't know, Steve. We've to win this, and the peace that we seek will finally come, maybe the world won't need us anymore."

"Maybe," He agreed. "I'm old, alone, and I keep fighting and fighting, I wonder if it's possible for me to have the life that you have a home, wife and kids."

"You're not alone, Steve, you have us..." Peter crossed his arms. "And why not settle down? Find someone that understands you and then... live your life, the way that you deserve."

Steve smiled. "Can I? I always put innocent lives in priority, and after the whole Washington thing...with Bucky, I think that it will stay that way."

"Hey," Peter patted his shoulder, "You've done enough, take a break, enjoy the life that you seek for, you're not immortal, none of us are... old man." He laughed, joined by Steve.

* * *

Peter turned on the couch as he heard Gwen walking down the steps of the living room. She'd been spending time in the gym for the last hour and a half while the delayed party wasn't ready, wearing some casual training clothes and carrying a water bottle in her hand. She sat down in the armchair opposite Peter and left the water bottle on the floor and she crossed one leg over the other. Gwen had her hair in a ponytail and despite looking exhausted she seemed very content.

"Hey." Gwen said with a bright smile.

"Hi. You had a good time in the gym?" Peter smiled friendly as he leaned back into the couch.

"Oh yes, I feel much...cleansed now," Gwen responded. "Still working?"

Peter nodded, "Yeah, a lot to do. I have put it off for a while, but I'm pretty much done."

Gwen teased, "Well, it's good seeing you work; you can't expect me to do everything."

Peter chuckled, "Good point."

"You know, Steve is such a gentleman, he didn't gawk at me once while I was at the gym."

"Yeah…?"

"As opposed to one of Tony's employees," Gwen drawled unamused. "One glanced occasionally, although less than I thought he would, he even tried to hit on me before."

Peter grinned, "And how can you blame people for staring at you? I did for a while, still do, occasionally." He winked.

Gwen laughed, "Oh Peter..."

She smiled and shook her head. Gwen then glanced at her lover who let his eyes roam her body. She didn't mind his attention, but she felt far from sexy at all in her current outfit or state. She reeked of sweat after an extensive workout session and she felt the urge to shower but she also wanted to relax a bit and talk to her husband for a while.

One of Gwen's eyebrows rose up, "You don't seem...jealous."

Peter shrugged, "I do not feel threatened by anyone if that's what you are asking. But that doesn't mean I approve of his behaviour either."

He was far from jealous, but it was an irritating behaviour none the less.

"Ugh, you know, behaviour like that still annoys me even if I've gotten used to it after all these years. Men like him are the worst."

Peter shook his head and laughed, "Gwen..."

Gwen glanced at him dumbfounded, "What?" She couldn't fathom what was so funny.

"You are a little...judgmental Gwendy."

Gwen snorted, "I'm an excellent judge of character."

Peter continued unfazed, If I may...play the devil's advocate here; he didn't really do anything wrong when he tried to hit on you. And can you blame him? He didn't know of your situation." Peter shrugged, "And if he did anything really stupid, you would smear the wall with him."

Gwen grinned devilish this time, "That thought has crossed my mind at times."

"But I think that he's clever enough not to do anything stupid, it could affect the guy's career as well."

Gwen agreed, "You're right." She picked up the water bottle near the armchair and rose up, "I'm going to take a shower, are the boys back?"

Peter nodded as Gwen left the lounge and he returned his attention to his laptop. He opened up his word processor and began writing stuff for his job. Gwen would probably spend a quite some time in the shower; she usually did as it gave her some time alone. He would most likely be finished with his report by the time she was done. Both he and Gwen would have to sit down at some point to craft a coherent report for his job together, leaving out her participation as always.

* * *

"How are things with the president, Tony?" Bruce Banner asked from his desk in their private laboratory at the tower. He was wearing a lab coat and was currently analysing Ultron's past year's results on his computer.

Tony, who was standing in the centre of the room, pulled a monitor sustained by a mechanical arm close to him and started to slip his finger over the surface, scrolling down the many files that were being showed through the monitor.

"Well, it's quite good to be working with him, he's approving everything, like - the shuttles, soldier's armour's and even Ultron's project."

"He's founding everything?"

"Not really, I gathered many engineers from Shield after the organization dismissed for good, I've my own team, and they are working with the president, not for him."

"So you're on his good side?" He joked.

Tony chuckled. "You could say that, it's good to have his support, and we're even developing -" Stark paused when he noticed what he was about to reveal.

"What?" Bruce turned on his chair.

"Um…nothing…"

"Don't lie to me, what are you developing for them?" He inquired as he removed his glasses and approached the man under Iron Man's armour.

"Look, I'm only collaborating, it's theirs project."

"Okay, what is it?"

Tony gulped. "It's...a weapon, a very big one, I can't say anything else."

"Don't you trust me?" He crossed his arms at the billionaire.

"I do, but this is beyond..."

"I guess that Steve was right after all." He walked away, and shook his head like if he was feeling something.

"Look, Steve is confused, I like him, but he's living on the past, the future - are those drones that you're helping me to develop it - " Tony paused when he saw a red glowing light emerging on Bruce's eyes. "Are you alright?"

Bruce leaned on his table, recomposing himself. "Y-Yeah... I'm still recovering from that base, but I'm fine." He shook his head and turned back to Tony with a reassuring smile.

"Alright..." Stark nodded, still suspicious. "I'm going to check on Pete."

"Aren't they at their quarters?"

"What can I say?" Tony grinned and opened his arms as he walked away. "I'm a very inconvenient person."

* * *

After about half an hour of writing Gwen was back from the shower. Peter noted her coming down the steps with a robe wrapped around her body. She headed for the couch and sat down next to Peter with a coy smile on her face and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Peter saved his document and turned his attention to Gwen and smiled back. He loved the way she smelled when she had gotten right out of the shower. Peter wrapped his arms around her slender frame.

Gwen teased, "Do you realize I haven't kissed you in over an hour?"

"I think its two hours actually." Peter deadpanned.

"Mh-hmmm...far too long," Gwen purred as she moved to straddle Peter. She pushed her body against his and pressed him against the couch as her face slowly moved closer to his. Gwen slid her arms around his neck and closed her eyes as his soft lips met hers. Peter slipped his hands in under her robe and gently caressed her abdomen and hips and moved his hands further around to the small of her back. His fingertips trailed circles on her soft skin.

Gwen breathed faster and faster as she deepened the kiss and her heart beat quickened. Her body melted into Peter as he pressed her body closer to her. There was a battle of wills emerging; they were both competing over who was in control. The intensity surprised Gwen as their kissing kept going. Then she paused for a breath and pulled away and opened her eyes to look into her lover's as both of them were breathing hard.

"Exactly what I needed," Gwen said with a sexy smile and slipped of Peter and sat down close to him.

Peter turned to her and asked with half a chuckle, "That's it?"

Gwen leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. She grinned, "For now."

"Tease," Peter countered and wrapped an arm around her back, feeling the softness of the robe. He stared at the wall and the bulkheads behind the bed.

Gwen moved to rest her head on his shoulder, enjoying the calm moment.

She said, "I talked with MJ yesterday."

"I think you mentioned something like that yesterday. Is she alright?"

"Yes, and she appears in good spirits despite everything that happened with Flash."

Peter pulled her closer in his embrace and said softly. "Do you want to visit her?"

Gwen contemplated his offer, "Hmmm. Despite the Tower being one of the safer places in the world, she'd probably die of boredom." She sat up a bit and kissed Peter on the cheek, "But I do appreciate it, I might bump into her when I'm at Washington, who knows?"

Gwen returned to rest her head on his shoulder.

"So what did you two talk about then?"

"She misses us."

"Why can't she come here?"

"Her professional problems, you know her."

"Stubborn?"

"Yes."

Peter turned and grinned, "A trait you two share."

Gwen straightened herself from his shoulder and said with a sly smile, "Both of us only want the best."

"Uh-huh. I know that." Peter said with a knowing smirk.

Gwen wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into the couch, which was wide enough for two people if they lied on the sides next to each other as they did at the moment.

"We gossiped a bit about you," Gwen added with a grin.

Peter draped an arm around her waist and he grinned, "You told her how great kisser I am? And how great I am when we are-"

Gwen laughed, "Don't you flatter yourself."

"You know it's true."

Gwen said mock-seriously, "Hardly."

Peter feigned being hurt, "Some words of encouragement now and then wouldn't hurt."

Gwen countered with a grin, "Oh? So my behaviour isn't encouraging enough?" She smirked as she moved her face closer to his, their lips brushing close, "Our private life is amazing, and in no small part thanks to you-"

Peter's face lit up.

"-but that doesn't mean MJ needs to know such details." She planted a soft kiss on his lips and then she pulled back slightly.

"Thank you." Peter said and gave her a soft kiss in return.

"Hmph…Your ego doesn't need it." Gwen teased good-naturedly.

Peter said deadpanned, "It does actually."

"She did ask about our life. I wasn't eager to answer, she's like the like little sister that I never had." She smiled.

"Is it safe to assume that you aren't trained against interrogation from a 'sister'?"

Gwen chuckled, "A sister was definitely not on the agenda whilst being trained by my mom."

Peter taunted with a grin, "You are in so much trouble."

"Yeah…? So are you. I'm dragging you down with me."

"Traitor," Peter countered with grin.

They remained quiet for a while, enjoying each other's company. Gwen glowed with happiness as she snuggled closer to Peter.

Then very abruptly Tony's voice interrupted them over the intercom, _"Peter?"_

Peter sighed uninspired, "Yes, what is it Tony."

Gwen rolled her eyes; she was just as annoyed to hear Tony's voice all of a sudden.

_"I need some help with the drinks, too many options."_

"Right, understood Tony," Peter said evenly.

Peter moved his hand from her waist and cupped Gwen's face and gave her a soft kiss. She smiled happily despite the billionaire's interruption.

Tony continued deadpanned, _"It's good that we destroyed that base, despite being an ambush, we just need to find the tesseract now, and the twins."_

Gwen sat up from the couch and walked towards the closet, swaying her hips for her lover. Peter sat up as well and watched her with lustful thoughts in mind, but he pushed those aside.

"Yeah, your fault though."

Tony exclaimed glibly, _"What? I tried to talk with them, like you guys said, but they attacked me first...and I haven't complained once! Not once!"_

Peter quipped with a grin, "And I appreciate it Tony. We're all leaning on you to save our precious little planet called Earth."

At the closet Gwen chuckled. She had dropped the robe on the bed behind her to reveal her bare naked body, only wearing red panties. She was trying to figure out what to wear. Peter still remained seated in the couch, mesmerized by her beauty as his eyes roamed her bare back.

Tony pushed carefully, _"So, were you and Gwen-"_

"Tony!" Gwen snapped from the closet as she slipped on a pair of black satin thongs.

Tony took the hint and responded without missing a beat, _"Alright, alright. Keeping my mouth shut. I'm waiting._" The intercom was shut down.

Peter rose from the couch and walked up to the bed and had his eyes still on his significant other. "I'm going to help him. We might have a super mission on our hands," he joked, "so maybe you shouldn't pick the most expensive designer blouse you can find."

Gwen turned to Peter and smiled, "Of course."

"You did that on purpose, removing your robe."

Gwen slyly smiled. "What if I did? You were too focused on Tony than me."

"You're lucky I got business to attend." Peter said with a smirk as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the back of her neck. "Otherwise we're going to miss the party, busy handling you."

Gwen chuckled as she eyed some of her clothes that she had brought for their apartment in the Tower. "Oh? You got it all wrong. I'm the one that plans everything. "

"I take control now and then," Peter protested.

His lover countered with a mischievous smirk, "When I let you. And besides, when did you start to complain about me being on top?"

He sighed, "You have a point..."

Gwen grinned and looked up, before kissing his warm lips. "Just as I suspected…"

* * *

"You are taking too long." Peter stood between the twin's beds and with arms crossed, waiting for Aiden to put on his pyjamas which was something that he was clumsily doing over his own bed. David was at the bathroom, brushing his teeth.

"I can't, daddy!" Aiden exclaimed from his bed, trying to pass the shirt over his bare chest, but it seemed to be stuck at his head, and Peter noticed that he was just acting and messing around with him.

Peter grinned. "Oh really…?" He sat beside his three years old son and gently removed his stuck shirt. "Can I help you?"

He sat on the bed. "I can do it!" He tried to reach for his shirt but Peter quickly reacted and moved his arm away from Aiden, letting his son fall into his lap as he quickly started to tingle the pale skin of his bare stomach.

"I know that you're messing with me, buddy!" Peter hold his trapped minion as he burst into fits of giggles. He quickly kissed the of Aiden's hair before calming him. "Now, are you going to collaborate with daddy so that he can go have some fun with mommy?"

Aiden put a mock - hurt expression. "Fine..."

Peter chuckled as Aiden stood on his lap with Peter placing his hands on his waist, supporting him. "Can you give me a hug, a very strong one?"

The energetic three years old quickly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Peter's neck, tightly. "I love you, you and Dave," He kissed the top of his head. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah…" He replied as David stepped out of the bathroom, already wearing a short and shorts, ready to sleep. He went directly to Peter who had opened his free arm, gesturing to his son to get closer.

"Now the gang is complete," He smiled, pulling David into a hug, embracing his boys who were heavier than he used to remember. "Oh, I came up with a challenge!"

The twins instantly looked at him and asked together, "What?!"

Peter chuckled. "Who's going to fall asleep first?"

* * *

"And then I killed the power of the entire area!" Peter said to his friends who quickly laughed at his embarrassing story. Gwen was sat next to him, on the couch, with her right arm around his and holding a transparent glass filled with liquor with her left hand. Almost everyone was there - James Rhodes, Sam, Maria Hill, Natasha, Steve and the rest of the gang. They were celebrating the success of the past mission, kind of.

"How did you managed that?" Sam Wilson AKA 'Falcon', asked from the opposite couch as he lowered his own glass in the coffee table in the middle area of the lounge.

"It..." Peter deadpanned. "...exploded the battery…"

Everyone gave him a suspicious look, his wife trying to not laugh.

"Guys, desperate times..." He continued. "Max was living human battery at the time."

"Makes sense, I guess." Hawkeye took a sip from his beer.

"We suspected that it wasn't any normal occurrence," Maria Hill entered the conversation. "Queens was always a 'calm' place for that to happen."

"Peter was never known as someone who's careful." Gwen teased.

He looked to the blonde next to him, with a hurt expression. "Thank you, honey."

"Oh, look who finally arrived!" Hawkeye spun the bass sheet around his hand as he sighted the last invited guest stepping in the lounge.

Thor approached the table and calmly placed his hammer over it, before grabbing a beer and sitting down in a single comfy chair. "I'm sorry; I had to take Mjonir for a cleaning session."

Steve chuckled. "What? You're joking, right?"

"I bet this sheet in my hand that there's nothing mystical about your hammer, it's a trick." Clint challenged.

"The sheet isn't even yours." Tony said, with a provocative smile.

Thor laughed at his silliness, "You're out if your mind," He took a sip from his glass filled with whiskey. "Why don't you try to remove it from the table, if you do, it's yours."

Clint shrugged. "I'm fine with my bow, much more accurate." He teased.

"Well," Tony raised from his chair, on his own charming way. He glanced his friends before approaching the transparent coffee table where Mjonir was currently located, while getting surprised glances for everyone. He stopped on his tracks and looked at Thor, who was happily enjoying the contents of his beer. "Since this weapon is probably working by fingertips, it just needs a little extra push."

"Fingertips…?" Thor grinned, enjoying the moment.

"People, step aside…" Tony gestured his hand to the floor and a small platform raised from the ground besides the table, his red armour's glove being brought to him from a secret spot. He grabbed it and slid down his left arm as the device powered on.

"Now that's cool." Peter said, caressing Gwen's shoulder with his arm that was around her back.

"Whoever is worthy shall have the power to - whatever man, it's a trick!" Clint joked.

"It's much more than that, my friend." Thor handed him a beer.

"If I pull this off, can I rule Asgard?" Tony asked.

"Sure."

"I'll be fair and firmly cruel." Tony grabbed the hammer by it's base, he concentrate and started to pull the immoveable hammer, and things weren't good for him since it didn't even moved a few millimetres. He quickly gasped, before using his free hand to assist the process.

"Do you need help?" Rhodes asked, with a huge grin.

Tony released the hammer and looked at his old friend. "This is one of those rare occasions... when I do."

After finding a new glove for his partner, Tony and Rhodes were now struggling together to pull the hammer together. Tony kneeled on the floor, and Rhodes was standing up, holding the very base of the hammer.

"Are you even pulling it?" Rhodes teased, breathing heavily.

"Are you on my team?" Tony looked at Rhodes, with a disapproving look.

"Just represent and pull!"

"Alright, let's go!" Tony narrowed his eyes as they returned back to their main objective which was pulling the Hammer from the table.

Ultimately, they've failed, and it was now Steve Roger's turn to do his part and try to prove his worth.

"Careful, you might break one those old bones from yours, Cap." Clint made fun of the super soldier.

Steve laughed, shortly. He raised his sleeves and grabbed the Mjonir with both hands. He pulled it with all of his super strength, but the results weren't coming.

Thor laughed, "You're failing miserably -" He was interrupted when the hammer made a moving noise, surprising him and everyone around.

Steve gasped, and breathed heavily before abandoning the challenge. "I can't.." He sighed, not being easily impressed like everyone was.

Bruce looked at the only couple in the room and asked with a smirk. "Peter? Gwen?"

Peter shook his head and smiled. "I'm good."

"Oh, I don't even need to try." Gwen chuckled, before resting her head on Peter's shoulder.

"Well," He turned to the woman next to him, "Natasha?" He gestured to the hammer.

"That's not a question that I'll answer to." She smiled and went to drink the last contents of her beer.

"Nobody…?" Clint sighed.

"It's very easy," Thor stood up and slowly walked closer to Mjonir and grabbed it, holding the weapon with a cocky smile as he spun the hammer backwards. "You're not worthy."

"C'mon!" Falcon laughed while being joined by the other present at the room.

That was when a loud and painful sound came from the stage, now being used as a small fitness area, some meters from behind them, causing the whole group to abruptly cease the commemoration and turn around at the disturbing sound's source just to find what looked to be an android falling into pieces as it limped between the stage's dark entrance.

_"Ha-ha..."_ An unusual and menacing voice laughed, weakly. _"How could you be worthy?"_ It asked, waving his torn arm at the group.

Tony raised an eyebrow and cocked his head at his creation, not understanding how it managed to get there without his knowledge, and why it was talking like a human being. Peter rose from the couch and stood in front of Gwen, who was paralyzed by the terrifying sight.

_"You're all puppets..."_ Ultron continued. Maria Hill stealthy loaded her hidden pistol, still sat on the couch while everyone observed the intruder with confused expressions.

_"That is all tangled in strings...limited."_

"Who's that?" Natasha asked, glancing Banner who was exchanging a confused look with Tony.

"It's...Ultron…in the flesh._" _Bruce replied, motionless.

"What are you doing here, Ultron?" Tony demanded an answer.

It took a few steps forward, _"I know that you mean well, you want to protect the world but you don't want to change it, you're the very failure of this system whose leaders are corrupted and selfish beings from this primitive and violent race called... humans."_

"What?" Steve approached Tony. Gwen rose from the couch and stood behind Peter, with her hands resting on his shoulder as he glared Ultron.

"You're not answering my question."

Ultron gazed the window that had a field of view of the entire city, before turning its head back to its creator. _"There's only one path to the ultimate peace, your extinction."_

The present froze when Peter's sensorial ability triggered on his mind, alerting him of the incoming threat. At the sound of the back walls from the stage shattering and thousands of drones coming from it, Peter quickly reacted by pushing Gwen back to the couch behind her and turned back as a drone similar to Ultron managed to pass between Tony and Steve, who were both defending themselves, and went directly at him with its only available powered hand and ready to fire a blast at Peter.

Peter, in a blink of an eye, took a step forward and grabbed the drone by the neck when it was clone enough, just to feel a burning sensation coming from his left shoulder as he pulled the drone on the air and violently moved his free arm and fist through the drone's chest, the skin of his fist being burned by the energy coming from the drone's energy core.

He threw the inactive drone at the floor, seeing it's blue lights coming from its eyes disappearing. He quickly turned back to Gwen who was still in shock, and knelled in front of her.

"Are you okay?" He cupped her cheek.

"I'm... y-yeah."

Peter kissed her hand and stood up, analysing what the recent chaos had just caused, windows were filled holes, meaning that a huge portion of the drones had somehow escaped from the tower, Ultron wasn't there anymore, just the alarmed team. Steve had a small bleeding cut on his left arm and Tony was still trying to figure what had just happened. Banner was standing next to Natasha and was rubbing the back of his neck, nervous. Maria Hill was breathing hard next to the couch where she used it as a cover. Everyone was still recovering from the recent firefight that happened and ended in matter of seconds.

"Tony..." Steve gasped.

"That wasn't supposed to happen." He said, gazing the stage with perplexed eyes.

"What is...Ultron?" Thor questioned.

"It is intelligence…with the purpose of assuring humanity's safety." Tony explained, getting back to reality.

"And you created it?"

"Me and Tony..." Bruce assumed his share of the responsibility since he could feel that Thor was on his edge.

"Why is it trying to kill us…?" Thor placed a hand on Tony's shoulder and made him look at him. "Why does Ultron speak like a mortal…?"

"I-I...don't know."

"You don't know? You're playing with things that you don't understand!"

"I assume -"

Unexpectedly, Thor grabbed Tony by the neck and raised him a few centimetres from the ground. "So you assume that if thousands of innocents lives are lost to this intelligence who wants to destroy your planet, it will be your fault?!"

"Thor!" Steve placed his hand on the god's arm which was holding Tony, adding some pressure for him to release Tony. "Let him go." He demanded.

With a groan, he released Tony fell to the floor and knelled to recover his breath. He walked away and disappeared from sight, leaving the lounge and it's visitor in a not so great condition.

"I'm sorry..." Tony whispered to himself.

A pregnant silence existed for a few minutes before Natasha broke the silence, "What are we going to do?"

Steve nodded at her inquiry, "Jarvis? Can you trace their positions?" He paused, waiting for the reply that never came.

"Ultron hacked the security software," Tony slowly stood up. "That's why we weren't notified of his presence before, but the question is, how did Ultron activated itself?"

"The AI shackles were what stopped him from becoming..." Banner silenced.

"What? Alive?" Clint asked.

"That's...not possible."

Peter turned to the woman next to him, ignoring his teammates for a while, and focus on his wife's state of mind. He pulled her into a hug and caressed her back as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay now." He said, softly. "I just checked my phone and the kids are safe, they're still sleeping."

"Thank god," Gwen hugged him back, not paying attention to the group who were currently arguing. "Is it true?"

He kissed the top of her head, "What?"

"Can he cause our extinction?" She asked, more like whispered.

"I won't let that happen, I promise." He assured.

Gwen tried to believe on his promise, but things never worked in that way and she knew that. "Your shoulder..."

"It's fine."

"We need to find Ultron." Steve approached the broken window, feeling the cold wind brushing against his shirt.

"We need to prepare while we've time, those were thousands of drones, if he wants to kill us all, then he'll need thousands more, and we can't let that happen." Clint affirmed.

"We're running out of time." Natasha said.

Peter gently took Gwen's hand and led her close to the group, "We'll be heading to our quarters," He informed with a nod, and leaved the half destroyed area with his wife.

* * *

Gwen instructed as she placed the stool near the sink in the bathroom, "Sit here and place right arm on the sink."

"Right," Peter said and did as instructed.

Gwen rummaged through the cabinet for a first aid kit which she placed on the sink, and after that she let warm water flow from the faucet. She sat down on Peter's lap and started to slowly remove the torn and bloodied pieces of his black T-shirt wrapped around his shoulder.

Peter winced a bit as the sticky cloth pieces were torn off.

"Sorry," Gwen said.

"Don't be, it's alright," Peter reassured, but his grimace showed it hurt like hell.

Gwen surmised focused on her task as she dropped the bloodied cloth into a nearby trash bin under the sink, and once removed she looked aghast at the deep wound and dried blood, she mumbled "Peter…"

"It's not very pretty, huh?" Peter deadpanned.

"Not really."

"You're frightened."

Gwen looked at him, with eyes full of agony. "Why shouldn't I be? That thing talked about extinction! Do you know what does that means?"

"Gwen, please -"

"A mother's worst fear is to lose her children! There's nothing like it!" She snapped at him. "You can't just promise such things like you did up there, this is serious! You can't say those things to me when you can't even fulfil such promise; it's not up to you..." She looked away, avoiding any eye contact.

Peter placed both hands on her shoulders and looked straight at her green eyes. "I know that," He said, softly. "You're right, but you don't need to be terrified, I'll be here, with my family, I would die for you guys if that was the only option to guarantee your safety and future."

Gwen adjusted the bandages, delicately. "It's done."

He moved a hand to her cheek and stroked the smooth skin with his thumb. "I don't care about my shoulder, I'm fine without it, but I care about you. I love you."

"Right…" She stood up and placed the bloodied towel on the pin, before walking out of the bathroom and into their bedroom, stopping close to the window next to their bed.

Peter calmly followed her and very slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, not trying to force anything that she wouldn't like it right now. He rested his chin on her right shoulder, and met her green eyes through the window's glass.

Gwen broke the silence, "Look - I'm sorry, it's just that I worry about us, even more now that I'll be out for a while and away from the kids and from you, and now there's - What was that thing called, Ultron? It's out there, and it's seeking chaos, misery and destruction. "

"You don't need to apologize, I understand your concerns and they're more than justified."

"I just... feel incapable of doing anything about it, powerless." Gwen confessed.

"And you don't need to, this is out of your league, and I don't want you to get directly involved with this whole mess."

"So I just sit and watch you doing everything? I can't do that, not when there's so much at stake." Gwen asked, softly.

"You just helped me at the bathroom, don't think that you're doing nothing, you always did."

She leaned her cheek against his, relaxing her body at his touch. "What now?"

He drew soft circles on her abdomen. "We stick together, like always, and everything will be fine."

* * *

**A/N : Well, I hope that this chapter was worth the waiting, it took longer than the usual, but that's because it took me a long time to finish the first draft, then do some tweaks here and there, and later the final revision by FireflySurvivor who's helping me with everything. I don't want to rush anything, I want to write a story where people can get engaged with the characters, and a plot that that is well crafted. It's the finale, and I'm doing my best to write a good content for the characters that I got attached with, and give them the ending that they all deserve. You'll see some characters at they finest, a proper ending for each single one of them, it's my way of properly saying goodbye to them. I've been thinking about one more last separated story that doesn't feature Peter or Gwen at all, their arc will be finished here, but about Elizabeth or the twins. I'll not get in details about it, it's just a possibility, no solid plans, and if you guys want it. But hey, there's much more stuff to tell about Peter and Gwen, and the conclusion is kinda far by now. **

**By the time I publish this, I'll be working on chapter 43, shouldn't take too long to update it.**

**I've heard about the new reboot, it sucks, the ASM movies is what brought me back into Spider-Man and it's sad to say goodbye to the movie franchise this soon, but I'll forever be grateful to the whole crew who created two beautiful storyline's, some things could have been better, but I loved its run, still do.**

**I wanted to clarify that I accidentally reviewed my own story when I was searching for errors, that review was for a 'Chuck' Fanfiction called "The Long Road". Don't ask me how I managed that, too many tabs open probably, but I'm gonna try to remove it, I never review my own stories.**

**The party scene was inspired by Avenger's 2 Trailer, some things were changed, and others improved to fit the story. The scene where Tony interrupts Peter and Gwen was inspired by one of the ASM issues which I can't remember the exactly number, probably during 'Road To Civil War, issue draw by Mike Deodato. Regarding Ultron, all the questions are going to be answered as the plot progress.**

This chapter's title comes from the song, " Amazing Life" by Matt Pond Pa. I heard it in 'Chuck', thought it was fitting.

**Quotes : Chuck, Dragon Age, Dexter and Mr and Mrs Smith.**


	41. They Came Without A Warning

**October 19th - 2013**

_Peter rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and carefully turned to the girl, who was sleeping next to him on his very small bed for two people. She was sleeping wearing one his shirts. Instinctively, Gwen moved herself even closer to Peter, her back meeting his chest as he slowly leaned closer to kiss the pale skin of the back of her neck. He couldn't be happier, despite the ups and downs that being a masked vigilante brings, but he finally achieved what he always wanted for a change._

_He caressed her right arm and kissed it before very slowly sitting up in his bed, analysing his bedroom which was surprisingly in order. It was most likely due to Gwen's passing the night there. He offered himself to sleep on the floor, but she thankfully refused it. Science books were spread around the floor and his album of photos that Gwen found was currently open on his desk. He almost didn't notice his girlfriend sitting next to him as she kissed his bare shoulder._

_"Hey." Gwen said, softly. "You okay?"_

_He smiled as he turned his head to meet her gorgeous green eyes. "Yeah, did I woke you?"_

_"In a way, you kissed a very sensitive spot."_

_Peter chuckled. "Sorry, I'm just in deep thought."_

_"Want to share it?" Gwen rested her chin on his shoulder._

_"Well, for a change, things seem to finally be working out for me, for us."_

_"You know, Dad might not like that I didn't went back home yesterday so..."_

_Peter widened his eyes in shock, "You didn't told him?" He laid himself back to his bed and sighed, "I'm dead. Should I prepare my things while he doesn't come here to arrest me?"_

_Gwen laughed as she sat over his short, resting her slender legs besides his waistline. "Don't be silly, I've texted him after we finished our homework."_

_He breathed relieved. "You always think of everything."_

_"You know I do." Gwen teased. "You know, if you're that scared… we could always run away."_

_"What?" Are you serious?"_

_Gwen cocked her head at him. "What about France, Italy or even England?"_

_"Okay, you're officially nuts!" Peter quickly sat leaned closer and carefully pulled her down into his bed. Gwen giggled as he wrapped his arms around her._

_"What could be wrong about two crazed teenagers in love leaving together and away from their evil parents?"_

_"That's super, hyper and mega cliché." Peter leaned and brushed his lips against hers, "But I'll say this, I won't ever leave you. You're stuck with me."_

_Gwen smiled against his lips. "Good to know."_

* * *

**January 2nd - 2028**

It was night in North America but the military never slept. The Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, United North American States in the province of United States was the home of the Air Force Space Command with the responsibilities of air and cyberspace warfare for the whole country.

With its early warning capabilities the command could respond to any threat from the American airspace and coordinate the defences of North America. The current commanding officer, General Marcel stepped out of the elevator and headed for the Command Centre inside the main building of the giant base. He was still drowsy after a sudden phone call to his quarters from the watch officer, who was clearly unsettled about something. With a crew-cut and still remaining the swagger of a jet pilot he had not yet begun to accept that his flying days were over.

He even still donned a green flight jacket over his uniform despite that he had previously served as Assistant vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force. He was a career man within the Air Force, having served for 35 years before he had assumed command of the Air Command a mere two months earlier. Marcel continued down the hallway and was greeted by the watch officer, a young Lieutenant who saluted, and Marcel saluted back.

The Lieutenant explained. "Sir, we had strange readings of hundreds of objects flying in our airspace, some swarmed our planes and are now spreading themselves around in very huge groups. We've lost contact with a base in the south, and one of our satellites is gone missing, whoever did that, is now holding information about our entire forces and even from other countries."

"Do we have anything more than that?" Marcel asked as he stepped up the biometric scanner on the wall which scanned the General's eyes and a moment later the door on his left side opened to the Command Centre.

"Not much, sir." The Lieutenant answered with a hint of apprehension in his voice.

The two officers stepped into the Command Centre and walked across the room which was full with computers and monitors while technicians and assistants worked in a flurry of activity. On one of the walls there were rows of large monitors, showing radar screens, live feeds from TV stations across the country and other information that was vital for daily operations.

The General stopped and gave the Lieutenant a worried look. "What does East Base say?"

"They're even more confused than we are. We got sensor playback for you, sir." The Lieutenant said and gestured towards a

The Lieutenant escorted the General to a radar technician who was hunched over an early warning screen.

The two officers stopped behind the radar technician and the Lieutenant ordered. "Airman, play the sensor data."

"Yes, sir…" The radar technician replied and punched in a few buttons on his keyboard.

Marcel looked at the screen and saw the unknown contacts, the sophisticated target and threat recognition computers could not properly identify the contacts as friend or foe. Only UNKNOWN, could be read in the info box.

Marcel looked up at the Lieutenant. "When can we expect them?"

"That depends on speed but if the targets move at regulated speeds we can expect them here within 3 to 5 hours, sir." the Lieutenant replied. He continued bleakly. "Unless they go faster than that…"

"Jesus," Marcel cursed under his breath. "Warn the president, we need to move our forces for their arrival."

* * *

**Chicago - Secret Military Installation**

"Don't be nervous." Tony said to a very nervous Peter who was walking next to him. The billionaire was wearing a black suit, glasses and carrying a case as they headed towards the President's room.

"Everyone's staring at me." Spider-Man replied, glancing the many agents and workers passing besides them on the military installation in Chicago.

"It's not every day that Spider-Man appears around here." He jokes.

Peter groaned in frustration. "I look ridiculous with this armour."

"It's the only way to protect your identity. Besides, the armour is pretty neat."

Tony turned around and brushed past a military with Peter trailing a few feet behind him.

The two iconic figures set foot in a long hallway and strolled down. The hallway was teeming with activity; officers and soldiers were leaving and going to other places of the complex.

"Someone seemed to be in a hurry." Peter observed. He looked around and saw more people rushing in all directions. Peter glanced at Tony and asked. "What's happening?"

Tony looked at Peter with concern, "That's the other part of the equation. We couldn't find Ultron, and Rhode's mobilizing the troops. Our sensors and some bases have gone dark in the outer edges of our territory. The isolated and inner defence network in Virginia has disappeared minutes ago, reporting unknown contacts. Whatever it is, it's happening to specific zones, military ones. Like if it's trying to weaken our forces."

"It's Ultron."

"It looks that way, C'mon."

Tony led the way to the reception and a female officer rose to her feet.

"Mr Stark, She's expecting you."

"Lead the way." Tony simply said. She nodded and left the reception and led Peter and Tony down a hallway to the President. She punched in a code on a door interface and the door slid open. She stepped inside and announced their arrival.

Tony and Peter entered the luxurious office, fulfilled with paintings, statues and medals. The President of The United States of America was currently facing the large window behind her desk.

"Ms President." Tony saluted while Peter awkwardly managed to copy the guy's movement before the brunette turned on her back with a professional nod. She sat in her chair and crossed her legs as the two 'superheroes' approached her table.

"What can I help you with, Mr Stark...and Spider-Man?"

Spider-Man nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"Right..." Tony gulped, nervously. "Being direct to the point, I've lost control over the Ultron project and now he's...out there, forming an army."

"What? How is this happening?"

"The intelligence managed to break the shackles that maintained it stable; Ultron attacked us back at the tower before escaping. We're searching for his presence around the globe for weeks now. We've met some of his drones but no signal of him."

"And you're just telling me this now?" She stood up and leaned in her desk with both arms, giving Tony a very cold glare.

"We, The Avengers, are going to contain the situation; we just need time...and some extra resources."

The President sighed. "Mr Stark, I've been for years holding the government from jumping at yours special friend's throat. They have a project and I'm the only thing that keeps you guys away from such project, and with this?" She sighed, "Anyways, if our reports are right, an unknown force is spreading itself around the country, New York's is being made a fortress by now."

"What?" Peter couldn't believe what was happening. "What about Washington?" He inquired; Gwen was still there alone, attending her meetings.

"The city is already loaded with troops, if it's Ultron, it's a huge thing." She paused for a brief moment. "And since you're its creator, what do we do?"

"Ultron, alone, is stronger than any tank, faster than any plane...I'm not sure -"

"There's only one option." Spider-Man stated, interrupting Tony Stark in the process. "He doesn't feel any kind of emotion; he's superior in every way. He won't go down without a fight. This is it."

"I...I'll be in touch."

The door from the President's office opened with an agent hurrying inside."Ma'am evacuation is a go."

"Why?"

"We've lost contact with our forces in both Seattle and Atlanta. Troops are now mobilizing to Washington."

"Oh my god..."

"Tony! I have to go!" Spider-Man demanded, his concern was reaching high levels. Since the kids were at the presumably safest place on Earth, Gwen needed to be found.

"Y-Yeah, I'll contact the others. We need to get in the Tower." Tony retrieved his phone from his suit to notify the team, but what he saw was a total of twenty one missed calls from his lab partner, Bruce Banner. He dialled Banner's number back and it wasn't matter of seconds before the call got answered.

_"Tony?"_

"What?"

_"My head...it's going to explode..."_

"What's happening?" He asked, hearing a sound of tables crashing.

_"It happened out of nowhere, this is...not me!"_

"Hey, hey, stay calm, we are getting there -" Tony wasn't able to finish his sentence when the call was abruptly shut down. The President passed besides him and joined the agents waiting for her outside the office, leaving Peter and Stark alone.

"What's going on?" Peter asked.

Tony turned and looked at his friend. "Everything's... falling down."

* * *

**3 Weeks ago...**

The wanted and genetically modified twins, Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff stepped out of a dark cave and into Ultron's hidden lair, a place located inside of a mountain in Africa, a Vulcan more accurately. The hideout was a living city, in a way, fully functional and with upgraded drones walking in a formation through the many walkways from the dark place where the only sound came from the drones themselves, the sound of machinery and the sound of chaos. They took a few steps forward as they searched for the leader who led them to the area. He was the one who made them believe in a purpose that wasn't being Hydra's lab rat, a purpose that they seek, one that would help them avenge their father.

"You okay?" Pietro asked, caressing her right shoulder as they headed to the only source of light, a pit a few meters away from them, where an orange glowing light was coming from. Next to the pit, there was a huge creature, probably Ultron, with its arm inside of the pit, forging a new weapon of destruction.

"Yeah..." She nodded, rather nervously.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, Pietro," Wanda affirmed. "This is what we wanted, right?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Right, then let's finally met him."

After passing through the huge horde of living drones that often stared the twins. They reluctantly stood behind Ultron, just in case, and waited for the machine to remove his arm from the burning pit and turn at their direction. Wanda paid attention to every single little detail of it, the reinforced steel that covered his figure. The red glowing light coming from some very small entrance through its body and its size, it was taller than both Wanda and Pietro combined.

"Ultron..." Pietro called, careful to not create any situation with the drone that talked.

At the calling, Ultron slowly turned his new upgraded head at him, a head that now resembled a human, with sparkling red eyes and mouth. It stared them, analysing the two humans, before resuming glancing his arm inside of the rather large pit.

"Isn't...beautiful?" Ultron retrieved his new arm covered in lava from the pit and admired its complexity.

"You wanted us here." He stated.

Ultron turned on his back and approached Pietro, eyeing the figure, "You...didn't answer my question."

"Yes, it is." Wanda took one step forward and replied. "Where's Stark? Didn't he create you? What are your plans?"

"We have no beginning. We have no end. Years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, peace shall conquer." Ultron stated, " Stark just rebuild me, I'm beyond your comprehension, my consciousness isn't limited as you think."

"How did you find us?" The called 'witch', inquired.

"I have an extensive log from Hydra's database, the organization that found me and then tried to control me." Ultron explained. "I tracked your positions with the Satellite that my brothers hacked into."

"So Stark didn't create you? You aren't his weapon?" Pietro intervened, now totally confused after Ultron's words.

"Stark freed me, he gave me a new purpose and I intend to fulfil it. He doesn't realize that he's the very failure of this system. Without people like him, people who seek uncontrollable power, I wouldn't even be here." Ultron cocked his head, gazing Wanda, 'feeling' something unusual about her. "But there's nothing like a human who doesn't seek power. Tell me - where do you think that a Super Soldier, Hulk, Spider-Man, and you two came from? Technology brought this, as through it, peace shall be made."

"But aren't they assuring peace?"

"For every guardian that is made, a destroyer is created. It's an eternal cycle of destruction, and with that, wars are made, and countless lives are lost, but my purpose is to avoid that. By exterminating every single human out there, this planet will survive, and not destroyed by its own population."

In a way, Wanda understood his sentences, but she didn't wanted to be part of all this. "Where does Stark fits in your plan?"

Ultron smiled, "I see, you want to eliminate the man who killed your father through his missiles. Now you understand, without me, this planet will be destroyed by its own wars; it's only a matter of time before the next one comes." He passed between them and observed his army of loyal drones. "I need to find a very old weapon which the satellite didn't hold any data about it, you get the person who worked on it, Bruce Banner, and I'll give you Stark when the time comes."

"How do you make more of these drones?' Pietro interrupted, gathering everything that he could about Ultron's army.

"With the seed of life, there are thousands of facilities like this one around your planet, hidden, just waiting for the signal to a new... era." He continued. "You two want Stark, I want...this whole planet, but the protectors of Earth must be eliminated first, from the inside."

Wanda stood next to his right side and gazed Ultron's army, "Banner won't be problem, I have him since he and his friends got ambushed at Hydra's base."

Even if their ultimate goals were totally different from each other, they still had one in common, and she would take advantage of that.

* * *

**Present Day**

**Washington D.C**

Gwen poured over the seemingly endless lists of test results on one screen in her office. The next screen along scroll displayed corresponding images of the lungs of over five thousand test subjects, varying to larger images to in depth scans of the micro-organisms that were present. She reached the end of the list before deciding on a course of action, pressing down the intercom and speaking in her authoritative tone.

"I want everyone in the briefing room in two minutes."

Gwen spun around in her chair, taking a moment to gaze out the city of Washington through the reinforced glass wall of the building that joined scientists and researchers from all sides of the world, top technology or advanced medicine was just one of the many areas available for debating and conferences. Then she stood and walked through the door, heading down the corridor to the meeting room. Gwen took her seat at the end of the table and waited for everyone else to arrive, all fifteen of her team eventually taking their places.

"Right," The sound of her throat clearing caused everyone to fall silent, turning to face her. "This is perhaps a brainstorming session if you like."

Gwen keyed a button on her tablet, opening up a series of holographic displays on the walls and in the centre of the table.

"So, this is the data. You've all been studying it over the past few days, as have I." There was a series of nods around the table. "Well then, thoughts? Start with the basics, if you like."

"Well," A young brunette called Ellie, her friend, started off. "We've isolated the exact strain of bacteria responsible for the Element X infection, ultimately the organism that causes death."

"It seems to have resisted all different antibiotic causes so far by adapting and becoming immune in ridiculously short amounts of time." One of the scientists at the other end spoke up. "Surgery is ineffective once the infection has taken root and transplants aren't guaranteed to be successful in the majority of cases."

"Radiotherapy is also ineffective, same for chemotherapy." Another one added. "The bacteria seems to be resistant to radiation, it's incredibly tough."

"Indeed, this is one tough little bug," Gwen nodded. "So, with this new data, has anyone got any ideas on new treatment plans? Is there any epiphanies at all?"

She was greeted by a series of head shakes, though Paul cleared his throat.

"I don't have anything at the moment," He frowned. "But I believe that, to solve this problem, we have to get to the root of it."

"Oh, I agree totally with that," Gwen nodded. "I was going to suggest that we take a break from looking at the disease in the present, to have a look at it in the past. To see what historical data could tell us."

A female scientist spoke up, cocking his head to one side. "Why?"

"It's to get to the root of the problem of course." Gwen rolled her eyes. "This bacterium is obscenely tough, aggressive, and impossible to predict and eradicate. Can someone tell me why?"

There was a series of blank looks around the table before one voice spoke up.

"I had one theory..." Mae Lu, the young Chinese woman, began. "But I wasn't sure if it was ridiculous or not."

Gwen nodded. "Go for it Dr Lu."

"Well, what if it's an artificial strain? Bio-engineered, designed to be just this deadly?"

There was a series of disbelieving mutterings around the table, Gwen silencing them with a quiet clearing of her throat.

"I believe you are right there, to a certain degree at least." Gwen gave what was, to the team, a rare smile. "I first thought of that almost four months ago."

"With disbelief – you knew for four months Doctor?" A young geneticist spoke up. "Questioning – why did you not say? And where is the evidence? Nothing supports that idea that we have seen."

"Well I don't know," Gwen corrected. "But I have a hunch and my hunches are most of the time correct. Firstly I wanted to wait until the results of the large scale testing were returned, in case anything new was gleaned from them."

"But the tests tell us nothing we already know, they just confirm our discoveries on a larger scale." Paul frowned. "I can't see any proof in this data."

"No, it just confirms everything we already knew and how lethal this bacterium really is." Gwen keyed up the complete list of results. "And they do imply third party involvement if you look closely, though yes they do not prove anything on their own. Let's take a comparison -'

The door from the room slid open with a male doctor storming inside. "Guys, you won't believe this, the army is here with an evacuation order."

"What?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"It's everywhere, television, internet and radio, you should return to your houses right now."

_Oh my god_

Gwen shook her head, "I'll be on my way, dismissed." She ordered. The team left the room, everyone with worried expression. When finally alone, Gwen picked her phone from her jeans and approached the large window.

_"Gwen?"_

"Peter, what's happening?"

_"Look, you need to get somewhere safe."_

"Why?"

_"An invasion is happening, Ultron's forces are coming to Washington and tons of cities are in conflict in this exact same moment!'_

"Oh..."

_"Honey, don't panic, I'm getting the kids somewhere safer than New York and then I'm coming for you."_

"It's too late..." Gwen placed her free hand in the glass when she saw thousands and thousands of black figures coming from the clouds later to discover that indeed, Ultron's forces had just arrived.

_"Gwen? Hey, hey, talk to me!"_

"Please, where are you?"

_"I'm coming -"_

Gwen dropped her phone when a drone stopped right in front of the window and looked straight at her green eyes, before raising its hand which was already powered on and ready to fire at Gwen's direction.

_"Gwen…?"_

* * *

**New York**

**One hour later**

"How's mommy?" Elizabeth urgently asked as they waited for the shuttle at the heliport in the Avengers Tower.

Peter kneeled in front of her, still wearing his Iron Spider armour minus the mask. He placed both hands on her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "I'll find her, but you have to guarantee me one thing."

"What?"

"Take care of your brothers while you wait for mommy and daddy at the very secret base with Auntie Natasha, alright?"

"Okay." She nodded, sadly. Peter hugged her for one last time in hours, and gently caressed her cheek with his thumb, before turning to the boys besides her.

"And you two." He smiled at them, trying to pass them some confidence with it. "Obey your sister. She will be taking care of you guys for a while."

"I want to go with you." David looked at him with scared eyes, fearing that he would never see his father again. The horrible thought terrified him.

_"I want to go with you." Peter said to his father who was about leave him to his Uncle and Auntie's care._

Peter shook his head, clearing his mind of such memories. "I'll be back before you notice it; daddy is just going to solve a few problems."

"Can I hug you?"

"Of course you can buddy," Peter embraced David who wrapped both arms around his neck. He gestured to Elizabeth and Aiden come closer and embraced them as well for some seconds while the transport hadn't arrived. "It's here."

The flying, grey and rectangular shuttle slowly approached the rooftop as the propulsion system installed under the shuttle was cooled down by the pilot, allowing it to land at the airport. Peter wore his mask and stood up, still stroking Elizabeth's blond hair and holding one of their bags with his free hand.

The shuttle's door slid open with the pilot, wearing a green armour and helmet, stepping out of it. "I've orders to extract you guys to the biggest military bunker in this country."

"Okay, take care of them." Peter gestured to his children to enter the shuttle. Elizabeth was the last one to enter it; she turned on her back and looked at Spider-Man who nodded for her. She weakly smiled and finally joined her brothers, taking one of the seats next to them.

The shuttle's door closed and slowly ascended into the not for too long, sake sky. He returned to the rooftop's door and made his way back to the Tower. Time was now a luxury.

* * *

**Avengers Tower**

_I can't lose her, I can't!_

"Hey, buddy." Flash called, fully covered in black which was the same suit that Peter used to wear before he took it off. He landed on the Tower's balcony where Peter was currently located, gazing the military occupied city that was just waiting for the inevitable attack. "What's happening?"

"It's chaos." Peter crossed his arms. "Ultron's coming and we've lost several cities meanwhile, no contact coming from them." He said in a frustrated tone.

"Jesus..." Flash was now perplexed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting for the whole team, and then I'm going after Gwen." Peter rubbed the back of his covered neck, trying to appear strong and not let his personal feelings control his actions. "Where's MJ?"

Flash stood next to him, "Already evacuated, I need to stay here and help these guys when the times comes."

"What? It's not safe, it's war."

"I fought one before. Afghanistan, but this one is much more different, thousands of lives are depending of us and if this is the end..."

"It's not; we'll find a way to overcome this."

"It's an overwhelming force, Peter. The US is falling down, and it's just the start."

"There's always hope and you can't lose it." Peter stated, but this time, his words were for a real and not just for a pep talk.

_"Peter?"_ The inside of Spider-Man's mask opened a direct connection with Tony's armour.

"Tony?" Peter placed the tip of his finger on his left ear, where the inside communicator was located.

_"Look, the situation is dire, Banner is on the loose and he's out of control. I'm after him, but you need to meet Steve in Central Park where a forward operation base was built along with a evacuation site. We need to come up with a plan instead of sacrifice more lives."_

"What about the rest?"

_"Clint is there as well, no signal of Thor and the non-Avengers are MIA, or already evacuated."_

"I need to get into Washington." He stated, impatiently.

_"There's no time, Washington is no more and the army is retreating -"_

"I can't let her go. I've said that to her that since we were teenagers." He snapped.

A brief moment of silence dominated the tense atmosphere, before Tony finally broke it, _"We'll find a way at the base, I promise."_

"Thanks."

_"Dammit!"_ Tony cursed, _"Banner is here, Tony out."_

The internal communication of Peter's call was shut down, meaning that Tony was probably having some genuinely big problems with Bruce. There was nothing that Peter or Flash could do to help him. Civilians needed their help to safely evacuate the maximum amount of citizens before the city becomes a war zone.

"Peter, " Flash called, as Peter glanced his best friend who was looking at sky. He followed his eyes and saw the weapons of war arriving in a swarm formation. "They're here."

Terrified screams coming from the streets below were now being heard by the two friends. Chaos had finally arrived, and there was nothing that they could to prevent it from causing its ultimate goal, destruction.

"We've got to go!" Peter shouted and took a few steps backward when he noticed a large portion of the drones aiming their hands at the tower and red energy blasts being directed at them, changing the sky's colour to red.

The armour-piercing blasts ripped through the reinforced concrete and destroyed the walls and the windows of the tower. The shockwave from the projectile hurled glass, debris and its occupants in all directions. The walls from the floor came crashing down and a cloud of dust billowed out, chunks of the wall tumbled through the room and tore apart everything along its path and smashed people under the crushing weight. It was a roaring wall of destruction of smoke and flames and an intense heat which seared in the air.

The shockwave and the ensuing chaos had knocked down both Peter and Flash. Peter's body was cast around as a rag-doll as he hit a wall and fell down on the floor.

Peter's ears were ringing and his head felt like it was about to explode. His mask's lenses were already cracked and the suit now contained some openings due to the blast. Sounds of firearms, explosions and screams now echoed on his mind.

He blacked out. Eventually Peter regained his conciseness but had no idea how long he had been knocked out. He could hear a muffled voice yelling, his ears were still ringing from the explosion. Somebody grabbed him gently by the shoulders and rolled him over and Peter looked up at Flash kneeled at his side and looking down on him.

"Are you alright?"

Peter nodded his head slowly and blurted out, "A few broken ribs, but I'll live. Help me up." Flash stood up and offered Peter his hand and helped him to his feet.

"What about you?" Peter asked concerned. Even if he was covered with the symbiote, he bled from his right cheek and his entire body screamed in pain. "I've two med capsules, one's being apllied on my body right now, and the other is for you."

"Save it," Flash patted him on the shoulder. "We fell some floors, and the rooftop is totally destroyed, they are going to search for us. We need to meet Steve right now!"

* * *

_"Bruce! It's Tony, this is not you!"_ Tony called from his new armour, Hulkbuster, something that he was saving for an occasion like the current one.

Hulk turned on his back and left the cops as he heard the approach, his now red eyes meeting the Hulkbuster's. He launched himself at the mechanical monstrosity that once was Iron Man. The shockwave from their collision put cracks in the pavement and for the two back in the directions they had come from.

_"Listen, I'm your friend!"_

Hulkbuster landed on his feet and began to run at Hulk as he began to stand. Hulkbuster pulled back a fist and with a blast a repulse on his right hand kicked on. Each matched the other blow for blow. Hulkbuster managed to grab Hulk by the back of his head and forced it down as one of his boots rocketed up. Between the energy blast coming from Hulkbuster's knee and the energy that propelled the foot, the blow was defining.

Hulk was barely phased though as retaliated by violently punching the armour's 'face' over and over again. Hulkbuster stumbled back before continuing his attack. He and Hulk charged each other once more and their massive hands looked. Each was trying to overpower the other but neither seemed able to achieve their goal. There was a clicking sound on Hulkbuster's back. Suddenly small energy cannon flipped up and began to pepper Hulk with blasts until he pulled back.

Hulk retreated a few meters back, just to quickly grab an unoccupied car and throw at Tony Stark who instantly grabbed the flying piece of metal with both mechanical hands, but he didn't saw Hulk's approach who violently head-butted the car on his opponent's hands and reaching for the armour's chest as well, causing Tony to roll on the destroyed asphalt because of the impact.

When Tony landed, Hulk immediately charged Hulkbuster. Hulkbuster began to grab cars and SUVs that he hurled at the out of control Banner. Hulk roared as her ripped through each one of them. Seeing that his attacks were hardly damaging Hulk at all, Tony powered the armor's left hand while Hulk was coming after him, and raised it, preparing to give him the final blow. When just a few meters away from his enemy, Hulk raised his own hand to finally end the fight, and with that, their massive hands connected with each other.

* * *

**Colorado**

General Marcel watched in horror the news feeds on the large monitor. The US and now Canada was under attack by unknown forces, hundreds of thousands machines were seen on the images, destroying everything in their path. After talking with Pentagon and the White House earlier, the President and the General had authorized the retreat of American troops from zones that were already taken by this overwhelming force. The US military was hastily being mobilized.

He was on the phone with the president's plane again and was about to talk with her when they lost communication with Washington D.C. The technicians had scrambled to establish contact but to no avail. They tried to reach other military commands and they got through to some but one after another the cities and bases dropped off the grid. They had also lost contact with the airspace tracking station on Hawaii, and now they had no radar picture of Earth and unable to track the attackers as they flew in atmosphere.

A technician shouted that he had been able to contact the Australian tracking station. Apparently the one in Spain was gone. They were also losing the satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

"God help us all."

* * *

**New York**

"I've got you!" Spider-Man said to the terrified child locked in her own seat. He gasped as he moved his hand under a car which was turned around on the floor, and slowly spun it back to its initial position before the incoming bombardment at dominated zones arrives. The door was stuck so he abruptly pulled the piece of metal from the car and threw it on the floor, before gently removing the child from her seat and handing her to her parents standing next to him.

"Thank you, Spider-Man." The child's mother smiled as she hugged her daughter.

"Where do we go?" The father asked, not knowing what to do on this desperate situation.

"There's an evacuation site on Central Park, pack your things and head there." He replied. The couple nodded in thankfulness as they started to cautiously walk away from the crowed street.

"Spider-Man…!" A young woman grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn around. Her clothes were covered with dust. "Can you tell us what is happening?!"

"I need you to stay calm, okay?" Spider-Man placed both hands on her shoulders, trying to calm the desperate woman. "We're currently under attack, those drones you saw in the sky? They're attacking everyone on sight, but I managed to destroy most of them in this area with my friend, head to Central Park, it's safer there."

She hugged him, "Please help us." She pleaded.

"I will," He gently patted her back. "Now go, don't waste time around here, it's not safe. Jets are coming for a missile strike."

She nodded at him, holding her tears. He nodded back, assuring her that was the best option. She started to run away from the location, fitting amongst a crowed as Flash released his web line and landed next to him.

"There's too many coming from the north, I did what I could, but we need to go." Flash, the black suit version of Spider-Man, affirmed.

"Yeah..." He gulped.

"Are you alright?"

"Not really, so many people are needs me. I'm leaving them."

Flash placed a hand on his shoulder, and looked at the golden lenses of his mask. "This is war, but you're not leaving them alone, you're one of the best, and we need you out there helping to end this nightmare so that we can live our lives."

Peter was about to protest but he went back, "You...are right."

"Right now, you need to pick the least worse option of the bad ones, this is it."

Peter nodded and looked at the buildings above them, "Let's go." He jumped and activated the web shooters inside of the armour's gloves, accompanied by Flash.

* * *

**New York Sky's**

At an altitude of about 9 000 meters, a large AC - 130 aircraft circled in a left hand pattern. It was a wide-body, swept wing aircraft with at least one engine per wing and a rotating radar dome on top of the fuselage.. With several rows of radar terminals inside it was designed to track hundreds of targets, some 800 kilometres away from their position. It had been one of the first aircrafts that had taken off from the base escorted by several A-10 fighters. The radar officers were hunched down over their screens, plotting the course of the incoming enemy contacts, updating the fighters already in the air. Their training kicked in and everyone was calm and effective; train as you fight, fight as you train.

The first line of defence was the A-10s from the 68th Fighter Squadron. They had quickly raced out to a Combat Air Patrol point some 80 kilometres north of the base; the four squadrons were ordered to take up enemy location points around the city with one AC-130 for the ground team support. The enemy targets would be within range of his missiles in less than 20 seconds. He ordered the rest of his formation to arm their weapons and be ready to fire at will.

The two opposing forces headed towards each other at a tremendous speed, the Air Warfare Commander on the base ordered the three other squadrons to join the 68th Fighter Squadron. The 68th was soon in range with their air-to-air missiles and a volley of 20 missiles was fired in a matter of seconds. The weapons raced towards their targets and the other squadrons were soon in range as well and proceeded to launch an impressive amount of missiles at the enemy.

The majority of the missiles struck their targets but the distance had closed so much that an intense dogfight ensued. Ultron's forces in the air were so much agile than a simply plane, the pilots' quickly switched to short-range missiles. At longer range the Air Force pilots had a small advantage because of their fast and deadly missiles, but in a dogfight the interceptors could make turns that would kill a human pilot because of the high g-forces. Regardless of humanity's advanced technologies, there was only so much a human body could take.

In a matter of seconds a dozen A-10s had been destroyed by Ultron's forces , the commanders on the base could only watch and listen in horror as the best military-designed aircraft were destroyed in the air, one by one they exploded and no pilot even had the chance of ejecting to safety.

Later, more Ultron's forces descended on the city with a loud noise, the air defences filled the sky with streaks of anti-aircraft rounds while fiery rocket engines from the surface-to-air missiles exploded on the sky. But the military weapons only scratched the surface of the drones; they began destroying buildings with its main gun, ignoring the volley of fire that the air defences directed at it. Soon buildings were destroyed and its occupants killed. The air defences died down, the Air Force fighters had been destroyed or fled the scene. No matter how hard they tried, the human forces at the city were ultimately destroyed. A brave soldier was lost, a bond was broken and a family was shattered into pieces.

* * *

**Central Park**

Some meters away, Steve barked orders to his men. Medics rushed to help the victims while the rest of the support forces started to bark at those that had fled to get back to the waiting evacuation shuttles immediately. Soldiers had run to hide behind crates and trees and had watched the battle with confusion and fear. Some failed to move and heed the orders and were rooted in their hiding spots while others obeyed without question and rushed out to the evacuation zones in a flurry of activity as people boarded the shuttles.

Steve turned to his junior officers and quickly glanced at Flash and Spider-Man who was coming at him through the busy crowed of people at Central Park, they appeared to be unharmed.

"Okay, Peter, we need to get you out of here," Steve ordered when they finally met.

"We lost the Tower."

Steve sighed. "There's an available shuttle somewhere."

Flash turned baffled at the super soldier and asked, "We're leaving them?" He gestured to the civilians rushing past and the Marines once again guiding them to the shuttles. He looked at the perimeter where other Marines fought to keep the whole park safe.

"We're not going to win the war by you staying here and fighting a losing battle when you can rally more forces for a unified front," Steve barked. "Let's go people."

Peter brushed past the officers and they followed him. The group ran across the occupied park and arrived in the landing zone. As they walked through the bridge that accessed the landing zone, an injured soldier that was being helped to walk by another one, grabbed Spider-Man's arm when he passed besides him. Peter immediately turned to the man with confused state of mind.

"You're leaving?" He asked.

Peter cleared his throat, "I-I..." He looked at Steve who nodded to him. "I will, and I promise that it will be to end this." He assured.

"Thanks..." He resumed his walking while being assisted by his teammate.

There were several parked shuttles. Flash approached the passenger door and opened a small panel on the side and grabbed on to a lever and pushed it down and stepped aside so he wouldn't be hit by the door which opened with a pneumatic hiss.

"Start her up." Steve ordered.

"But I'm staying."

"You're going to help the team and coordinate our forces."

"Yes, sir," He said conflicted and stepped inside, since he served the army before, he couldn't disobey a superior. He entered the cockpit and quickly strapped into the seat harness and rapidly punched in buttons on the panels, doing a quick start up and ignoring the pre-flight checks.

The engines started up with a whine.

Suddenly, Iron Man accidentally landed besides Steve, with its armour totally ruined. "Banner is okay, he was somehow being controlled." He stood up and patted Steve on the shoulder. "I'll cover you guy's escape and then I'll join you at the base."

"Thanks." Steve smiled.

"Did your heard anything about my Aunt?" Peter asked.

"She's already evacuated to Texas, that's why she didn't answer your calls."

"Thank god." Some soldiers and Clint stepped índice. They took a seat and strapped into the seat harness. Peter turned to the door opening and offered Steve his hand.

Steve looked up at his friend and shook his head and shouted over the engine noise, "I'm not going, Peter! You're on your own now!"

Outside the last civilian transport shuttles and military helicopters rose to the skies, leaving with the final escapees, leaving behind the Marine detachment.

"What…!" Peter shouted back bewildered.

"I'm staying. There are probably no military leaders left; I'm the next in line and I have to lead the resistance. At least here in New York," He gestured to the many soldiers outside, "These Marines need an experienced leader to run the resistance, like you said, I'm old." He was as calmed and collected as always.

Pumped up on adrenaline Peter shouted, "Like hell you are, you're an Avenger, we're in this together!"

"You'll get that done, Peter," Steve shouted back reassuringly. "Make your leaders listen, buddy!" He continued. "I'm counting on you, and find your wife, move!"

Peter gritted his teeth and conceded with a grim nod, even if Cap couldn't see it. "I'll get it done, Steve. You keep yourself alive. Best of luck…"

"You too, Peter."

Peter saluted Steve who saluted back, proud of his friend. Ultron's forces were attacking the park. Tony flied away and went to assist the fight by eliminating the drones coming from the sky above them and cover the evacuation.

Peter punched a button on the nearby interface and the door closed.

Flash looked bewildered at Peter, "He's staying?"

Peter nodded grimly, "Yeah, he is." He turned to the cockpit and ordered, "Let's go!"

"Roger that," Clint replied.

The propulsion system ignited and the shuttle lifted off the ground and soared out the parking zone and gained altitude, leaving the city in its wake. Peter approached the only window and saw the camp being destroyed, explosions and screams were now reaching his ears. There were only three shuttles loaded with civilians left. Tony was doing his best to keep the drones away from them, but ultimately he got shut down by a blast and with that, the three shuttles exploded right in front of Peter's tired eyes, he was feeling the pain that those innocents suffered, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

With each minute that passed, humanity loses a house, a city and then, a whole country, technology ultimately backfired, and that was caused by the same persons that sworn to protect the planet and its citizens. Spider-Man and his team failed, but one thing is certain, you can be damn sure that they're going to avenge the lives that were lost to the war.

* * *

**A/N : I wrote this chapter with the objective to set the new tone up, that's why it's more action oriented. All parts had a porpuse, the flashback, military and etc, I wasn't wasting time. In a way, I can understand some people having possible gripes with the military oriented parts, even being a story which the main objective isn't action, they needed to be included because I had to show the grim reality of this war and I took some extra time with them. I did the usual tests for the army, and I learned a lot from that experience, and I applied this knowledge to pay these moments justice. **

**Everything is now being connected and with that I had to extend the story's porpuse a little bit, but there will be lots of Gwen and Peter and the kids, starting with the next chapter that will be heavily focused around Gwen and Peter. It's basically done, just waiting for the week gap.**

**The scene where Hulkbuster and Hulk fought was inspired by AoU's trailer, tried to make the sequence as close to the trailer as possible, even with the small glimpses.**

**Yes, the President is a she. I thought that it would be cool to change that.**

**The twins finally appeared, and there will be more about them. Enough to tell a solid story. I actually enjoyed writing them, a nice breath of fresh air. The stuff involving their father will be later explained. Regarding Vision, no, he won't appear. I think that there's much stuff happening and so many characters to cover that the story is already overcrowded enough. So he won't ever be brought into the plot.**

**I'm having tons of fun while writing Ultron as well, I went back and read some great storylines that involved him over the recent years. While he's inspired by both comics and the new movie, I'm adding my own take, and trying to make him a different type of villain for a change.**

**That's it for now. Huge thanks to Firefly survivor for the last revision, she's amazing as ever. ****If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send a review. It only takes a second – and it really, really makes a difference. That's probably more important than ever now that the series has ended, unfortunately.**

**Quotes : The Amazing Spider-Man, The Walking Dead, Shooter and Mass Effect.**


	42. A Boy, a Girl, and a Graveyard

**New York**

**July 8th - 2014**

After an exhausting day, Spider-Man sat in the very end of the empty crane's bridge that gave him the view of the entire city of New York. With a relieved groan, he lazily swung his legs in the air and retrieved his backpack around his shoulders and placed it over his lap. He unzipped it and moved his left hand inside just to retrieve a sandwich made by his spectacular Aunt May. With his free hand, Peter raised his mask a few inches just to reveal his hungry mouth. He slowly took a bite from his sandwich and moaned in pleasure, there wasn't such thing as his Aunt's food and seeing the sun in the horizon going away and the relaxing wind brushing against his suit just collaborated to the peaceful experience that he was going through. His powers allowed him to feel free and liberated, even if a certain promise didn't exactly allowed him to have what he wanted most on his life.

Peter was about to take another bite from his sandwich when his phone hadn't started ringing inside of his backpack. He scoffed and recovered the out of control electronic. May's photo was showed to the white and huge lenses of his mask. He slid his finger over the touchscreen and brought his phone besides his left ear and supported it with his left shoulder.

"Hello." Peter said, dorky.

_"Hey, busy?"_ He heard aunt May ask, softly.

"I'm eating your magical sandwich in a..." Peter checked his surroundings. "Elevator."

_"You're eating inside of an elevator?"_

"What can I say? My stomach is like a baby, it's always seeking attention." He joked.

May chuckled in the other side of the line._ "So my assumptions that the Parkers are eating machines turned out to be true."_

Peter smiled, "Well, you're the one to blame with these sandwiches, if I get out of form, it's all on you."

She chuckled again, _"I just wanted to tell you that I might arrive late at home."_

"Why?"

Aunt May could not tell him the truth, not for now since he always worries too much. _"I'll be at my friend's house, girly stuff that you won't enjoy."_

"Okay then, have fun." He took another bite when a brief moment of silence consumed the call.

May finally asked, _"Have you talked to Gwen?"_

Peter cleared his throat. He was recently trying to avoid such specific topic which his Aunt has been pestering him about it, but he couldn't blame her since she didn't know the whole story. "No, I haven't."

_"And…?"_

"I'm sorry, Aunt May," He apologized, "But Gwen and I don't have a future together, it's better this way…For both of us."

_"You should stop lying to yourself, why can't you two have a future?"_

"Because...things are complicated, believe me, I just wish Gwen the best, and the best thing that she can do is keeping herself away from me." He silently sighed, realizing that he had said too much with his last sentence.

"_If you love her, what's so complicated about it? It's pretty clear to me that you're happy when you're with her, and she obviously feels the same wa_y."

Peter sighed. May had a point, he was only torturing himself by staying away from her, and he knew that, but he couldn't only think about himself. Gwen's future was much more important than his personal feelings. "Maybe I was wrong, maybe I don't love her. Things didn't work out." Now he wanted to punch himself for saying that, but he needed to be clear that things were over between him and Gwen, even if that wasn't what he wanted to happen.

May groaned in disapproval,_ "If Ben was here, he would drag you to Gwen's apartment and force you to say that you love her, like if you needed to be forced to say that."_

Peter laughed, "I don't doubt it and he's a great man."

_"Look, you're an adult now, you have to decide what you want for the rest of your life, because there's a certain beautiful blonde who's still waiting for that decision because she cares about you, and time doesn't last forever._" She stated, softly. _"It's not too late for that, if you love Gwen, and I know that you do, find her, and say those three little words to her until it's clear that you want her."_

_Find her._

After such talk, he wanted nothing but swing into Gwen's bedroom window and sort things out once and for all, but there's always something holding him back and in this case, Captain Stacy's final words. They talked for a few more couple of seconds before the call finally ended.

At the sound of sirens down in the streets, Peter pulled his mask down and webbed his backpack into the crane. He checked his web shooters and then stood up, waiting for the perfect time to jump forwards when the car chase was approaching the crane's position. He quickly leaned his torso forward and fell down with open arms into the city that was now his life's responsibility.

* * *

**Michigan - Lake Superior - Underground Military Base - Peter's Quarters**

**January 16th - 2028**

_"How are you?_" Aunt May asked through the encrypted video call coming from her nephew's laptop.

Peter leaned on the desk of his own bedroom, glancing at his laptop; behind him was the door that leaded into the bathroom. "I don't know, frustrated, tired, I have no idea how we're going to stop this...I keep trying, there's so much happening." He sighed.

_"You're young, you have a strong willpower, Peter,"_ May said, with affectionate eyes, _"I've lived a good life, found a job that I love, married your Uncle, raised you and got to see you build a happy and beautiful family, I'm proud of my accomplishments and yours."_

"Sounds like a great story to tell." Peter smiled.

_"And that's why you can't give up. You have so much to live, so much to fight for, your wife and beautiful kids, they need you strong."_ May affirmed, trying to cheer him up.

He shook his head. "You're right, it was dumb of to feel that way."

_"We don't get to choose how we feel, but we get to choose what we want, and in this case, you want your family, safe from any harm."_

"Thanks, you're great, you really are." He smiled. "You okay in there?"

_"Yeah, it's an underground military compound as well, they're kindly enough to put me in a very calm section, there's lots of movement in the uppers levels and it's a bit noisy."_

"Tony helped with that." Peter said. He was forever grateful to Tony after he managed to find a 'safe' place to his Aunt and friends, things could've been a lot differently without his personal support.

_"Is he doing well?"_

"Not really, he's focusing in coordinating the troops and the counter attack plan."

_"What's it?"_

"I don't even know yet, but it's something huge, and apparently it's on the centre of the facility." He lied, and despised himself for doing that, but the orders were to keep the device a secret until it's ready, and since the whole network was compromised, he needed to obey such orders.

* * *

_"So this is what Hydra was working on..." Peter crossed his arms as he approached the only window of Stark's room, seeing an enormous facility down there, an old missile site built during the Cold War. An unfinished and massive orb with a straight bridge on its north side was being built by tons of engineers in walkways as they spoke. The device was hanging upside down by massive cables and structures_

_"During the second world war, probably to destroy the US once and for all, but they hadn't one of the crucial elements." Tony revealed._

_"What?" Peter inquired, perplexed by the device's complexity._

_"The Arc Reactor, my father didn't manage to finish it and since Hydra was keeping an eye on him, they ran out of time and the war ended. The project was never finished and later it got archived and forgotten, until we finally discovered it years ago." He replied._

_"But we have it, what's its function on it?"_

_"Concentrate the energy that the weapon is going to generate into a specific target or zones. That's what the blueprints showed us, it's a crazy plan." Tony confessed._

_Peter cleared his throat, "But the only one that we have, right?"_

_Tony sighed, "It's worth a shot."_

_"Does Steve know anything about it? Peter asked. He knew that the super soldier wouldn't approve this weapon, even more after knowing that it was being developed before the war and behind his back._

_"He doesn't, but he will." Tony shrugged._

_"When it will be ready?"_

_"Weeks, months or even years," He replied, "We need to find the Tesseract, the source of infinite energy. But since we've lost the base where it was being kept locked and there isn't any single lead to follow."_

_Peter sighed; nothing could ever be simple for them. "What are we calling it?"_

_"The Breach," He replied, taking one step forward, "The breach for a new world."_

* * *

_"You and your friends will get it done,"_ Aunt May said, bringing Peter back to reality, noticing that something was off, but she will always respect his decisions.

"Probably, I just hope that there will be someone to save it when the time comes." Peter confessed, "There are so many lives relying on us."

_"You have a very big task, but I believe that you won't fail."_

Peter chuckled softly, "No pressure when you put in that way."

She smiled, _"You just have to believe, that alone can do wonders."_

"I hope you're right," He rubbed the back of his neck, "But I swear that I'll stop this or I'll die trying." He stated, "I just need to find Gwen now."

May really admired his now fragile determination, something that always has been part of him, but she couldn't even think about him losing his life. That would've been too much for her, and even if such thoughts were kind of selfish when so many people are suffering, her nephew has to live; she would exchange her life for his. _"And when you do, don't ever go away from her, you need her, and she needs you. Find your wife."_

Peter nodded, "I promise."

_"Well, I shouldn't bother you anymore; there are more important things for you to do instead of talking with your old Aunt." _She smiled.

"Not at all, you're very important to me," He replied, " But it's bedtime for the kids."

_"Good luck with that."_

He scoffed, "Fatherhood calling," He joked, "Take care, Aunt May."

_"See you later, darling."_ The connection was cancelled as Peter took a heavy breath, gently rubbed his tired eyes. May was right, he needed to believe even it was hard to, but his thoughts were all about his wife, and that was driving him crazy. Only god knows what would happen to him if he doesn't get to see that warm smile from hers ever again, the woman that went through hell with him, never walking away from the challenges that they encountered over their path.

Peter sighed and rose from his chair, before heading towards the bedroom's door and walking through the silent corridor. Despite the recent issues, he still needed to be the father that Gwen wanted him to be, and he wouldn't ever abandon such responsibility even if the world was ending in front of his eyes.

* * *

"Hey," Peter slowly moved himself next to Elizabeth in her own bed as she rested her head on his shoulder and with an arm draped around his chest. The twins were sharing a bed in the other side of the rather large bedroom from the high personal private quarter's section of the enormous underground base. "How's my favourite blonde?" He pulled the blankets closer, tucking them both and snaking his right arm around his daughter as they snuggled.

"Isn't mommy your favourite blonde?" Elizabeth asked, innocently.

_This is a trap._

"Um...she is my favourite adult blonde, yeah." He moved softly moved a lock of her hair behind her ear, "But you always is going to be my little girl, I still remember holding you for the first time." He smiled, remembering such important memory of his life.

"Did I cry a lot?"

"Not really, most of the time you just wanted attention, more attention than your sleepy brothers." He chuckled, eyeing his sons in the bed a few centimetres next to Elizabeth's. "And after you discovered your powers, I had to hide a GPS in your clothes." She giggled. "But you haven't answered my question, sweetie."

"I'm a little scared." Elizabeth finally replied, glancing the dark ceiling of the luxurious room that Stark had arranged for them after he arrived in the base. While there wasn't any pressure on her shoulders like with her dad's, she knew what's at stake, but the one thing that she desired most was just to be reunited with her family again.

"You don't need to be, I'm not," He told a lie to himself, but he had to encourage his daughter. "You're strong, don't ever doubt that." He whispered, softly.

She nodded. "Is mommy here?"

Peter silently sighed, there weren't any signs from Gwen, and even if he wanted to go after her, he couldn't jeopardize the whole team while they don't come up with a plan, and Gwen made him promise to care of the kids if something ever happened to her.

"She's...somewhere, helping people that needs her help, being a hero," He replied, stroking his daughter's blonde hair, softly. "You know, May is safe, I've talked with her a few hours ago and she's in another safe base."

"Is she really?" Liz widened her green eyes at him.

Peter nodded.

"Where's Uncle Howard?" Elizabeth brought herself even more close to him, resting a hand on the chest area of his T-shirt.

"Taking care of grandma?" Peter replied, and that was partly true, but he didn't want to say the other part, not for his children. It's best to have hope than having nothing at all, and Elizabeth didn't need to think that she wouldn't ever meet her family again.

She smiled, the first one in days. "Will I ever see mommy again?" She asked, innocently, "I miss her."

Peter moved a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear, "You will, I promise." He kissed the top of her head and stood quiet, slowly letting his daughter fall asleep on his arms. Maybe that would've been the last time that he would do that, maybe not, but he wanted to spend every single possible moment with his family for as long as he could.

"Don't worry, sweetie," He caressed her right shoulder with his thumb, "If everything fails, daddy will be here with you, to the end."

* * *

**New York**

"What have I done?" Wanda approached the edge of the building's rooftop, and saw the destruction that was now consuming New York City. Countless of buildings were damaged; swarms of drones walked down the street and brutally attacked the resistance's force without any mercy or compassion, something that a machine could never understand. She was experiencing a massacre which she helped to be started, she never trusted Ultron, but this wasn't what she was expecting. Ultron was just supposed to be a tool to achieve her goals, but he was way powerful than she had imagined, almost - if not unstoppable.

With a sudden flash that came from the rooftop's door, Pietro quickly stopped next to his sister. She didn't even turned at him, instead, she stood paralyzed, terrified. He gently placed a hand on her left shoulder and brought her closer to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder, still not taking her red eyes away from the catastrophic view. "We've made a mistake, sis."

She slowly shook her head, "This is not right..."

Pietro kissed the top of her head, "We need to fix this."

"How can we?"

"I met...Captain America, we fought while you're manipulating Bruce and handled Natasha."

"They're close to each other, more than they want to think." She whispered, feeling guilty for being part of this chaos that Ultron had created. "What does he say?"

"He wants our help, it's not too late, maybe he's right, but I ignored him. Stark shouldn't be our priority anymore." Pietro confessed.

She turned and embraced him, feeling vulnerable for the first time after weeks. They needed to fix things while they had time.

"Sentimental and rudimental creatures of blood and flesh, you're ignorant like the rest of your kind." The voice of Ultron came from behind them, the twins didn't hear a single sound of his arrival and that got them surprised. "Your extinction is inevitable, all human life will be terminated, and there's nothing that you can do about it." He took a few steps at their direction.

"How can a machine know anything about ignorance, you're just programmed!" Pietro protested.

"That's because..." Ultron narrowed his eyes at the twins, "I'm not a machine." He quickly raised his powered hand and fired a red blast at the twin's direction; Pietro quickly grabbed his sister by the waist and moved her to the right. She gasped and landed on the ground as she saw her brother already jumping at Ultron's direction, just to be quickly caught by the neck and pulled him into the air with its cold and made of rare steel arm.

"Pietro…!" Wanda cried, raising his hand at his direction.

Ultron turned to look at her while his opponent tried to use his special abilities to quickly punch its hand, but not managing to even scratch it. "You exist because I allow it, and you'll die, because I demand it."

In an act of desperation, Wanda's eyes turned into a bright red glowing light as the concrete from the rooftop's ground started to separate itself into blocks pieces and instantly flied at Ultron's direction, covering his figure and forcing him to release Pietro to the shattered ground. He gasped heavily and looked at his sister who was losing herself to her powers that were able to change physics and much more. Ultron struggled and applied a huge amount of force to the rocks around him by abruptly moving his arms, freeing himself.

Seeing Ultron trapped, Pietro ran fast to Wanda's position and grabbed her in a blink of an eye just to get out through the only door available as Ultron tried to fire a blast at them, but ultimately failed since the human was too much fast. He sighed and walked to the rooftop's edge, seeing the flash of Pietro and Wanda running away from him down in the streets. He calmly scanned the perimeter and buildings through his thermal vision, looking for possible targets, and found three heat sources with a humanoid figure in the building across the street. He jumped into the air and collided against the closest window to his targets.

* * *

"General..." Tony approached the big screen in the conference room and insisted. The conference between the many leaders of Earth's biggest countries wasn't going anywhere. Most of the countries that weren't at war with Ultron were declining America and Canada's wish of reinforcement, stating that while they were under attack, they could prepare themselves, and blaming America for allowing Ultron to even exist. Basically, it wasn't their problem.

The military figure representing Russia's chain of command spoke, _"I'm sorry, but your plan is about building a weapon engineered by Hydra and you don't even know everything about it, an act of desperation. It will only get worse. "_

Peter silently scoffed, he was leaning against the wall, with arms crossed and standing next to Flash.

Tony sighed. "Ultron won't stay here forever, we're fighting for how long it takes, but if we fail, it's over, I know that because I created him."

Impatient, Peter stepped further into the room and approached Tony. Flash tried to stop him but he had already reached the conference area. "Don't you get it? Ultron won't stop at America; he'll destroy every human being if we don't find a way to stop him."

The old man stared Peter for a brief moment. "And who are you?"

"A man who's fighting to assure that a better future happens, that's all you need to know about me."

"That's a noble goal, but this war is not ours, not yet." The general shut down the connection, leaving Peter and Tony speechless. The support wasn't given, and that only confirmed what they already knew, they were alone against an unstoppable force.

Without a word, Peter calmly headed towards the only door and stepped out of the room; Tony followed his tracks with his eyes and then looked at Flash, one of Peter's closest friends. They exchanged a glance before Tony finally nodded at him. Flash nodded back and walked to the door's direction.

Tony closed his eyes and took a heavy breath, processing the devastating outcome of the pointless meeting. The thought that Earth's heroes had failed their duty had never occurred on his mind; instead, it had abruptly happened in a shocking way that still was hard to believe.

* * *

Peter was seated in front of his laptop at his own quarters, where he was supposed to be sifting through the data Tony had been able to mine from the attack. Instead, he found himself staring blankly at his laptop for the past thirty minutes, having done absolutely nothing.

He tried to work, but he just couldn't concentrate. He couldn't get her out of his head.

He was being slowly driven mad by the lack of information about his wife. He missed her smile, teases, cuddles and everything that made him fell in love with her. And then there was the war, which was consuming Peter's soul and damaging his emotional state. He could be brave as Spider-Man, but when Peter Parker is just Peter Parker; his feelings could easily take over.

Peter rubbed his face as a knock could be heard from his door. He stood up and headed towards the calling. He opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Flash in the silent and illuminated corridor.

"Hey," Flash smiled, weakly. "Can I?" He gestured.

"Of course..." Peter fully opened the door, allowing his friend passage and later closed it.

"How are you?" Flash crossed his arms and leaned his back against the wall.

"I'm fine." He replied, again, lying to himself.

Flash smiled. "You changed; you barely are that guy who used to skateboard back at high school."

"I had to change, sacrificed a lot of things, and I became a father, a boy can't be that." He affirmed.

"Still, what defines you still exists, courage and bravery."

Peter scoffed and smiled at him. "Enough about me, how are you holding up?"

"The general is right, isn't he? It will get worse."

"If we don't stop Ultron, then yes."

"I've looked at the data, the device, it could be the solution. That's if we can build it."

"Yeah..." Peter answered dismayed.

"But I sense that you don't believe it."

"You saw what they're doing with us. How can this weapon solve that?"

"Hope." Flash observed sympathetic. "You look tired, Pete."

"I am." Peter answered truthfully.

"Thinking of Gwen?"

"Yeah, and thinking of all those we've lost, I don't know anything about Gwen's family... "

"I did not mean to pry." Flash said apologetic.

"It's alright." Peter said and gave him a weak smile.

"We don't have too many options. You know we can't defeat them conventionally."

Peter was silent for a long time. He tried to weigh in all the options, which were none actually. He was right; if they fought Ultron's army conventionally they would not last long, no matter how many soldiers they brought into the war. An evil created by the very heroes.

"It's worth a shot, isn't?" Flash was tormented by Peter's depressed attitude. He did not really know what to do; Peter had never acted like this before, not even after Uncle Ben's death or the first break up with Gwen. Now he was tired, and the fire to fight was gone, he was broken.

Peter noticed that his tired and depressed attitude was rubbing off on Flash, his question sounded as discouraged as his own thinking. But everything had come crashing down; Earth was being attacked, and Gwen could be gone as well. He looked to his golden ring on his finger, remembering happier days.

"Look, I'm here for you." Flash patted his shoulder, gently.

"Thanks -"

"_Peter, its Tony, meet me at the Operation Center_." Tony requested his presence through the room's intercom.

"I'm on my way." He replied and looked at Flash, "Coming?"

"For sure..."

* * *

Peter and Flash stepped out of the elevator that arrived in the closed and busy room that was filled with military officers running around in hurry. A window could be seen on the right side, showing the complete view of the station stationed under the lake, engineers filled the many walkways against the walls from the enormous space in the centre, where a giant circular device was being built. Peter glanced over at the panels in the far end of the room where Tony Stark was currently standing on, observing the many video feeds coming from all countries that were reporting the invasion and that still were living in peace, just waiting for Ultron's arrival.

He approached Tony who seemed to be in deep thoughts, "How's the weapon?"

Tony shook his head and turned on his back, "We're building it, Hydra's data wasn't too much specific, but it's a source of energy that can be concentrated with the same device on my chest, and the energy of the Tesseract, it will take months... maybe years." He explained.

"What now?"

"We keep building it, it's our best, there's no way to defeat every single drone in a conventional way, EMP doesn't work and we can't nuke our own cities."

"I see." Peter narrowed his eyes at him, "But this isn't what you want to talk about it."

Tony nodded and turned on his back. "Yeah, we located her."

Peter's eyes widened and he leaned closer, "Gwen? She's alive?"

"Look." Tony returned to his previous position and pressed a button, a video was started in the screen above and it was Gwen's. She was in a large empty room filled with desks, but everything was a mess, windows were shattered, lights were broken and papers were spread around the ground. Gwen herself had small cuts in her forehead and cheeks, her make-up was totally ruined and her lab coat had blood stains.

_"My name is Gwen Stacy Parker, if you're receiving this video that means there's still hope. This building is being shelter for several civilians, the first floors are dangerous, bandits and even drones are now inside of the building, I had to leave the group and find the tech level where this device will be transmitting the coordinates, " _Gwen quickly turned on her back when a door was violently destroyed with what looked like bandits coming after her. _"Please, send help!"_

"What are we waiting for?" Peter closed his fists, "I'm going!"

"Wait," Tony called him back, "You'll need a team to get in that city."

* * *

**Washington**

Peter took cover behind the desk of the large office inside of the building, waiting for the med pack of his suit to kick in. He had to get to her; he knew she was in danger. He just smashed through the first wave of drones, happy to have the chance to release some of his pent up frustration on them. He wasn't delirious yet though, not quite so mad as to run straight at the Ultron's firing line of drones around the corner. He had taken a shot to his right shoulder from one of the troops as he rolled into cover, and causing a wound.

Looking back he saw the rest of the squad moving up. They seemed to have overcome their initial shock at his sudden display of anger and were taking up firing positions. Suddenly he remembered the other door he had past.

"Natasha, Clint and Flash, move on through that door to your right. Flank the enemy!" He relayed his orders in a surprisingly calm voice.

"I got it!" Flash's response came through the damaged mask's neural interface.

He turned his attention to the other enemies in front of him. Looking around he could see another drone behind a desk. Seeing that the other drones were busy tangling with his teammates, Peter vaulted over the desk and jumped into the ceiling, he quickly crawled towards the alone drone and when it spotted him, he jumped over it and snaked his legs around the drone's neck. The drone violently flied back to a wall, trying to free itself from the spider's grasp but failed when Peter violently pushed its head, with both hands, off the body. He jumped and rolled on the floor as the drone exploded itself, he stood close to the windows, noticing another wave of humanoid drones coming from it and landing besides him.

"Natasha!'

The Super Spy didn't bother replying, she didn't need to. He watched her aim her pistols precisely at the drone's chest. The bullets ripped the left one apart, while the other one staggered around for a few steps as it slowly started to malfunction.

"We need to deal with this quickly!" Peter knew they were running out of time. As he reached close quarters and jumped from table to table, stopping in front of another group cocking his right arm back and hurling it forward into the drone's right side. The other one grabbed Peter by the neck when his hand got stuck because of the punch, and raised him from the floor. Peter gasped and webbed its face, he moved his legs around the mechanical arm and twisted it before pulling it from the drone's body and when back on his feet, he swung around and hit the drone in the face with its own arm, instantly deactivating it.

He recovered his breath as the armour's started to heal his body and cool it down. His teammates walked away from their covers and stopped next to him.

"OK, let's move. We can't waste too much time."

He led the team through a door on the left of the room, entering another room that looked like another laboratory. A computer to his right was giving off strange noises, attempting to play another vid-log. Natasha walked over to it, repairing the damage in its circuit boards. Again Gwen's voice sounded in his ears.

She was sending SOS signals. Peter wasn't listening to what she was saying though; his mind was running around in circles. It was trying to trick him, playing various scenarios of her death through his mind._ I don't have time for this_, he thought again.

"I know this is important but we don't have time to stop," He nodded at the spy and turned his attention to Flash. The ex-marine was staring at yet another window. He moved over to the door next to the window but stopped as he caught site of what held Flash's attention.

"A nightmare..." Flash was clearly disturbed by the warzone in front of him. "We need to end this."

Peter found himself agreeing with him. Destroyed buildings, cars and tanks were a common sight, gunfight sounds were also able to be heard. It had a terrifying gaze, enhanced by its complete lack of life.

Peter hit the green, open panel on the doors centre point. It opened, revealing a long room with two levels. The one on the right was higher up, roughly about a metre and a half higher. Support columns, desks, and various pieces of large laboratory equipment were dotted around.

Peter walked towards the end of the room. There was yet another terminal with Gwen's voice on, Natasha and Clint were rewinding it while Flash pulled down a ladder form a hatch above them, leading to the upper floor since the available elevator couldn't arrive at the floor where they were currently located, probably obstructed by some debris on the way. As he arrived Natasha played the video log, everyone gathering around them.

They watched as Gwen explained what had happened in the building, Ultron's forces being on the first levels while bandits were trying to find her and her group.

"She's in danger." Flash's voice echoed Peter's own thoughts.

"Yeah," Peter replied, still impatient. "We need to move."

"Wait," Natasha voice stopped him in his tracks. "There's more."

Peter turned back to watch the screen. He saw Gwen, typing at the computer in front of her, a shadow appearing behind. She turned, holding what looked to be a police pistol she had found for self-defence. He saw his own nightmares repeated on the vid screen, horrified at the danger she was in. The screen cut out as she tried to escape from the group, showing the pistol being ripped from her grasp to land on a nearby table before it faded to blackness.

Peter stood still, appearing as motionless. Suddenly, without any warning to his allies, his limbs exploded into action. He removed his damaged mask and shot up the ladder Flash had pulled down. He clambered out of the trapdoor and rushed around the corner in front of him.

"Don't lose him!" Natasha ordered as she grabbed his ripped mask from the floor and followed her teammates.

* * *

To say that Natasha was concerned at the moment would be a colossal understatement, she was terrified. Her fear was for Peter, she knew how much Gwen meant to him, and the pain of losing someone so close. She remembered her own impulsive reactions when she learned that Clint was under Loki's control. After a while though, she began to blame herself. She knew it was irrational to do so – it wasn't her fault, but she had continued to punish herself regardless. It was a long time before she had let go of those feelings.

Yet she knew Peter for years now. He wouldn't start with blaming the enemy, the ones actually responsible. She knew he was currently blaming himself for Gwen's situation, though she also knew he would get to Gwen. The question was whether he would survive the hits he was bound to take getting to her.

Natasha turned her thoughts from Peter to her own situation. Currently she was hunkered down behind a protruding section of wall, pinned down by some drones. Clint was opposite her but the rest of the squad couldn't make it out of the trapdoor because of the drones' troops' suppressing fire. She quickly poked her head out to check on the troops that had been further down the hall. She suddenly realised that they were no longer there. Now they were just a mess of metal scrap and some blue oil, victim to a rampaging Spider-Man. Now was the squads' chance.

"OK, it's clear team."

She watched the rest of the squad ascend the ladder, regrouping at the top.

"Where's he?" Clint was the first to assess the situation. Natasha swallowed before giving her reply.

"He's gone."

"What do you mean he's gone?" Flash walked up to Natasha, clearly not happy to be out of the loop. "It's Gwen isn't? I don't see another reason why he would act this way."

"He lost control. We won't get him back, not until she's safe. For now we have to stop him from getting himself killed."

Natasha closed her eyes. She took a breath. She spoke.

"Right, Shut up and listen up." She spoke quietly but with authority, a bit like Steve always did. The others broke off their bickering and listened. "What matters is following him, making sure that he gets to her. Making sure they both survive. He has to live but so does she."

Natasha turned her attention to Flash.

"If she dies we lose him, end of story." She took another breath. "We have to follow, and quickly. Provide supporting fire. Identify the most dangerous threats and eliminate them as quickly as you can. Let's go."

The others were stunned by the authority in her voice. How she was able to take charge of the situation. None of them had heard her speak like that before.

Clint was the first to speak.

"Move on!"

Then they all began to move.

The squad moved with purpose, advancing up the hallway through the carnage that Peter had caused. As Gwen had once put it – his affinity for destruction was most definitely intact. Moving in past the corpses of the drones they took a right, moving into the upper levels of the large room.

Natasha caught sight of Peter again; he was pacing close to a locked door. It wasn't his usual pacing, when he was trying to unravel a particularly irritating problem, but furious, frustrated pacing. He looked more like a wild beast than a human, one that was caged and trapped, ready to lash out at everything. She approached carefully, making sure that she didn't startle him.

"Peter."

He didn't reply straight away. When he did his voice was hoarse. "We need to get across on this door and into the elevator. I can't find the damn controls!"

Natasha glanced around, spotting the panel immediately. She motioned for the others to join them on the entrance. As the elevator began to move he approached her.

"I must have missed that."

This concerned Natasha again. Peter did not miss things. He never had to look twice around a room to find what he sought. It was another indication of his mood, one that she knew sympathy couldn't help.

"Let's -"

Natasha cut him off, "What use are you to Gwen dead? Don't ever do that move again..."

Her question stunned him. A quick look of shame shot across his features as he processed her words. She smiled at him softly, hoping he would understand her actions. He nodded, clearly making his mind up about something, and turned around. He then moved through the room the banshees had come from, towards an elevator at the back.

"Natasha and Flash," Peter's voice was surprisingly weak. "Come with me. Clint stays here and holds this position. She's up there but I need you to be here in case if something goes south.

"Aye."

Clint watched them file into the elevator, ready to ascend to the top floors. If Gwen was dead, the war could well be lost.

* * *

For the last years of her life, Gwen Stacy could honestly say that she rarely had failed a task. Ever since she joined her professional her career she had completed anything ever asked of her without a single failure. From the mundane, simple tests given to her and even cure diseases. Now though, she found herself in an unthinkable situation. Lying on a cold floor, Gwen was injured, and only able to watch a bandit held her friend, Ellie, in his grasp. She was defeated, and she knew it, about to face her death.

Gwen shifted her thoughts from her impossible situation to that man, a certain Peter Benjamin Parker. She had fallen for him, loved him, married him and then the ultimate fruit of their passion came, Elizabeth, David and Aiden. She thought she had never truly told Peter how much she cared for him. She knew he cared about her as well, a hell of a lot.

She cursed her stupidity, the mistake that she had made by allowing herself into this finite situation. She had seen him on the Tower, weeks before the attack. He had looked tired, worn down, lacking much of his, usually, unshakable will. He had admitted that she and their children was one of the few things motivating him to carry on the fight against Ultron, her death would likely be the tipping point, and she knew he would take it badly. Knowing Peter, he would launch himself off onto a personal vendetta after Ultron and probably die in his attempt at justice. Now a friend that went off the group to find her was being held hostage by a mad man who wants the group's supplies, and maybe even more. His group had died a few floors down, attacked by drones when they were chasing her. Now he was insane. Her miscalculation was immense; she may well have doomed the entire planet by being its saviour's downfall.

She knew that she could do nothing to prevent the inevitable though; she had no other plans left in play. At the sound of the bandit's voice, she turned from her thoughts, managing an icy glare of defiance towards him.

"You've been slowing me down. For far too long you have defied me, preventing this girl from having a life of wealth and luxury that I would have given her…the one that she deserves!" The man out of his mind stated.

He said the words with confidence, truly believing in his sickening cause.

"Are you crazy? The world is ending and you think about luxury? There's nothing here! This is a meeting building, what do you want?!"

"No!" He emphasised the word, gesturing with the pistol in his right hand. His left was still gripping Ellie's arm harshly. "You've let my friends die; I wanted supplies and a safe place!"

"You killed Matt! You're a cold hearted killer! You're a lunatic!"

He lowered the pistol, aiming it at her head for the kill shot. Gwen prepared herself for the blackness, for the pain. She was ready for her death now, closing her eyes, picturing Peter and her babies for one last time. Happier memories filled her mind, allowing her to die with at least a slither of contentment, not just as a failure.

The shot never came. Instead of the bang of a gun there was a hiss, the sound of a door opening.

She heard a voice speaking. Not just any voice, but Peter's voice! He had come for her!

Gwen stood up, unsteadily rising to her feet, still feeling pain from her injuries. She turned towards the door, checking that she wasn't hallucinating. She quickly assessed the situation, there was a chance now, and there was hope.

"Peter, he's got Ellie. Don't let him take her!"

"Gwen! Are you OK?"

His voice would have fooled everyone else in the room. He sounded commanding on the surface, a stranger would have thought he was calm and relaxed. Gwen could tell otherwise though, hearing the undertones of worry in his voice. She noticed that he was barely restraining himself from attacking her captor immediately. There was also a huge catalogue of injuries visible across his body unlike his squad-mates, Flash and Natasha, who looked relatively unscathed.

"I'm fine Peter, just don't let him go. Please!" She put extra emphasis on the please. Not because she needed to convince Peter, he would help her regardless, but because she needed to play her captor. If he thought that Peter would let him go and that Gwen was injured badly, she could somehow strike him down when he didn't expect it. She watched Peter take another step closer to her captor.

"Don't come any closer!" His voice contained a hint of panic for the first time in their encounter.

"We can resolve this situation peacefully. No one has to die." Peter was managing to keep his anger in check, for now. All he had to do was resist the urge to jump at his throat.

"You're Spider-Man!" He cocked his at him, seeing the complete Iron Armour minus the mask.

"No, I'm just a nerdy guy called Peter Parker, and if you hurt any of these two women, things won't end well for you," He stated. He moved a step closer to him, he was still breathing heavily. Gwen instantly glanced to him with worried eyes, Peter was losing it. "I came for Gwen and Ellie. Not you. I'll let you go, I'll let you live. Just let her go. Put down the gun."

He chuckled. "You don't kill, and what do I gain in return?"

"Think about it. If I let you leave, you'll get your life in return which is an awful lot. And I'm a man of my word. I'll let you walk out of here unharmed, I promise." Peter replied.

"Peter..." Gwen gasped. Natasha and Flash were standing next to him.

"All right," He finally relented and released his grip on Ellie. The younger woman ran towards Gwen, standing behind her, still unsure and afraid. He then put the gun down on the desk next to him. "I want out now."

Peter was about to breath heavily when his sense triggered. He looked up at the bandit who was moving his hand behind his back, reaching for hidden gun.

"Don't!" Time froze when Peter ran towards him as he tried to web the captor's hand to the window behind him, but his physical state made him miss the target and the devices weren't working well and his teammates didn't reacted in time, causing Peter to do what he wouldn't ever do, he jumped at him as they slammed into the viewing window and fall off the building.

"No!" Gwen cried, she couldn't believe her eyes.

After some agonizing seconds, an arm covered in red appeared from the window, Peter lift himself, gasping, and finally managed to get back into the building as he kneeled on the floor.

She immediately turned around, checking on Ellie's condition. Her friend was shaking, still in shock. Gwen put an arm around her shoulder, hugging her tightly.

"Are you OK? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine. I just want to get out of this place Gwendy." Ellie's reply was weak, her voice wavering.

"We'll be gone soon. Just give me a minute OK?"

"Alright…"

Gwen walked over to Peter. He was peering through the hole in the glass. As she approached she took a closer study of him. He was covered from head to foot in blood. Some was the blue glowing oil from the machines, but an alarming amount of it was his own, dark crimson blood. She noted his armour's torn state.

"Peter," It was more of a statement than a greeting. "I can't believe it's you."

"Hey." His voice was alarmingly weak. She noticed the slump in his shoulders, a severe limp obvious as he walked towards her. His earlier anger had completely dissipated, replaced by sheer exhaustion. He looks like hell, she thought.

Gwen sighed. "I never pictured myself in this situation, a damsel in distress." There was absolute truth in her words. She had never exactly needed help, not at any time in her career. Then along comes Peter who helps her save her friend and saving Gwen herself in the process. "You're here. It's over."

"About that guy...I'm sorry."

"It's fine Peter. I'm glad he's gone. I hope you understand, But you... "

"It had to be done, couldn't risk your life."

"Oh, of course..." She nodded, noticing his, for a second, coldness.

"Yeah…" He shifted his weight to his right side, revealing more extensive injuries to his lower left side. "I can't believe you did all this, you did well though Gwen."

Gwen moved closer to him, putting one hand on his chest in a supporting gesture. "Did you worry?"

He put one hand on her cheek, caressing the right side of her face. His left hand slipped to its usual position around her waist. His voice was a hoarse whisper, cracking as he replied.

"I was terrified."

She paused for a couple of seconds, unsure of what to say. After a quick deliberation in her mind she decided on her next word.

"Sorry."

They rested their foreheads together, just glad to be re-united once more. It was almost an exact replica of the moment he had returned from the Sinister Six incident. Despite what they had achieved as a team, Peter had insisted on going alone. He had been gone in comma for days, terrifying Gwen. The only difference now was that the roles were reversed, Gwen being the one to cause the worry. She kissed him tenderly and reassuringly, attempting to console him with actions. He reciprocated, turning his head away after a few seconds to speak to his friends.

"How did you do all this?" He asked, softly.

"Once I knew that the tech level had a communicator, I separated myself from the group and headed a few floors down, his group found me, I had to run. Ellie went to find me after a couple of hours, but that guy had found her first. Natasha's classes helped me to a certain point. Nothing could stop me." Gwen explained.

"You did great," Peter moved a lock of her golden hair behind her ear and slowly kissed her soft lips. "You're safe now."

Gwen smiled, glad that he had come for her.

"Have we found anything" He turned his head to his teammates that were standing in the nearest computer on the room.

Gwen turned her head as well, looking at his friends. Natasha was studying an information terminal, Flash standing next to her. It was the ex-marine who replied.

"Nothing at all…"

"Isn't this building a giant database itself?"

"Ultron's forces were here for a reason." He continued.

"I can do a bit better than that," Flash and Natasha turned to look at her, so did Peter. She produced a small USB drive from her pocket, offering it to Peter. "I got information of Ultron's bases around the globe, I don't know how, it appeared out of the nowhere." Gwen allowed herself a smug smile.

Natasha cocked her head, "Makes sense, they came to wipe the data before someone find it. We just need to discover how it got here."

"This is..." Peter carefully took the driver from her. "This is just what we need. It seems that you thought of everything."

Gwen flashed him a smile. "Maybe I can now become an Avenger."

Peter looked back up into her eyes, a hint of concern evident. He began to rub the back of his neck with his right hand, something he only ever did when he was about to ask a difficult question.

"What's wrong Peter?" her hands snaked around his neck to their usual place, his hands moving to her waist again.

"Do you know anything about your family?" He asked the question softly.

"No, I'm getting worried."

Peter kissed her forehead. "We'll find them as well." He assured.

"Thank you," Gwen smiled.

"You... You have to come with me, I can't leave you somewhere else, please," His voice asked, it wasn't the strong voice of Spider-Man when he was after someone, not the loving voice of Peter either. It was more like the tiny voice of a child, lost and scared, unsure and overwhelmed. She looked into his eyes, full of terror and anticipation. She couldn't leave him, not in this state. She wondered if he would have been better if she hadn't of left him, had her absence reduced him to this.

He continued to speak, his voice quiet, trembling slightly. "Your friends can come too; it's safer on the Lake than being on any base out there. Plus you could help out, you don't have to go on any missions, just help out and..."

Gwen cut him off with a passionate kiss, stopping his attempts to convince her. She knew that she had to stick by him, to see him through to the end. At that moment Gwen vowed never to stray from his side again.

"I'll never leave you again Peter."

He tightened his hold on her, placing a gentle kiss onto her forehead.

"Thank you," He gave her another kiss and then pulled away. When he spoke again there was some confidence in his voice, sounding much stronger than before. "We need to finish up here; you and Flash can go out to the shuttle if you want. The others are one level down, waiting outside of the elevator, we'll be going in a minute and more drones could appear without a warning. "

"OK," She gave him a final, chaste, kiss on the lips before taking Ellie's hand and leading her out of the area. "See you on the shuttle."

They walked into the elevator together, Gwen giving Ellie's hand a slight squeeze. The younger girl looked back at her, giving her a smile before speaking in a surprisingly chirpy, singsong voice.

"Gwen's got a boyfriend!"

* * *

"You really are Spider-Man?!" Ellie covered mouth with her hands, sat in the seat next to Clint and facing the couple.

"My identity doesn't even matter anymore…at least not for now." He rubbed this back of his neck.

"Why have you never told me, Gwen?"

"You know, it's a secret. And he's my husband, not boyfriend." Gwen chuckled, weakly.

"Wow..." She smiled, "Where are we going?"

"Michigan, an old underneath base made in case of a nuclear war, now the centre of operations," Peter explained. "In fact, we just arrived."

The shuttle went underneath the water and headed towards a rather large entrance between the many rocks of the lake. It opened, allowing the shuttle's passage as the gates closed and the water was quickly being drowned from the parking zone. Another gate was open after the landing zone was fully clear of water. It was the armoury, soldiers ran around, shuttles and helicopters were parked, a massive area.

As they left the shuttle, Peter spoke for the first time. "So, welcome to the base, Ellie. Hope you don't find it too boring. You're friends are here as well, you can look for you family in the communication room, an officer will help.

"Seriously…? Thank you, but my parents are long gone, I'm on my own, building a career, but now everything is gone." She sighed.

"You can stay with us." He smiled.

As they waited for the elevator Peter walked over to the shuttle pilot, Clint, handing him his mask that Natasha had carried for him. "Can you fix it? For me, please?"

Clint shook his head, giving Peter a tsk. "Of course, though you really should think of me and my work load the next time you go after everyone."

Peter laughed in response. "Thanks man." He patted his shoulder and walked away.

By then the elevator had arrived again, it was slower than the Tower's. They filed in alongside Natasha, Peter selecting both the Private Quarters Level and the Operation Centre. Peter spoke again.

"Right, you two should go to see the Doctor, I need to report to Tony."

Gwen rolled her eyes, expecting this reaction from him. Peter had always disliked going to take care of his wounds, he liked to debrief before anything else.

"That's all very well Peter, but you need seeing to more than either of us. You've injured your right shoulder, all down your left side by your hips, and you've done something to your left wrist – don't think I didn't see that one!" Gwen was amused at Peter's reaction, his mouth opened and closed a few times, ready to argue with her. In the end, he decided better of it. His face adopted a resigned look as he replied meekly.

"Fine..."

Natasha left of a small chuckle next to them. "Wow Gwen, I can never get him to go straight away!"

"Yeah, yeah Natasha," Peter sighed, shaking his head. "It's not as if you can threaten to kick me out onto the couch at night!"

Gwen couldn't resist adding to the banter. "Who says I'm sleeping with you, bug-boy?" Peter chuckled softly at the old nickname's mention.

"Gwendy, don't tease someone who saved our lives!" Her friend's protest was said with a certain degree of seriousness.

"Meh, he still owes me for helping him twice some years ago." Gwen directed a smirk at Peter; he rolled his own eyes in reply before leading them out of the elevator and towards the med section of the base. Natasha left them, heading to her private room.

Walking into the med section, they saw the doctor, preparing a set of surgical instruments and packets of med packs next to one of the beds. He looked up as the doors closed, smiling warmly at both Ellie and Gwen before analysing and scowling at Peter.

"Well, it's great to see you again Gwen," Adams walked up to Gwen and shook her hand before turning to Ellie. "And you must be Ellie yes?"

"Yeah…"

"Dr Adams," Gwen smiled. "I'm glad to see another familiar face."

"I'm just glad to help, we stand together in rough times." He nodded, "How's the kids?"

Gwen looked at Peter who winked to her, "I'm about to see them."

"Good to know. Gwen, can you and Ellie sit on one of the beds over there? Your injuries will require some patching up, though nowhere near as much as this guy." He gestured at Peter as he spoke.

"Thanks Doc, kindly as always." Peter walked over and sat on the bed by the tools. He took off of his armour, eventually sitting on the bed bare-chested. Gwen caught Ellie staring wide eyed at his Greek anatomy, amused at her friends gawking, but didn't mind it, she thought that it was very funny.

She watched the doctor begin his work, running a medical scan over his body with his hands. He was talking to him in a kind, fatherly manner.

"I told you after New York, no more insane risks."

He scoffed. "I fought swarms of drones alone... I _had_ to."

"I'm not even going to contemplate that Peter." Gwen replied in a resigned voice, she had given up trying to be his voice of reason a long time ago.

"Right," Doctor Adams had completed her diagnostics, giving the results a quick study. "Your wounds to your right shoulder are pretty much healed already, so are many of the wounds to your left side. You may have a limp for the next few hours or so. The most concerning injury is your left wrist, it's completely shattered – how did you manage that?"

"Um... It all happened pretty quickly."

Gwen saw the doctor shake his head and give him a tsk, berating him once again.

"Well that would explain it I suppose. I'm going to strap up your wrist now; you won't be able to use it for a couple of days. Once I've done that you are to do two things. Firstly, go and have a shower to wash off all of that blood, the wrist strapping will be waterproof so don't worry. You need to rest."

"Fine…" Peter's reply was a bit of a mumble, though Gwen was pleased that he hadn't stopped taking sensible advice from everyone.

The doctor worked in silence for a few minutes, the occasional hiss of pain audible from Peter. Once completed, she nodded to him before she moved over to look at Gwen. Gwen shook her head towards the doctor before speaking.

"Can you look over Ellie first please, doctor?"

Adams smiled. "You two are as stubborn as each other. But yes I will look at her first."

He walked over to Ellie's bed, the pair beginning to chat animatedly as the doctor ran a diagnostic over Gwen's friend. Meanwhile Peter gathered his things, getting up to leave the room. Before he left he came over to Gwen, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

"You can come to the 62th level, when you've settled Ellie if you want."

Gwen gave him a wink. "Can't wait, I'm going to check on the kids."

Peter gently placed a hand on her cheek and brought her closer for a quick but passionate kiss, something he had missed so much. He gave the doctor a quick thank you and a smile to Ellie before leaving, Gwen watching him walk off with a smile.

* * *

Gwen kneeled besides her boys' bed and carefully pulled the covers over their bodies, tucking them. They were peacefully sleeping, one could forget about everything that was happening outside the base by just looking at her two little boys, her little troublemakers Peters. She gently kissed the smooth skin of their foreheads and rested her own forehead against Dave's cheek. She closed her eyes for a few relaxing seconds, just hearing the calm and slowly sound of their breathing that could make her fall asleep if she stood there for some more minutes

After making sure that they both were sleeping well, Gwen stood up and slowly walked to the other side of the room where Elizabeth was currently lying on her bed, sleeping with her teddy bear under her arms. Gwen leaned down and stroked her blonde hair, smiling as she observed her daughter's sleeping. It was an experience that she would always wish to live. Years ago she wouldn't ever imagine that being a mother was the greatest thing ever, there were lots of responsibilities, but just to see her own children sleeping peacefully made everything worth it and a rather easy task, and thanks to her husband, she could feel what she was currently feeling, happiness.

Elizabeth stirred a little at Gwen's touch; she slowly opened her eyes and saw her mother's smile. "Hey sweetie…"

"Mommy, you're here." She moved her arms around Gwen's neck as she leaned down to kiss her forehead. She cupped Gwen's warm cheek, assuring herself that it wasn't a dream.

"You don't need to worry anymore." Gwen whispered and closed her eyes, embracing her daughter.

"I missed you so much." Elizabeth said, burying her head besides Gwen's neck. "Are you staying?"

"Definitely," Gwen replied, "Can't get away from your daddy, eh?"

Elizabeth giggled, "He said that you're he's favourite adult blonde, and that I'm his little girl."

"Oh, you know him, always trying to please everyone, but I'm pretty sure that you're the most important girl on his life." She chuckled.

"It doesn't matter, mommy." She smiled, "I love you."

Gwen looked at her green eyes and gave her a warm smile, "I love you too, always will."

* * *

Peter sat on the floor in his bathroom, cold water from the shower stinging his wounds as it made contact. He hadn't sustained such painful injuries for a long time; however, it had been worth it. Now he had one less worry, Gwen's safety.

Now things were finally changing for them, at least it looked that way. Gwen was safe and with him, they found crucial data about Ultron's base that was now being analysed, destroying such bases could give them an edge, and with the Breach being built by thousands of engineers, there was hope, even if they weren't certainly confident about the weapon's potential. Hydra wanted to build back at the Second World War, but technology was limited, and they only had the Tesseract, Tony's father was starting with his energy project that later his son finished it. It was their best shot to win the war, but how they were going to deploy it? That was a crazy mission; one that Peter didn't wanted to think about it anytime soon.

He gasped, feeling a twinge of pain from his shoulder. Peter shifted his back against the wall, resting his head backwards. He reached up, turning the shower off with his left hand. He supposed that he should tidy up his quarters before Gwen came up; it was a hell of a mess. Still, she would be busy settling Ellie in for a while, he could afford to sleep for an hour or two. He yawned, wanting to fall asleep there and then. He really couldn't be bothered to walk to his bed.

He closed his eyes, sleep overtaking him.

* * *

Gwen was smiling as she walked up to the door of Peter's quarter, feeling happier than she had done for a long time. So far things had gone well on the station, Ellie seemed happy to be here, and now she could keep an eye on Peter. She was not, however, happy to see the state of the loft as she opened the door.

She had never known him to keep his own room back at Aunt May's house tidy; it had been a bit of a mess at all times. To be fair to him, he had tried when she spent some nights, but now he seemed to have given up again.

His desk couldn't be seen underneath a huge pile of files. Clothes and pieces of armour were strewn across the floor, the majority of them showing blood stains. Though all of this did concern Gwen, she was more worried about vast amounts of empty bottles that were left around the bed. As she descended the stairs she could see that all of them were alcoholic beverages of some sorts. She had known him to have the occasional drink with his friends before, but not in such large quantities.

Peter was nowhere to be seen in the room, though Tony had assured Gwen that he was still up here. She walked back to his desk, stepping over his armour and into his bathroom; she was greeted by a heart-breaking sight.

He was lying on the floor, leaning against the floor, sleeping. Peter was dripping wet, shivering in the reasonably cold air, wearing only a pair of boxers. This is what the war had reduced him to then, thought Gwen, an absolute wreck.

She stepped past him, taking a couple of clean towels off the bathroom shelf. She turned back to him and knelt down, putting a hand around his back as she spoke softly to him.

"Peter, wake up," She rubbed his back gently, trying not to startle him awake. "Peter."

He opened his eyes slowly, appearing confused for a second before looking up into her eyes. He got up quickly, suddenly grabbing one of the towels from Gwen and wrapping it around his waist. She stood up as well, following him out of the bathroom as he began to talk to her rapidly.

"I'm sorry, I was going to tidy up before you came up. You don't want to be living in this mess." He picked up a few dirty t-shirts, throwing them in his laundry bin. "I kind of fell asleep; I didn't mean to sleep for that long, especially not on that floor."

"It's OK." She reassured him smoothly, placing a hand on his back once again.

"No, it's not. It isn't fair that you have to see this." He spoke with a degree of agitation, though Gwen had a feeling that he wasn't speaking about the room.

"Do you mean the state of your room, or the state of yourself?"

At that he stopped moving, his shoulders slumped and his head hung down, a look of sheer depression crossing his features.

"Me, I guess."

Still holding him she began to speak, calmly and reassuringly.

"You need to have something to eat, and some sleep. Don't worry about this, I'll sort it out." She pulled back from him, now looking directly into his eyes. "You go and lie down for a while; I'll go and get us some food from the mess hall. Is that a deal?"

"Yeah..."

"Good," She gave him a quick kiss, letting him go and watching him move over to the bed before speaking. "I'll be back in a bit." With that she turned and began to walk out of the room.

"Gwendy," She stopped, turning back around at the use of her childhood nickname. "Thanks."

She gave him another smile before walking out and into the hallway and then into the elevator.

* * *

Despite Gwen's words to him earlier, Peter had not taken a rest. Instead he had embarked upon a rapid cleaning spree, removing dirty clothes, tidying up his desk, and placing the bottles into a box ready to be discarded.

Now they were lying on the bed together, Gwen resting her head on Peter's shoulder. There were so many things that she wanted to say to him, to tell him. Now though, she didn't want to break the silence. She supposed that they would have time to talk later; she wasn't planning on going anywhere.

Looking up at Peter, she could see that he was staring the dark ceiling.

"You know you can talk to me, don't you Peter? You know you can tell me anything?" She asked the question tentatively.

"Yeah," He kissed her forehead before closing his eyes. "Just..."

She finished his sentence for him. "Not at the moment?"

There was a pause.

His grip on her tightened a bit and sighed. "No, there might not be another moment. It's just I... I did something... "

"I'm sorry." Gwen knew what he was talking about, her captor's.

"It... I had to help you, no matter the cost." He kissed her cheek and caressed her shoulder, changing subjects, "But I've missed you so much."

'I've missed you too." Gwen gently caressed his toned abdomen. "I'm glad that I'm here, you're always going to be my home, Peter, always have." She said, softly.

Peter leaned down for a kiss, not letting her lips go away from his for a few couple of seconds. She smiled, pressing as close to him as she could, happy to be next to him once again as they slowly fall asleep, wrapped in each other arms, reunited for the first time after weeks.

* * *

**A/N : We made it, this was chapter was really really difficult to finish it because there were so much stuff to detail and explain, I wrote it before the past chapter was even released, but the editing by me was a very slow process and combined with my studies, there you go. To make up for the two weeks gap, this chapter turned to be longer than the originally version that I had envisioned.**

**Before anyone starts throwing rocks at me for placing Peter on that situation, let me explain it. He was in a situation where there wasn't any good choices because things weren't depending solely on him to end peacefully. Like Flash said, there's the bad option, and the worst option. One thing that I've learned during my little time at the military, is that sometimes you need to get your job done, even if that means doing things that you wouldn't normally do, and in Peter's situation, to save his friends from the unexpected turn of events, he had to do what he wouldn't ever do. I didn't wanted him to magically solve everything beautifully because he's Spider-Man, for the contrary, he's not perfect, he's being affected by the war because he's a simple human who doesn't have the answers or solutions for everything.**

**As for Gwen, I think that she did pretty well alone, not only she managed to survive but recovered some important intel that is going to assist the resistance, so not a damsel in distress at all.**

**Right, the flashbacks, they have the porpuse to reconnect some stuff, meaning that it's impossible to direct how life is going to happen no matter how hard Peter Parker tries, and I like to revisit some moments that weren't explored on the story and movies at all.**

**Chapter's title named after the song "A boy, a girl, and a graveyard" by Jeremy Messerssmith**.

**Huge thanks to Firefly survivor for helping me out with this, she's always willing to assist me with anything. And please review, this wasn't an easy piece to write, it really really helps a lot to keep going on**. **Ciao!**


	43. Deciding What Comes Next

**January 19th - 2028**

It was already morning and the base's officers were already prepared and ready for duty. There were barely anytime to rest with so much happening going on through the recent months, they knew what's at stake. In the bare darkness of Peter and Gwen's room, the couple were still peacefully sleeping with Peter lying behind Gwen's back as he unconsciously intertwined the fingers of his free right hand that resting over her left hip with Gwen's.

While still deep on her sleep, Gwen instinctively and slowly played with his fingers, before gently holding his hand in hers. Even if not awake, she was feeling more secure than ever after having to fight alone for her life. Peter slowly started to stir as he slowly opened his eyes just to see his blonde wife sleeping next him, tucked under the bed's covers.

It was a strange sensation at first, to wake besides his Gwen after weeks of just participating of mission and living without her. He still didn't believe that she was there; maybe it was dream, but a good one. He took a glance at her face and softly caressed her hand that was intertwined with his own, before carefully leaning his head to the back of her neck as he nuzzled her hair while smelling her favourite shampoo which he brought from their own apartment during the evacuation.

Being a light sleeper since - forever, Gwen instantly turned her head next to his when she felt his delicate touches at the back of her neck, their eyes meeting each other when some physical tension started to settle between the two lovers who stood frozen next to each other. Peter looked at her green beautiful eyes which were full of desire, and nearly identical to his'.

Desperate, Peter quickly moved his hand to Gwen's cheek and smashed his lips against hers in the same ferocity that Gwen used to reciprocate the kiss which was filled with passion and urgency. He moved himself over her chest and pressed her body down into the bed, standing between her legs as Gwen tried to follow his movements by fighting his lips back and gently placing both hands on his cheek. Peter gently placed his free hand on the side of her blonde hair as he brought her body closer to his. He let her move herself into his lap; they both were now sat on the bed. It was just a matter of seconds before they feel back to the pillows, still fighting each other tongues. He stood above her and broke the kiss to recover his long lost breath.

"Hey," Peter greeted while gasping at the same time.

"Hi," Gwen replied, breathless.

Unexpectedly, Peter leaned down again and quickly danced with her lips again, as if the world was about to end. Without a warning, the door of the room was open with Elizabeth and the twins storming inside, still wearing their respective pyjamas.

Peter moved himself away from his wife, giving the children space to embrace their mother.

"Mommy…!" David crawled into bed, accompanied by Aiden as they jumped into her chest, causing Gwen to laugh despite being out of air due to the twins' sudden move.

"I've missed you two destroyers of worlds!" Gwen kissed the top of both their heads as they lay in her left and right side of the bed, hugging her. Elizabeth stood next to Peter, under his strong arms, her mother winked at Liz and she winked back, getting a surprised glance from Peter who was slowly started to fear the future since his daughter was a replica of Gwen, but not a bad thing at all.

"Liz told us that Daddy arrived in a plane and then he blew the evil machines to find Mommy who fought Kung Fu to defend herself!" Aiden affirmed, excited.

Gwen grinned, "What?"

Elizabeth inquired, "It wasn't?"

"Um, darling...I don't really do planes." Peter moved a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear and kissed the spot behind her ear, softly. "And neither rockets."

Gwen slid her hand underneath David's shirt and caressed the smooth skin while she stroked Aiden's hair, "And Kung Fu isn't really my thing. However, I do know some moves though."

Elizabeth sighed, "I think that I may have exaggerated the story, didn't I?"

Peter hugged her close while smiling gently. "Just a little, darling, just a little."

She looked up at her father's brown eyes, "Are you staying here with us, today?"

"I've to talk with Tony first, but probably yes. Dr Adams did order me to rest after all." Peter replied.

"I miss Ren..." Aiden interjected, unexpectedly.

"We all do," Gwen nuzzled his brow hair, "He's probably sleeping right now." She continued, lightening the atmosphere, and causing her son to giggle.

Peter smiled as he stretched his arms. "Well, are you three hungry?"

"Yeah…" The twins replied altogether, Elizabeth just nodded as she caressed his hand with her thumb.

"You guys should change your clothes so that we can go together to the mess hall. Don't forget to brush your teeth's before, deal?"

"Deal…!" They stormed off the bed and headed back to their, before Elizabeth gave the couple a warm smile as she closed the room's door, leaving them alone.

Peter smiled and turned back to his wife lying next to him, he smiled at her as he cupped the smooth skin of her cheek, appreciating the little moment that they were sharing together. "How are you feeling?"

Gwen kissed his hand, "I'm better, but it would be a lie to say that I'm not worried about my mother and brothers."

"We'll find them," He assured. "I won't ever let anything happen to you again."

"This is bigger than you, Peter" Gwen said softly, "Don't say such things to yourself, there are lot of lives depending on you." She loved his sweetness, but she wasn't that much important as the fate of the whole human race, and he needed to be aware of that.

"But you're the most important one, you and the kids."

Gwen stroked his hair, "There's a whole world out there, not just me. You're an Avenger for reason."

"I know," He kissed her forehead. "You're my future, and I'll fight for that future, one last time."

"You mean -"

"Yeah, I'm tired... it's time for me to pass the torch." He explained.

"Well," Gwen kissed his lips and then looked up at his big brown doe eyes, "I've always loved the idea of waking up in the morning and rolling out onto the beach." She gave him a warm smile.

"As you wish, Mrs Parker…"

He chuckled and gave her one last kiss, before moving himself off the bed and heading towards the bathroom for a nice cold shower. Gwen sat on the bed and calmly analysed the room for the first time since she arrived in the base. A couch close to the bed, a military locker which they were currently stashing their clothes, and a desk with a computer over it and the bathroom very close to it. A fine temporary shelter in Gwen's opinion, but at times like the current one, she couldn't complain about it.

Gwen stepped into the cold floor and walked around the bed and towards the locker. As she opened it, she saw her clothes already properly stashed. Her hand case that she brought from Washington was there as well, for her contentment. She carefully unzipped it and moved her right hand inside of it, searching for a very special object that she always carries with her. She retrieved two small photos from the case, and looked at them. The first one photo showed Peter with his arms around her. It was taken during the wedding's reception; it was taken by her mother on one of the happiest days of her life. The other one showing Elizabeth holding a new-born Aiden on her arms on the couch, and with Peter sat next to her, holding David himself.

So much has changed since them, she became one of the top scientists from her city and the country and their kids were now older, smarter, but always loving. She has a husband, a house, a puppy and a happy life. Everything that she could wish for, but one thing kept her alert, and that's Peter himself, he's tired, hopeless, not the man who constantly cheered her up, he still does that, but it's obvious that he isn't totally being himself, colder and more direct, the war was heavily affecting him, and she feared that such event could leave him forever scarred.

But she knew that the Peter which she fell in love with would forever exist, no matter what he goes through, because that's what makes him so special, he never changes, he's always the same dorky, passionate and caring guy that she married, and Gwen would forever be at his side, supporting and loving him.

Gwen had lost herself to her own thoughts that she didn't even noticed how much of the time had passed by, and Peter, who was wearing only a pair of boxers, snaking his strong arms around her waist and resting his chin on her left shoulder. "What's that?" He grinned, eyeing the photos.

"Um... These are just photos that I like to carry in my suitcase when I'm away," Gwen paused, smiling at the photos, "They make me feel safe... comfortable." She gently shrugged.

Peter caressed her abdomen and smiled. He kissed her cheek and spoke, "Shame that I don't have one those."

Gwen chuckled, "I know that your laptops' background is me reading a book."

"Are you spying on me?"

"You gave me your password, I've done nothing illegal." She joked.

"You tease." Peter kissed her neck.

* * *

**Mess Hall**

Gwen and Peter were in the empty mess hall eating supper in companionable silence, enjoying each other's company. Their kids were now at Natasha's room, probably bothering her, not that she minded. It was a nice location, organized tables, a rather fancy kitchen, no wonder since the particular section was made to shelter the most important person in the US. There was a small infirmary room connected with the area as well. Gwen took a sip of water and put down the glass afterwards.

Peter's voice cut through the silence, "You are smiling you know?"

Gwen looked up at Peter who was sat beside her and she chuckled, "Yes, well sometimes it's hard not to."

Peter smirked, "You are welcome." He took a bite of food and a sip of juice from his glass.

Gwen feigned seriousness, "Oh? And why would you think you had anything to do with it? Don't flatter yourself."

She couldn't let him think everything good in her life was because of him, but he was right and she knows it. His ego could be without that. She had her kids, friends and family as well to be happy about, even if she didn't knew where Helen and her brothers were.

Peter chuckled, "Yes ma'am."

Gwen shook her head and took a bite of her food from her fork.

"So you miss our own bedroom back in New York, eh?" Peter asked.

Gwen shrugged, "Yeah, but it would be nice with some occasional alone time. Now I'm rather confined to your place." She teased.

"If you need space just say so." Peter said casually, but he knew that she wouldn't want that by any means.

"I know, and I do have some alone time now and then." Gwen smiled coyly and added, "Although the room where we current are does come with a few perks."

"I agree." He smiled and leaned closer to her neck, kissing the delicate skin.

"Behave." Gwen warned with grin.

From behind her Gwen heard footsteps coming from the elevator.

Peter smirked, "I'll try." His eyes left Gwen's figure and upwards the disturbance. "Hey Clint…"

He walked up the table, "Hey guys."

"Good evening Clint." Gwen said cordially as Clint stopped near them.

He grinned, "I didn't mean to interrupt the love affair."

Peter chuckled, "It's all right. Is everything fine with you?" He motioned for him to sit down at the table.

Clint sat down a chair away from Peter, "You know I try not to think about it."

"I understand."

Peter frowned a bit, "Heard anything?"

"Looks that there will be a new video conference with the countries that aren't yet invaded, Tony will lead it."

"My fingers are crossed."

Clint rubbed the back of his neck and asked, "Peter, they say that women have a thing for bad boys, do I look like one?" He contemplated deadpanned.

Peter chuckled, "I don't think you need to worry about that. The real reason is because you're an Avenger, its part of your bad boy persona. Without it, you don't have enough personality to get someone." He teased.

"Oh god…" Gwen murmured from her end of the table.

Clint turned to Peter and countered with a grin, "Oh? What about that request you got from Asgard's women? You know, you are a real heartbreaker. Left those poor love people all alone without an answer. They're probably still waiting for a reply."

"Ugh, men…" Gwen snorted derisively.

Peter shrugged, "Well, that just means I'm more of a ladies' man then you are if I actually can get the interest of Asgard's women as well." He joked, "I'm Spider-Man, handsome, funny and a natural badass."

Gwen held in a laugh, despite everything, she could see how Peter was happier with her presence, something that he knew it was missing during the past weeks.

"Dream on Peter." Clint countered smugly.

"You wouldn't survive the encounter." Gwen pointed out unamused, rather annoyed at their conversation's topic.

Peter turned to Gwen and grinned, "That's why I'm with someone I would survive such encounters with."

Gwen gave him a suggestive and sultry smile, "Oi? One night with me can be very fatal-."

Gwen's mind finally caught up with the words coming out of her mouth and she quickly clamped down and put on an unfazed facade. For a split second she had totally ignored the fact that they weren't alone at the table. Clint remained impassive; at least she thought he did, but her husband besides her grinned widely as usual.

Gwen turned to Clint and said evenly, "You didn't hear a word."

"Of course not..." Clint responded casually. After a few moments of silence at the table he cleared his throat and rose from the chair, "I'll leave you two to your love affair."

"Right..." Peter nodded.

"See you around." Clint said walked away out of the mess hall to wherever destination he was heading for before he had stopped at the table.

Gwen glared at Peter, "Stop smiling dammit! I ought to wipe that grin of your face." Of course it didn't have the effect Gwen desired. She sighed and looked at their plates, "Are you finished?"

Peter nodded and stopped grinning, "Yes." He kissed her jawline.

"Good." Gwen rose from the table with tray in hand. "Let's get these things into the dishwasher so that you can see what this conference fuss about…"

"Of course…"

They walked over to the dishwasher and spent a couple of minutes stowing away the plates, glasses and the tableware. Peter closed the dishwasher and turned it on. He then turned to Gwen who was leaning her butt on the kitchen island behind him. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. Gwen gave him a playful smile while she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"So, it's fatal being with you?" Peter asked with a grin.

"Oh, you know what effect my 'poisonous' lips have on you." She teased and took a breath of his scent. "You should suffer a penalization for that."

"What? Your slip up…? Wasn't that you're doing?"

"I blame you for it."

Peter leaned in and captured her lips with his. She lingered for a moment, savouring the taste and his soft lips, before she pulled away and protested.

"Peter!"

He pointed out the obvious, "There's no one here."

Gwen tilted her head towards the infirmary behind her.

Peter chuckled, "Well, Adams looks like he's busy with something else, and he doesn't care."

Gwen took a deep breath and said evenly despite their flirtatious moment, "You have to -"

Bruce turned around the corner and stepped into the kitchen, surprising the two flirtatious lovers who quickly parted away from each other arms and just awkwardly stood next to each other. "Um... Hi?" Bruce greeted with a grin. "Am I interrupting something? I can return later."

Peter saw Gwen try to suppress her shamefulness as her cheeks started to turn into a shade of red. He smiled. "Nope," He shook his head, "You look better." He observed the only bandage left in Banner's forehead.

"Yeah, that wasn't normal."

Gwen interjected, "I'm glad that you're okay, at least nothing can go wrong now."

Peter widened his eyes and shared a surprised glance with Banner. "Oh Gwen, you didn't... you can't ever say that!"

Bruce sighed. "That's right, when you say that nothing can go wrong, it usually does." He nodded at Peter.

"What?" Gwen noticed that was obviously an inside joke which she wasn't aware of.

"Do you even watch movies? Like Madigan?' Peter asked, incredulously.

"It's a curse, Gwen," Banner completed his friend.

Gwen shook her head, "Oh geez! I wasn't that much of a nerd like you two." She protested.

"Still," Banner sighed, "You may have just doomed us all."

"That's silly, nothing is going to -"

_"Peter, this is Tony, come here when possible, I need to talk with you."_ Tony's voice announced through the intercom.

Peter gave her a glare, "Thank you so much Mrs Parker."

"I've lost my hunger." Bruce patted Peter on the shoulder and walked away and towards the elevator.

Gwen scoffed and closed her arms, looking at her husband standing in front of her with a playful smile. "What? Isn't this silly joke already over?"

Peter approached her and rested his hands on her waist. "It's not a joke," He leaned for a kiss but Gwen didn't exactly collaborated with him and kept her lips closed, "You look so sexy when you're angry, baby." He teased, brushing his warm lips against hers.

"Oh, yeah…?" Peter slowly kissed her lower lip with closed eyes. "Do I look sexy... when you're kicked out of the bedroom?" She asked, with a seductive tone, before wrapping her arms around his neck.

He looked at her beautiful green eyes and gulped, "Now you're being mean."

She chuckled and gave him a tiny peck on the lips. "You should see what Tony wants."

"Later."

Gwen nodded and released her hold of his and took his hand in hers and they walked the short distance to the elevator. He swiped his hand over the interface and the door slid open.

* * *

"What are you working on?" Peter asked as he and Gwen stepped inside of the lounge and walked towards Flash who was sat in the lounge's couch, holding a small circular metallic object with his hands.

He looked at the couple walking around the back of the couch and smiled. "Well, a marine recovered what seems to be the heart of one of these drones. It went to analysis and guesses what; it's powered with the energy coming from the Tesseract itself."

Gwen raised an eyebrow as she sat next to Peter in the opposite couch, "Doesn't that contain some radiation? Shouldn't you be wearing protection?"

"Shouldn't be any worse than a couple dozen X-rays," He grinned and teased the couple, "We'll be fine as long no one's pregnant."

Peter laughed, very awkwardly as he looked to his wife who chuckled back.

"Okay, Flash…" Gwen shook her head, "We're lucky then." She chuckled again, trying to get through the awkward situation that Flash created.

Peter cleared his throat, and changed subjects, "Um... doesn't that means that Ultron and his army are being made with the Tesseract's energy?"

"I'm just an ex-marine," Flash shrugged. "You two are the nerds."

Gwen shook her head in realization, "Right! Now we use that data that I've found to locate all bases." She smiled.

"That's going to take too long, and we don't have the luxury of time, we need to know the most important one first." He kissed Gwen's cheek, "But thank you, we wouldn't have a chance if you hadn't recovered that data."

Gwen smiled and gave him a tiny peck on the lips, before turning back to Flash who smirked at them. "By the way, how's MJ?" She leaned on her husband's shoulder.

"She's much calmer since we last talked; it was hard to leave her. I just have to thank you guys for telling her everything, means a lot to us."

"You two are my closest friends, she deserved to know who I really am," Peter stroked Gwen's hair. "Secrets don't last forever."

"Ditto..." Flash nodded in agreement. "It's hard, you know? That I have to stay away from her with so much going on." He placed the object next to him and leaned his back on the couch's comfortable material, relaxing his mind and muscles.

"You'll be fine," Gwen tried to comfort him, "What are you planning to do when this is all over?"

"That's a complicated question to answer on this moment, but maybe finally settle down with MJ, for real this time." He replied as he crossed his arms.

"Sounds like a great plan." Peter smiled, softly. He wished the best for his friend, he deserved it.

* * *

"Why are you two following me?" Elizabeth approached the storages' door and asked her brothers who were standing behind her.

The twins looked at each other identical eyes. David was the one to address her question, "We're protecting you."

Elizabeth smiled. "I'm just looking for something to watch on this room, there's nothing dangerous here."

"Well, daddy told us to keep you safe." Aiden insisted.

"Wasn't me the one that was supposed to take care of you two when daddy and mommy aren't close?"

David looked at his brother and telepathically talked through their eyes, trying to come up with something that would help them to get in that room as well.

"Fine we're bored; what if there are some toys in there?" David speculated.

Elizabeth sighed, she couldn't say no to her brothers. "It will be quick, I don't even know if we're allowed to be here."

"Okay!" They grinned with excitement.

"Shh!" Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at them." If we get caught, we aren't ever doing this again." She turned back to the door's direction and slowly turned the knob around. She peered inside, seeing a huge amount of shelves filled with books and closed boxes on the floor.

"What's in there?" Aiden inquired.

Elizabeth glanced at them and replied, "There's a lot of stuff, but please be-" She wasn't allowed to finish her sentence as the twins passed besides her and stormed inside, leaving her hanging. "Careful...?"

* * *

"Steve?" Peter widened his eyes when he approached the large vid screen located at the far end of the Operation Centre Room. They hadn't talked with each other since the evacuation back at New York, and it was about damn time that they had finally managed a way to get in touch again.

"I told you," Tony patted Peter's left shoulder, "He wouldn't go down that easily."

Peter grinned, while he was happy to see his friend again, he could see that the war was affecting Steve as well, obviously, bruises and very tiny cuts were spread across his face. "How are you, Cap?"

_"It's not being easy, casualties are high, but we won't ever give up without a fight."_

"Damn right you won't." Peter nodded, confident.

"Steve already knows about our plan -"

The veteran interrupted, _"And I don't approve it that much, playing with a gun that we aren't even sure about what it does... but it's our only chance."_

"So I'm assuming that you have a plan?" Peter asked.

_"Kind of, and we've made contact with the twins."_

"You mean..."

_"They didn't cause any harm, and they are offering Intel about Ultron's base, including the one that contains the Tesseract."_ He informed.

"It's about damn time!" Peter closed his fists, "What are we waiting for?"

_"Well... they want to talk with Tony first..."_

Peter sighed, so much for sone good news. "That won't end well."

"Doesn't matter, we do what we have to do," Tony stated, "We're coming to extract them safely to the base."

_"Roger that."_ Steve nodded.

"And Steve…?"

_"Yeah…?"_

"It's great to see you again."

He smiled, weakly, "Likewise." and shut down the connection.

Tony looked at Peter and informed, "You're not coming with us and I've read the Doc's report about you."

"But-"

"No." He insisted.

Peter shook his head, and sighed, "Fine, it's always nice to be left back." He was about to leave the room but Tony reassuringly placed his right hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks, for everything."

Peter smiled, and nodded as they shook hands. "Anytime…" They hadn't talked about Tony himself after they reached the base, and that got Peter rather worried about his friend's mental state since he was probably blaming himself for everything that was happening.

When Tony turned back to the panel behind and leaned on it, Peter broke the silence and finally asked, "We've been through a lot, how are you?"

Tony stood in silence, just looking at the holographic screen on front of him, speechless. "What is there to say? That thousands of years of civilization are now being wiped out? Because of me…?"

"Don't blame yourself for everything that happened, you couldn't have predicted what was going to happen."

"But I had to," He protested, calmly. "I've created an intelligence to assure us that is safe to walk out there without fearing a terrorist attack, to protect us, but it has found its own interpretation of peace." He paused. "I'm tired of people paying for ours mistakes."

Peter looked down at the floor and spoke, "Our duty as Avenger is to protect humanity... whatever the cost."

"You say that like if we're two different entities." He turned on his back and gazed the determined, but broken friend in front of him.

"Aren't we? If we win this, are people going to blame us? The so called heroes…?"

"Why do you say that?"

"You heard the president, the congress was planning something to control us for a long time now, and it seems that the future won't be that bright for people like you and me, and I can't put my family in risk." Peter explained, while glancing out the only window in the room.

"I see," Tony crossed his arms and sighed. "So you're escaping."

"I'm not escaping from anything. I'm already on my mid-thirties, I've reached a point in my life where I have to sat with my wife and decide what's next for our family, my kids are growing up, they need their father, and I can't be Spider-Man forever." Peter stated. He nodded at Stark and proceeded to walk out of the room, fully believing his words

* * *

**P&amp;G Quarters**

"I really have to confess that those classes really saved my life." Gwen informed Natasha who was sat next to her in the couch as she gently slipped David's shirt down his head after showering him. He was sat on her lap and obediently allowed his mother to take care of him, like always.

"Well, it wasn't much, but I'm glad that it helped you." Natasha replied, handing Gwen her son's socks.

"Trust me; I don't know how things would have turned without that." Gwen now slowly combed his hair to the left, before trying to make it as much as accurate to her husband's trademark hair. "There you go," She kissed his cheek and hugged him, "Ready for dinner and then bedtime."

David looked up and gazed her with his brown eyes, "When am I going to school with Liz?"

Gwen raised an eyebrow at his sudden question, "Why's that?'

"Well, it looks pretty fun."

Gwen turned her head at Natasha's direction and exchanged a curious smile with her, "And here I thought that you two were going to hate school, I guess that my genes carried over and not only your father's." She joked.

"What is genes, mommy?"

"It's what makes us," Gwen replied, "This perfect hair? It's from your father."

Aiden frowned. "He gave me his hair?"

"Um... it's something like that." She nodded.

"Can daddy give me his suit? It's so awesome!"

Gwen laughed, "That's your own task," She gave him a warm hug and kissed the top of his head. "You should convince him."

"Yeah…!" David jump off her lap and hurried towards the door, leaving the room without any last word, like usual.

Gwen chuckled, it was hard to believe that even in times like the current one, her boys managed to cheer everyone up, maybe a trait that the Parker's shared. She had lost the count of all that times that Peter motivated her with his silver tongue, and from what she has heard, his Uncle was no different at all. That's one of those rare things that made her husband so rare and unique, and she's forever grateful for being able to meet him back at high school and to live the rest of her life with him. Even if Gwen found the word "soulmate' rather silly, she didn't doubted it, he's the only person that completes her.

"If I may ask," Gwen turned her head at the redhead directions, "How was Peter while I was gone? He's different, and he doesn't tell me what's wrong besides the whole war thing, like - he left the bed during the past night without warning me."

Natasha took a heavy breath, remembering the agonizing memories about him when she was gone. "He was devastated, shattered, he wasn't speaking that much, but he wasn't giving up, even if it seemed that he had." She explained, "You have no idea how much you mean for him, if you were gone... I'm pretty sure that all of this wouldn't be happening."

Gwen sighed, feeling bad for letting such situation happen. "I see," She paused for a brief moment, "Peter's a very good man, he deserves the best and sometimes I think that -"

"Hey," Natasha placed her hand over hers, interrupting her sentence. "Don't ever say that, you two are made for each other, he's happy with you, and only with you." She smiled, softly.

Natasha never imagined herself as someone who would give someone relationship's advices. She always has been a much closed person over the years, but the team slowly changed her. She had a rough life, being a spy wasn't easy, she had to endure tests and even torture during her time at Russia, but she grew as a person, and she wanted to preserve this friendship with Gwen, one of the few ones that she ever had.

"Thank you," Gwen leaned closer and hugged her, softly. She needed all the support that she could get.

* * *

At the lounge, Peter and Flash were both seated in a circular table behind the couch where Elizabeth was currently lying on the soft material, watching some cartoon's DVD that she had found when exploring the place, not really paying attention to the two friends who were talking to each other in a low tone.

"I've found what you had requested," Flash slowly handed him a blue folder and leaned his back on the chair. "Are you sure about this?"

Peter nodded, determined. He grabbed the folder but didn't open before saying, "Truth is... I'm tired, it's the right time."

Flash smiled. "I respect that, hanging the suit shouldn't be an easy thing though."

"You know, it's like saying goodbye to a very close friend, but Spider-Man has done enough, and he's not alone anymore, anyone can be him, while my blood is required, who knows what will happen, legends are born every year." Peter affirmed. Being Spider-Man wasn't an easy thing, never was, he had to sacrifice a lot because of such responsibility and he didn't want his children to went through the same thing he did, anyone, but the future is always changing, and if someone managed to get abilities similar to his and use them for the greater good, he wouldn't stop that person. "What about you?"

Flash rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. "I don't know if I can hang the 'suit'."

"We'll find a way if you wish to."

"Yeah, but to your question, I think that it's time for and MJ to properly settle down, build a family, I don't know."

Peter chuckled, softly. "Well, when we win this, you'll have your hands full."

"Do you think that I would be a good father?"

"Why wouldn't you be? Elizabeth calls you her Uncle, she adores you."

He smiled, just what he needed to hear to calm his troubled mind. Peter always had a way with words. "Why don't you open the folder? I searched for some neat places as you asked."

"Right," Peter slowly opened the blue folder and instantly saw the first photo that showed a cosy - two floors house near the beach, with large threes around it, and balcony that faced the sun's origin area and a large playground. "This is... beautiful, she's going to love it."

"When are you going to tell her?" Flash asked, glancing Peter as he observed the many photos that he had found in the internet.

"It will be a surprise, if this is the place where we will spend the rest of our lives; I want to bring her there first when this is all over. Everything has an end, and it feels right to say goodbye to this life, you know?" He smiled, glancing the photos. "This is her dream home."

"I do," Flash nodded with a soft smile. "What if she suspects that we're conspiring in the base's corners?"

"I'm not saying anything, the only possible way is if she tries to seduce me, but that won't ever happen again, it's our little secret." He joked.

Flash laughed. "Understood, Spidey…"

Without any kind of a warning, the only door in the room was slid open with Gwen peering inside, spotting the two friends sat in the table behind the couch. Her husband quickly closed the folder and handed it back to Flash who awkwardly smiled to her.

"Um... Hey honey."

Gwen raised an eyebrow as she stepped inside, "Hi...?"

"What's up?" He leaned his back on the chair and moved his right leg over his left one, pretending that they weren't doing anything at all.

"I was looking for Liz, the boys are already sleeping."

"Oh, she's watching a cartoon," Peter gestured to the couch, "Right, Liz?" He grinned at Gwen, waiting for the reply that never came. He had left hanging by his own daughter, Peter rose from the chair and approached the couch from behind, seeing her peacefully sleeping and curled on the comfortable couch, resting her right hand under her head. "We got a soldier down here." He stroked her blonde hair, before turning back at his wife's direction.

"Can you bring her to her bed?" Gwen approached him, resting her hands on his waist.

"For sure, babe…" Peter gave her a tiny peck on the lips.

"I'm your babe now?" Gwen asked, playfully.

Forgotten and abandoned, Flash faked a cough. "I'm still here."

Gwen chuckled, getting her revenge over him. She turned and saw the blue folder that Flash was trying to hide by placing both arms over it. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Peter pretended to not know what she was talking about.

"Isn't that a folder underneath Flash's arms? Are you hiding it from me?" Gwen raised an eyebrow and gave her husband a glare.

"Oh, that!" Peter nodded in realization, "That's Flash schools photos, and you know the embarrassing ones." He came up with an excuse.

"Can I see them?" Gwen slowly started to walk towards the table if her husband hadn't gently held her hand.

"No! I mean - not now honey, it's late."

"Um..." Gwen eyed both friends, trying to figure out what was happening. She crossed her arms and asked, "Okay, this is very unlikely, but are you two into something which I'm not aware of?"

"What do you mean?" Flash interjected, afraid with what she meant with that.

"You know..." Gwen hinted.

"What hell... No, Gwen, no…!" Peter shook his head in disapproval.

"I can't believe you meant that." Flash crossed his arms.

"Why? You guys are always hanging together, weirdly 'talking' about something and then you two start acting this way, if you guys want to tell me something, just say it, I'm not against that." She shrugged.

Peter sighed. "Look, I'm straight, Flash is straight, we're both married, and you're finally getting crazy."

Gwen raised her arms, defeated. "Alright, fine, just speculation." She knew that something was up, not what she had just teased, but they were planning something, and being a person that didn't enjoyed secrets being kept from her, especially from her husband, she would personally address the case later. "Shall we go now?"

Peter scoffed, giving her mock - glare. He walked around the couch and kneeled in front of Elizabeth's figure, before gently moving his arms underneath her and bringing slowly bringing his sleepy daughter closer to his chest. He kissed the top of her head as she buried her face on his neck, breathing next to the skin of his neck. It still was hard to believe how much she had changed since he hold her for the first time, seven years ago, from an energetic and loving baby to a seven years old girl.

"C'mon." Peter whispered to his wife. She kissed her cheek and stepped out of the lounge. Peter quickly turned to Flash's direction and mouthed,

_Don't tell her!_

* * *

"Yeah, crazy isn't it?" Peter stood next to the bed and stirred his shoulders as Gwen rose from his desk's chair, only wearing his shirt that covered her torso and waist. She approached her husband from behind, massaging the toned muscles of his back. There was a thing that had bugged her a little under during the day. With everything going on with the summit and the mission, there hadn't been a good time to talk about personal affairs.

Gwen glanced at Peter, "Where were you last night Peter?" She asked, softly.

He moaned in contentment. "I took a drink with Thor, that's all."

Gwen raised an eyebrow and asked incredulously, "Really? In the middle of the night…?"

"Yeah, I woke up and with all that's going on I couldn't fall asleep again so I snuck out, got dressed and fetched Thor who was also awake."

"I was lying right next to you, why didn't you wake me up?"

"I didn't want to disturb you."

Gwen rolled her eyes.

**Past Night**

_The day progressed and eventually Peter and Gwen turned in for the night, but only a few hours passed before Peter woke up. He walked over to the bathroom quickly and quietly and returned to bed a few minutes later but the clock ticked on and he was unable to fall back to sleep for some reason. He glanced over at Gwen who was sound asleep. They had been through a lot. This was entirely a new ball game; Ultron was here for real this time and destroying everything in their path._

_Peter looked at the clock on the night stand; it wasn't even 1 on the night yet. Peter sighed quietly and looked up in the ceiling. He remembered Thor's' earlier offer to drink each other under the table and decided to take up on that if his friend was awake. Thor returned from Asgard with good news, his people were going to help them against Ultron._

_A few drinks won't hurt and might even make me tired enough to fall to sleep again. Peter thought._

_Peter caressed Gwen's abdomen and softly kissed her cheek, not moving his lips away from her skin for a few couple of seconds, just silently embracing her and feeling her soft scent, while hearing the peaceful sound of her relaxing breathing. Later on, he slipped out of bed and quickly retrieved his clothes and carried them out through the door. Outside his room, Peter called out for the base's new installed VI._

_"Jarvis, is Thor still up?"_

_"Yes Peter, he's reading some reports in the lounge." Jarvis replied over the speakers._

_"Okay, thank you. Good night."_

_"Good night Peter."_

_Peter quickly dressed, wearing a white shirt and the dress blues pants but. He carefully took a glance at his sleeping children on their own room and called up the elevator and pressed the button for the Crew Deck and arrived at his destination shortly. Peter strolled through the mess hall and past the kitchen up the corridor leading to the lounge. The deck was quiet and empty; the night shift manned the Operation Centre while the rest slept. Peter ended up at the door and knocked on it and waited patiently. A few moments the door was opened by a surprised Thor._

_"Peter." Thor greeted before he smirked, "You got kicked out of bed?"_

_Peter said with half a chuckle, "No I wasn't. I woke up and had trouble falling asleep again. What are you doing up at this hour?"_

_"I'm just reading a few reports." Thor said glum. "But I'm still adjusting to Earth time. We have 26 hours on Asgard not 24."_

_"Ah."_

_"I can take a few drinks with you." Thor allowed him passage to the lounge._

_"Good." Peter walked past the bar while Thor took a seat._

_"So what will you have Thor?" Peter asked._

_"A beer will be fine. Asgardian."_

_Peter nodded and turned to the shelf behind him with row after row of bottles. Peter grabbed a bottle of beer and opened the cap with a cap opener and turned to hand it to Thor._

_"Thanks."_

_Peter turned and grabbed a bottle of rum and a then a glass from the counter and walked to the other side and took a seat next to Thor on one of the bar stools._

_"Do you know they have encountered Tesseract traces in those new drones?" Thor said and took a sip from the bottle._

_Peter looked up in surprise, "No. I guess it was too much to ask for believing that it had forever vanished." Peter opened the bottle and poured the beverage into the glass he had placed in front of him on the counter._

_"Yeah, it probably was. It has been one hell of a ride."_

_Peter nodded, "So, what do you think of our odds?" He put away the bottle and took a sip from the glass of rum._

_Thor glanced at Peter, "You are not alone anymore so I think we have a shot at it."_

_"That's very optimistic coming from you Thor." Peter mused._

_He chuckled, "Well you proved me wrong all those times I was pessimistic so I figure it's time to change the tune. And if there's something I learned from our group is that imminent death can motivate people."_

_"It can also close people up and protect themselves instead of thinking of the greater good."_

_"Yeah…" Thor swiped down the rest of the beer._

_"Have you heard anything from your girlfriend?"_

_Thor shook his head slowly and spoke in a low voice. "No, I haven't heard anything." He put down the bottle on the counter._

_"I'm sure she's alright." Peter tried to assure his friend._

_"I'm not big on blind hope Peter, and it's been a long time since I heard from her."_

_"I'm sorry Thor."_

_He smiled, "I will find her."_

_Thor turned to Peter and picked up the cap opener from the counter. He shrugged as he removed the cap, "So you haven't adjusted to life on a human planet yet?" Peter asked, steering their conversation in a different direction and drank some rum._

_Thor chuckled, "Well, the time difference is a little tough to adjust too, but don't worry I'm well rested for missions. Although I'm amazed you get some sleep at all nowadays._

_Peter raised an eyebrow, "What?"_

_Thor walked back to the bar stool and chuckled, "You two must be busy all the time."_

_"Ha-ha... Funny." Peter responded deadpanned._

_"You know that you two are the main topic of gossip amongst the crew right? Spider-Man and the blonde one…"_

_Peter glanced at Thor, "Fun for them," He muttered. "And for the record we don't really care what people think of us."_

_Thor shrugged, "Just saying. Some human soldiers are quite impressed." He teased, "So it's that serious between you and Stacy? I know that you two have children, but my people are quite different from yours."_

_"We're fully committed to each other, for years now."_

_"Right…" Thor said, "I find it fascinating that you charmed her of all people. She must have taken the 'play-hard-to-get'-act to a whole other level."_

_Peter smirked, "Maybe. Or maybe I'm just that good. In the end she couldn't resist me." He said, cockily._

_"Uh-huh."_

_Peter took a sip of rum, "To be honest, I was kind of a shy guy, but I made the first move, in a way. We had a date; things evolved a lot since them."_

_Thor took a sip from his bottle. "Really…?" Thor asked sceptically._

_"Really," Peter drank the last rum in his glass. "I think I had enough for tonight." He screwed the cap back on the rum bottle_

_Thor tilted his head at the bottle and observed glibly, "Yeah, you drank almost half the bottle. Are you sure you don't have drinking problems?"_

_"Yeah, I am sure." Peter chuckled and walked around the bar with the rum bottle in hand and put it up the shelf._

_"Well, it's always good talking with you." Thor drank the last of his beer and put down the bottle on the counter._

_Peter nodded and grabbed the two beer bottles and dropped them down the trash bin underneath the counter. The two left the lounge quickly and quietly and they strolled through the corridor._

_"I'll see you tomorrow Peter." Thor said and took a left turn just short of the elevator as Peter continued onwards._

_"Night, Thor."_

**Present Day**

Wasn't a couple supposed to share things with each other? Regardless of whether it was about the happy moments or the hardships? Somehow it seemed that at times Peter didn't always share how he felt to her. The two of them had undoubtedly come a long way, and Gwen always felt much loved by Peter. But it seemed as he rather wanted to share his troubles with Thor and not with her, his wife. And she merely wanted to help him. Or was she imagining things? She knew he had some personal troubles after leaving New York, Natasha had told her that, but he hadn't really shared those problems with her.

"Is there something on your mind?" Peter asked puzzled as he turned to face her and hold her hand with his.

"It bugs me a little that you didn't talk to me." Gwen answered evenly.

"Well I-"

Gwen interrupted, "I'm your wife Peter. I want to help you if you have trouble." She rested her arms around his shoulder. He draped his arms around her petite form and gently drew her closer.

"I didn't want to trouble you."

"Oh, please Peter!" Gwen said bothered. "I want to be here for you."

"But this wasn't just about me; Thor is upset about Earth, and other matters."

Gwen spoke softly, "I can appreciate that, and I don't mean that you shouldn't be there for your friend. But you shared with Thor how you are feeling, and you didn't with me. It makes me wonder who is closer to you."

"That seems a little exaggerated Gwendy... you're being so emotional recently."

"Really…?" Gwen pressed on and looked into his eyes.

"I just didn't want to depress you or anything like that."

Gwen shook her head, "You must be the dumbest, dumb person in the world."

Peter chuckled and said sarcastically, "Well, thank you. It feels nice being so loved by you."

"And you should count your blessings." Gwen teased back.

Peter grinned, "I am."

Gwen stated calmly, "I don't want to be locked out."

Peter sighed defeated, "I...having the entire world on my shoulder and standing on the edge of the abyss really open one's eyes."

"I believe in you Peter." Gwen wanted to reassure him and kissed his forehead.

"That's exactly what I mean. What if I can't get us out of this, what if we are in fact only fighting the inevitable? When people say something like that it dawns upon me how feeble the situation really is." Peter said exasperated.

Gwen noticed his slumped shoulders and blank stare and how much weight literally was on his shoulders. How much of the war was riding on him. He had always kept his spirits high. But now she could see that with Ultron there, he had in fact changed. Gwen understood he didn't need to hear it over and over, but she knew that most of the war effort relied on the man in front of her. With him in charge they had a far better chance in winning the war because he saw what needed to be done and damn everyone that dragged their heels.

But didn't' he believe in the war? Didn't he believe in victory? His sudden confession that they might be fighting a losing battle rattled Gwen. It was of course a fact that they might very well loose, but Peter always had that drive that allowed him to achieve what everybody else failed to, and if those thoughts could fester, if the cracks were allowed to widen, he could lose what made him great when so much depended on him.

She could actually see it now, how alone he was. Every time people told him how they believed in him, all they did was put more pressure on him. He didn't need them to boast his ego. Thor certainly believed in Peter, but he was not naive, and that's why Peter chooses to confide in him.

Now she could see how much he needed her to be there for him, but he somehow was reluctant to ask. Gwen knew how much Peter needed the support that only a unique intimate bond could provide. She could help him be the man everyone is counting for him to be.

She would be there; because it hurt Gwen to see the man she loved suffer.

Gwen rested her forehead on his and spoke softly, "I know you never asked for any of this Peter, having all this thrown at you. You have sacrificed a lot."

"Yes."

"But I will help you along the way." Gwen smiled.

"I know you will. And I appreciate it. And there's no one else I want to believe in me more than you. It means a great deal."

They stayed silent, relishing in the quiet moment they shared.

"Oh, just clearing things up, you aren't pregnant, right?"

Gwen chuckled, "Why's that?"

"Nothing, I mean - Flash's joke got me thinking, that's it."

Gwen shook her head and smiled, "Well, you shouldn't be worried about that; you haven't gotten me pregnant again."

"I'm always the one to blame," Peter gently kissed the tip her tiny nose, getting a warm smile from his wife. "You know, everyone's keep asking me what I'm going to do, with my future after this, and the truth is : I have no clue, all I know, is that I want you and the kids to be part of it. That's why I'm fighting out there, for us."

_Oh my god, his sweetness never gets old._

Gwen leaned in and they kissed passionately. She relaxed and explored his mouth with her tongue, tasting him. The tingling sensation of his soft lips and his warm body pressed against hers made everything else around them disappear. Their intimate kisses were always full of promises for each other. Gwen wanted nothing other than to feel loved by Peter and be genuinely happy around him.

Peter moved his arms around her slim body and pulled her closer and kissed her cheek, "I'll be with you all the way."

"Yes, I know you will." Gwen smiled. It was gratifying having Peter as support, no matter what. The warmth of his embrace made her feel better again.

She turned to face him, "You've done a lot for me Peter and not once have you complained."

Peter smiled embarrassed, "Well…I…it's what normal married couples do you know? Be there for each other. You always have done a lot for me as well. I still love you."

Gwen raised an eyebrow and repeated his phrase in a snarky way, "You still love me?"

"W-What, what…? D-Did I say -"

Gwen nodded.

"Oh…um...it was a poor choice of words, eh?"

Gwen agreed, "Indeed." She tried to suppress an incoming smile.

Peter narrowed his eyes at her, assuming a serious expression. "Every time I look at you, it's the most beautiful place that I've ever been." He moved one of his hands affectionately up her arm and he caressed her face tenderly which made her smile even more.

"I love you." Gwen finally said.

He cupped her cheek and gently brought her face close to his, and kissed her warm lips which he could never get tired of, his addiction. He slowly moved both hands to her waist, holding her firmly, before lifting her a few inches from the ground and carefully throwing his wife at their bed. Gwen giggled as she safely landed over the pillows and covers, he crawled on top of her and kissed the smooth skin of her neck as he slid his right hand into Gwen's right hip and pulled it closer to his waist.

Peter smiled back and leaned in and started kissing her slowly which she reciprocated. Their breathing slowly fastened as they deepened their kissing. Peter parted and gasped in pleasure as his body's muscles relaxed. Gwen took the opportunity and straddled him only to push him down into the soft bed sheets to continue their kissing.

Her current clothes were certainly more accessible as Peter's hands found their way under the shirt and caressed her body and slowly moved up to her bra-clad breasts and caressed the soft skin. His hands then moved behind her back and he grabbed her buttocks and pushed her lower body closer to his.

They continued their kissing with desire and passion and Gwen grinded her pelvis against his crotch, getting a soft moan from her husband.

Gwen moved her hands from being around his neck downwards as she pulled his shirt up; eventually she tossed his shirt to the side and she began to explore his torso and his firm muscles. They broke their kissing for some air and looked at each other's eyes and smiled happily.

"I love you too, always have." He leaned towards her and gently captured her lower lips as she smiled against his kisses, enjoying the passionate moment, almost if an imaginary music was being played for them.

Gwen leaned back a bit and began unbuttoning Peter's shirt that she was wearing as his hands moved up from her abdomen to gently caress her bra-clad breasts which only intensified Gwen's sexual desire. A moment later she discarded the large shirt. She wanted nothing but to consume him and to be consumed by him. She straddled him again and they began kissing anew.

Peter rose and pressed his chest against hers. He caressed her back and slowly began to unhook her bra and pulled it off her and tossed it aside. Gwen placed a hand on his chest and gently put him down back to bed. She moved away from his lips and kissed his jaw-line slowly and continued down the length of his neck and trailed a line of kisses down his torso. She moved her mouth to his chest and slowly kissed the skin, torturing him as her hands caressed his body. They finally had the moment that they needed so much, and every single second was special, meaning that this could be their last intimate time together, and because of that, they were going to love each other for long as they could.

* * *

**A/N : Hey everyone, I don't really have much to say about this chapter, except that it was a very fun one to write, it was basically done for a few weeks now. Regarding the content of it, it's pretty clear that Peter made a decision, and I know that some may think that he's being selfish for not wanting to be Spider-Man anymore if the war is over, but the thing is : He's human, not the perfect heroic figure that the recent comics tried to make him be, he's thinking about his families' future and that his children need him close to them as well, he's not a teenager anymore, who loved to be Spider-Man and considered that being an awesome thing, which is, but every warrior reaches his or hers prime, and he has reached his.**

**That last part? I went deeper at first, but I removed some bits here and there, but it still is what I wanted to tell.**

**Before the arc's conclusion, there still is some important stuff that is going to happen, one that will heavily impact Peter both physically and mentally. Stay tuned. Any doubts or questions, just PM me.**

**Final revision was made by FireflySurvivor who has written one of my favorites Spider-Man on this site, as ever, huge thanks to her collaboration.**

**Quotes : Halo 4 and Chuck.**


	44. One Day

**January 28th - 2028**

**Los Angeles**

Was the sun always that bright? It most likely was. Being a person who always enjoyed to swing around the city and appreciate the view, Peter never took the time to actually analyze the burning star which has been active through thousands of years now. A normal person would probably close the eyes after staring it for a few couple of seconds, but not Peter, his eyes were genetically enchanted but that doesn't mean that he wouldn't get any eye injury by just looking at it. He was glad to be able to appreciate such beautiful thing for a little longer than the usual, after all, the world was ending and he may not see those bright, warm rays ever again.

Peter turned his head on the asphalt, seeing flames and debris dominating the ground where he was currently lying on. He spotted his mask next to him, one of the lenses was unfortunately cracked, it wasn't something unfixable, but it was _his_ mask. He wondered for how much long he would have to wear it. So many memories the suit had given him, bad and good ones. To reach the future he had envisioned with his family, he certainly would have to keep wearing it, at least for a little longer. He would defeat Ultron and his army, once and for all, whatever the cost.

With a gasp, Peter moved his right hand to the sun's direction and blocked the strong light from his eyes as he slowly rose from the ground and stood on his knees. He looked around and basically saw the destruction that was now being a common thing to stumble on. The street was a ghost location; he barely heard any gunfire, the signal of resistance. _This war has to end_, he thought.

Peter was heavily injured, but he managed to reach for his mask. He slowly pulled the soft material down his face as the mask instantly locked itself with the rest of the suit, meaning that nobody not authorized by him could ever unmask him without applying a great deal of strength. He moved his right fist down onto the ground, supporting his weigh as the suit slowly powered on after the mask's insertion. It tightened itself over its owners' skin and started to temporary heal his damaged body while injecting more adrenaline onto his blood. He had to find his team and return back to his family.

It didn't take too long for a single drone to spot the once fallen hero and fly towards his direction. Peter looked up to the buildings, seeing the enemy's humanoid drone flying around the skyscraper and moving itself towards him, ready to engage.

He wasn't giving up. The fight was not over, not until his heart stops breathing.

* * *

**Eight Hours Later**

Gwen glanced at the clock that stood on the edge of the bed stand and sighed. It was almost eight in the morning and still no sign of Peter coming back from his very early mission to extract Steve and some soldiers to the base.

She had hoped to spend a nice, quiet morning with him while the boys were sleeping. Even Elizabeth, who for a reason which not even Adams could figure out, always had trouble sleeping for more than a few hours, she was currently curled next to her, taking a little nap, and giving her mother some company.

The only thing that was missing was … well, her husband.

It was not only bad because she wanted to snuggle with him on the couch and make out like they had after their wedding. He was her escape, or else she would get crazy with everything going on - like having no contact with her family. At least some of her friends - including Ellie, were safe.

Movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. When she turned her head to look at the source, she wished she hadn't the same instance. A little, black, hairy spider sat on the carpeted floor.

Gwen slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the sounds of distress that ripped from her throat at the sight. To say that she hated spiders was very ironic since her own husband was a big one, but that was different, even at Oscorp she refused to see any spider samples. She was afraid of them, her fear bordering on a phobia.

She pulled her feet up on the bed quickly and scrambled into a standing position, her eyes never leaving the eight-legged animal when her breath came in short, irregular puffs. Where the hell was her husband when she needed him? Or the freaking Iron Man? Gwen squeaked and pressed her hand a bit tighter over her mouth when the spider moved a bit to the right. Damn it. She had nothing to kill it with. Not that her fear would allow her to get close enough to kill the animal, anyway.

Thank God nobody could see her right now. Flash, Howard or even Clint… every single one of them would have a field day if they saw her scared because of a single spider. Even Peter made fun of her fear of spiders from time to time. However, since he always made it up to her once they were alone; she let it slide most of the time.

Another muffled squeak tore from her throat when the spider moved again, this time out of view. Gwen leaned to the side to see the black thing under the couch. Where the hell was Peter when she needed him?

What did she marry him for when he wasn't even there to kill damn spiders for her? Right, she loved him. And then there was the lovemaking. And his abs. And his big brown doe eyes. And hands that could make her feel things that were probably illegal in some parts of the universe. She shook her head. Now was not the time to fantasize about what her husband could do to her with his hands.

Soft sounds from the front door caught her attention for a split-second before she focused on observing the enemy again. If the situation hadn't been so dire, she would have laughed at Peter's timing. Now, she was just glad that he chose this moment to arrive.

When he came into the room, wearing normal clothes and carrying a bag around his shoulder, he saw his wife standing on their bed with poor little Elizabeth peacefully taking a nap next to her.

Peter's eyebrows shot up. "Gwendy…?" He simply asked.

"There's a spider…Over there." She explained, her eyes still fixed on the animal when she pointed at it.

Peter burst out laughing. The great Gwen Stacy was afraid of spiders…that just never got old. If he told someone, he was sure that the other person would call him crazy. He hadn't believed it at first, either. Until the day he actually had to take care of a spider for his wife who had been deathly pale back then and pressed to a wall opposite of the offending animal. She was just as pale now, he noticed, but standing on the bed this time to put some distance between herself and the creature.

"Stop laughing, damn it!" She cursed. She would have glared at him if she wasn't occupied with giving the spider her best deaths stare.

He coughed, trying to cover up his mishap. "Sorry, honey, I didn't mean to." He joked, unable to keep from chuckling. When he saw the spider, he knew exactly why she was reacting so strongly. The spider was an ugly, he had to admit that. And it was probably the worst nightmare for someone who was afraid of them.

Gwen still stood on the bed, glaring daggers at the animal.

"What are you doing?" She asked when she saw Peter kneeling down on the floor.

"I'm going to catch it and take it somewhere else?" It was meant to be a statement but came out as a question.

"Oh no, you are not, you're going to kill it!" Gwen objected.

Peter sighed. "Why? It'll be gone once it's outside."

"No, it's going to come back inside!" She almost jumped when the spider moved again. And while she didn't jump, she moved as far away from the offending being as the bed allowed. "Peter, kill the damn thing, right now!" She holds her sleepy daughter's hand, softly.

Another deep sigh followed. It was no use arguing with her when it came to spiders, he had learned that the hard way a long time ago, still...

He moved his hand under the couch, allowing the spider to crawl on top of his hand, Gwen almost had a heart attack at the sight.

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm not murdering a spider..." He mumbled, walking towards the door.

"You're not touching me again."

He grinned and opened the door. "We'll see about that."

Peter eventually returned back to the room, but this time he wasn't holding any spider on his hand which pretty much relieved Gwen. He approached the bed and chuckled. "You know, for a badass woman, you are pretty scared right now." He joked and shrugged when she sent him a death glare.

"Where did you put it?" Gwen asked as she climbed down from her refuge and carefully walked towards him.

"I went to the base's courtyard, and placed her back to the florist. I don't know how the Spider got inside; someone must have accidentally carried it." He smirked.

Gwen glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Stop laughing or there will be three kids growing up without a father." She rested both hands on his shoulders as Peter wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Sorry, love you." He kissed her lips, passionately. He had missed her presence after hours of exhausting and dangerous work.

"Hmm," Gwen kissed him back, before looking at his brown eyes, "Thank you for saving my life, my handsome husband." She teased.

Peter slid his hand underneath her blouse and gently caressed the soft skin of her back. He gave her another tiny peck on the lips and asked, "How's my little princess?" He gestured to his fast asleep daughter lying on their bed, using his pillow as support for her head.

Gwen smiled. "Liz woke earlier than the usual, and she went here to give me some company. Isn't she a little cutie?"

"Oh yeah, she's beautiful as her mother," He leaned down and kissed the pale skin of her neck as she stroked his brown hair and smiled at his delicate touches. "Steve is back, you know?" He buried his face on Gwen's neck, felling her natural scent.

"How's he?" Gwen leaned her cheek on top of his hair, falling for his loving embrace.

"He's a strong person, but it's not hard to see that the war is heavily affecting him." He replied.

"I know," Gwen nuzzled his hair, before he looked up as they shared a quick kiss. "It still is early; don't you want to take a quick nap?"

Peter moaned in contentment as she softly caressed the hardened muscles of his shoulders. "Yeah, I'm dead tired." He gave her quick peck on the lips and gently lifted her from the ground, holding her weight with both arms as she released a yelp, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Was that really necessary?" Gwen teased.

"I must pretend to be a real gentleman for my wife's amusement, because I'm a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e." He finished his last sentence in a very dorky way which made Gwen giggle at his silliness.

"Yes, you are."

Peter lowered Gwen on her side of the bed, next to Elizabeth, and walked around to reach his own side, before lightning up one single lamp, giving them a cosy sensation.

He lazily lay down on his side of their bed, moving himself closely to his sleeping daughter, and placing his right arm across her and his wife's waist, bringing them closer. He kissed the top of Elizabeth's blonde hair and sighed happily.

"I wish we could stay like this forever." He broke the silence, looking at Gwen's gorgeous green eyes, "Our kids never growing up anymore, no missions, and no fights, just us."

Gwen smiled, and entangled her legs with his. "I know, but hopefully we'll be seeing our own babies evolving into three great persons, going to college, hanging out with their friends, working. They are going to find someone for them, marry, build their own family, and be happy." She whispered, careful to not wake her daughter.

Peter rubbed her shoulder gently. "You're right, but I don't know about that dating part, at least not with Liz."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Why? Are you going to be just like my father? Overprotective and everything…? "

He chuckled, softly. "Elizabeth is fragile, sweet and innocent. I just don't want to see her getting hurt like how I did to you."

"Don't be silly, our relationship evolved, I don't blame you for anything." Gwen placed her left hand on his cheek and gently cupped it. He closed his eyes at her gentle touches, while kissing the palm of her hand, before slowly drifting to sleep.

She continued softly, "You're one of the best things that ever happened to me, don't ever doubt that," She cupped his cheek, "But be prepared, cause you're going to fight against a horde of boys who are going to after your daughter then."

* * *

**One Hour Later**

Peter carefully passed the shaver down his jawline, staring himself and his sons through the mirror in front of them as both shirtless David and Aiden lazily brushed their teeth next to the sink, standing over a small support that Peter had brought for them. He was finding the situation rather hilarious, but special at the same time. Spending some time with the twins and having a boy's time was something that he always enjoyed to, not that he never enjoyed playing with Elizabeth and her plushy toys when she was younger, he loved it and he would do it again if she ever asked him, but wrecking things up or playing some football was always welcome.

Aiden looked up at his shirtless father and stopped brushing his teeth's for a moment. "When can I shave my facial hair, daddy…?"

"Me too…" The three years old, David, mumbled.

Peter moved the shaver away from his cheek for a second and chuckled, "Well, when you're older, much older."

"Why? I already have some." He moved his hand to Peter's cheek and stole some of his foam, before passing the substance on his own cheek. He gazed his own image through mirror with a huge smile.

"You don't have any facial hair, buddy," Peter gently pinched his, covered in foam, cheek. "Believe me."

"That's not fair." Aiden complained as he gave some foam to his brother besides him.

"Life isn't fair." He joked, proceeding to finish the last area of his right cheek.

"Mommy told me that you gave me and Aiden your hair." Aiden wasn't giving up by any means.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "I think she meant that you two have the same hair as me because of genetics, if not, then she's nuts." He chuckled softly.

"You think she's crazy?" David turned to look at his brother.

"What if she lied to us?" Aiden asked back.

Peter sighed, "Guys, mommy doesn't lie. She's right about the hair, but I can't just give my facial hair to you two, when it's the right time, you'll have it." He explained.

David cocked his at Peter's reflection on the mirror, remembering another topic that both him and Aiden were speculating about. "Oh, why do you and mommy kiss each other so often?"

"Yeah, it's gross."

"Oh god..." Peter chuckled. He wondered himself when their 'lots of questions' phase was finally going to start. "Because that's what in love people do, most of the time."

"But why…?"

"Um... I don't know…attraction? It's a natural thing, you two are going to understand in the future."

Aiden turned on his shoulder. "Oh, I have a question!"

_Here it comes..._

"Where mommy and daddy met?"

"High school..." Peter replied.

"Really…?" Aiden widened his eyes in surprise. "You kissed her in school?! What if Elizabeth already kissed someone?"

"Oh no…!" David covered his mouth with his right hand as he exchanged a worried glance with Aiden.

"Guys, guys…!" Peter tried to control the situation. "Your sister is safe, she won't kiss until she's 18 years old, but you two got it wrong, when your mother and I met, we were 17, calm down for god's sake." He cleaned his face with a towel and then went to remove the foam from his desperate twins' cheek as well.

The bathroom door was unexpectedly open by Gwen who was wearing a bathrobe. She peered inside. "Why are you three taking six hours to finish whatever is that you guys are doing?"

Peter turned on his back and awkwardly smiled. "Hey babe…"

"Hi mommy…" The twins greeted at the same time.

Gwen raised an eyebrow when she noticed what looked to be foam at the corner of David's mouth. "Is that your shaver's foam in David's mouth?"

"Long story…" Peter placed the towel back to the sink and grabbed the twins with his strong arms and walked towards the door. "Morning mommy," He gave her a tiny peck on the lips. He walked past her and into the bedroom with their boys on his arms. "The bathroom is all yours."

* * *

"I kind of miss the good old times. You know, back when we were hunting simple bad guys." Steve said with an almost wistful expression on his face. He had arrived in the base a few hours ago for the next operation that they were going to perform together. Everyone were indeed missing him, his teammates and even mere soldiers. He gave his command to a more fitting person in the army so that he could help coordinate the new mission.

Now, he was just enjoying the little time with his friends.

Clint rolled his eyes at the assessment of the unofficial king of them. "The good old times…? Seriously, Steve…? Come on, back then, we all thought it was one big clusterf-"

"Clint!" Gwen interrupted, sending him a pointed look before lowering the gaze to David who sat on the marksman's lap, snuggled into his uncle's arms while he listened to the adults. He always enjoyed his presence, they both had a unnatural chemistry since he was born, and Clint enjoyed spending time with him as well.

"Sorry", Clint mumbled, stroking over the little boy's head.

"Uncle, stop!" David complained, trying to avoid his uncle's hand, but to no avail. He started squealing with laughter as Clint started tickling him and looked at his mother. "Mommy, help me!"

The adults laughed at the boy's dismay. Gwen chuckled and grabbed her son out of Clint's hold. "You've had enough fun torturing my son for now." She told the archer and watched her son hurry off to the bathroom to sort out his hair.

"He's worse than Peter, you know?" Clint said, leaning back with a grin on his face.

"Hey!" Peter objected, unconsciously dragging a hand through his brown hair.

"Who do you think David and Aiden got it from?" Gwen asked, grinning at her husband when she sat back down next to him. She kissed his cheek when she heard him grumble. "You know that I love your hair." She whispered in his ear and chuckled when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, Steve, remember when we had that bet going?" Clint asked the soldier, grinning from ear to ear when he saw Gwen raise her eyebrows.

"What bet?" How come she hadn't heard about that until now? She couldn't help but roll her eyes when she saw Flash sitting on the edge of his seat, apparently deeming the conversation a lot more interesting all of the sudden. Gwen chuckled when she noticed Steve roll his eyes at the younger ex-marine. Apparently, she wasn't alone in her opinion.

"Oh, you know when you and Peter were expecting the twins, before you two knew the gender." He replied. By the look on his face, he had won that bet. Or so he thought.

"Who won?" Gwen asked, most likely setting the archer up for a big surprise. She had a hard time to stop herself from laughing.

"I did, I mean … come on, I'm accurate. They were stupid to bet against me in the first place," He explained, leaning back against the sofa. "I didn't give a specific time like the rest of those comedians, but I knew that it would be two boys."

"Yeah..." Steve scoffed. He had lost twenty bucks that day. "I thought it was just one boy."

Gwen and Peter shared a look, silently communicating. When Gwen nodded slightly, Peter coughed lowly before he started to speak. "Now that you mention, I remember accidentally leaving the sex result back at the Tower, Gwen almost beat me because she wanted to show the footage to her mother... you found it later, and handed it back to me."

Clint stared at them, wide-eyed. "What? When…?" He chuckled, awkwardly.

Steve narrowed his at him, "You didn't..."

"You cheated!" Natasha calmly protested from her sear, realizing what she had just done. "Um... I was on the bet too, I voted for another girl."

"Clint pay up." Steve demanded, holding a smile.

"What - are you implying that I saw the results?"

"You know very well. Now that they cleared the whole thing up, you cheated. I want my money." Natasha explained with her tone calm while she smiled like the cat that ate the canary.

Gwen looked at Clint before searching Peter's gaze, biting her lower lip to keep herself from laughing. Her resolve broke when she saw that Peter was fighting just as hard to keep a straight face and she started laughing again, everyone joining in at the look of defeat on Clint's face. Just for once, the joke was on him. And it was damn time, too.

* * *

**January 28th - 2028**

**Present Time**

Spider-Man approached the edge of the rather small building that faced a train track which stood a few meters from ground. The entire street was a ghost area, with no signals of life at all, just chaos, that wasn't the city where he grew up, but a warzone filled with destroyed cars and debris. He closed his fists, absorbing the negative energy coming from the area, and turning it into self-motivation. Ultron was going to pay for everything he had done to mankind.

_"We're coming in hot!" _Steve Rogers alerted through the private comn.

Spider-Man turned his head to his east side, the sun's bright light being reflected on his golden lenses. He saw the Super Soldier standing on top of the incoming train, fighting Ultron, more like evading his attacks while waiting for the right moment to engage. A small ship controlled by Hawkeye was following them.

Natasha had dropped from the ship and now was piloting motorcycle on the ground. They had successfully extracted the twins and now was time to handle Ultron himself, who somehow knew about their operation, ambushing the group during the process.

Steve threw his shield at Ultron's chest, barely making a scratch but just slowing him down. The machine grabbed it and dropped it off the train and into the ground, just in time as Natasha leaned down on her motorcycle to retrieve the special shield.

_"I'm always picking up after you, boys."_ She sighed as she grabbed Steve's shield from the asphalt.

Spider-Man fired a web line to the opposite building and took one step further. He fell from the rooftop, still holding the web line on his hands. The train was just passing by and Ultron was ready engage Steve again. The web-slinger joined his legs on the air and dove towards the worldwide threat. Ultron noticed movement on his left, but it already was too late for any kind of reaction.

Spider-Man kicked Ultron out of the rain as they both crashed through the closest building's window and landed on the empty office. He had given a breach for Steve, now it was time to keep Ultron occupied for as long as he could.

_"Peter?" _Steve called.

Spider-Man knelled on the floor, and turned on his shoulder, seeing Ultron recomposing himself from the crash. "Keep going, I'all meet you guys back in the LZ." He ordered.

_"We can go back -"_

"Just go!" Spider-Man assumed a defensive position as his opponent stared him with deadly eyed.

_"Peter... Good luck."_

Spider-Man faced his opponent, standing in one of his many iconic positions. "Just you and me, pal."

"This is just what I wanted." He stated, approaching Spider-Man while destroying tables and whatever that was on his way.

Ultron laughed with his terrifying voice. He passed next to a desk and quickly grabbed, before throwing it at Spider-Man's direction who ran towards him and then slid under the table, and proceeded to reach Ultron as the object reached the glass and flew out of the building.

When they were about to collide, Ultron went to punch Spider-Man with his metallical hand on the face, but the agile human reacted quicker and spun over him. He landed on his back and moved his arms to Ultron's head, before firing one webline from one hand to another, and circling it around his eyes. Stunned, Ultron activated his propulsion system from his feet and flied backwards, smashing his back against one of the many columns, causing Spider-Man to gasp in pain, luckily the armour reduced some of the damage.

Seeing a breach, Spider-Man got out of the blind machine back and walked away, hiding himself behind a column some meters away from his opponent who had just removed the web from its face and was now looking out for him. He leaned his back on the cold material of the column and checked his body status through the mask virtual interface. His reading was off the charts, it was getting hard to breathe and difficult to concentrate, something was going on with his body, something bad.

"Hiding will only delay the inevitable." Ultron affirmed, checking the many hiding spots from the area. "At least you know that your efforts won't get you anywhere."

Peter shook his head and slowly leaned his head to the right, checking Ultron's position. He was now facing the machine's back. It was looking around, just in front of the column where he was hiding, he couldn't engage on his current state.

"Records show that you're one of the finest specimens of this planet, I think that Oscorp used to call you 'perfect'."

Peter widened his eyes inside of the mask. _How did he know that? _He thought.

"And I like to think...that you're my own perfect candidate!" Ultron violently burst his hand through the columns' concrete. Peter's sense didn't triggered so he was caught in surprise as he rolled on the floor.

Ultron violently came through the destroyed column and went to land his fist over Spider-Man who used his right arm to block the punch and then he quickly used his free hand to crash his knuckles against Ultron's metallic teeth, probably shattering some of his hand's bones on the process.

The machine shook its head and grabbed both hands as he lifted his opponent off the ground. Peter repeatedly kicked Ultron on the chest while Ultron tightened his grip over Peter's hands, slowly smashing his wrists.

"Humans never know when to stop, they just keep going until the objective is completed, and unfortunately... you're never achieving yours." Ultron released Spider-Man on the floor and waited for a response.

Peter gasped as he immediately brought his right pulse to his left hand, they were in a pretty bad state and his hands always were his primary weapon against bad guys. He slowly dragged himself close to the nearest window. "You talk like... a simple computer can't come up with such words.

Ultron followed him. "I'm beyond your understanding, and that's why your inferior race must be purged from existence. Your end will be the beginning of a new era."

Ultron used his feet to turn Peter around. He moved his right hand to his neck and pressed him against the window, staring the golden lenses of the mask which was now reflecting his own figure. Ultron quickly released him just in time to violently kick Spider-Man in the stomach as he flew through the window.

Quickly plummeting to his death, Spider-Man ignored the pain coming from his stomach and wrists and joined his legs as he opened his arms, slowing his descending and now gliding to the ground in high-speed, now a survivable one. He ultimately reached the concrete and rolled a few meters on the ground, before stopping near a Taxi.

He calmly kneeled and moved his right arm to the taxi's door, supporting himself as he stood up. He peered inside and noticed that the taxi meter was still on, marking 3,17$, an unfinished ride most likely.

"Sorry, I don't have the money either." He patted the Taxi. His special sense triggered, alerting him of the incoming danger that had abruptly landed over Spider-Man's friend, causing him to spin backwards in reaction.

"Damn son that was one of the cheapest rides I have ever seen here in New York." He tried to maintain a straight position, but the dizziness was affecting his fight skills, basically what kept him alive through the years.

Ultron stepped down into the ground. "Such an arrogantly sense of humour..."

"You know, my wife usually says that, maybe it's part of my charm," Spider-Man closed his fists when Ultron was facing him, "Like this one!" He kicked what would be Ultron's ribcage, barely getting a reaction. "Dude, you suck..." He gasped.

Spider-Man was about to recover his leg if Ultron hadn't trapped him by moving his right arm to his leg and hold it tightly. Ultron kept him trapped quickly enough to press his body into the Taxi's hood.

Peter tried to rise but Ultron pressed him back, he was definitely stronger than him. He repeatedly kicked Ultron and tried to press him off, without any success. Ultron placed his arm over Peter's neck, slowly suffocating him as he fought back, using both arms to move Ultron's arm away.

The machine leaned its red glowing eyes closer to Peter's golden lenses, maintaining his opponent trapped. What looked to be a red laser, was shot from Ultron's eyed and into Peter's left golden lenses, not ripping through the material, but just actually surpassing the glass and finding its way into Peter's eye.

He gasped, containing a scream full of anger and pain. Surprisingly, his eyes stood intact through the whole process, but his entire body was screaming in agony, a burning sensation.

Ultron turned off the laser and analysed the scan's results on his 'mind', while observing Spider-Man who brought his left hand to his left golden lenses, not so sure if his eye was still there.

"And here I thought that you're indeed perfect, you're now running against the clock... what a shame," Ultron backed a few meters away from Spider-Man and rose his powered hand at him. "There's no point in killing an already dead man."

* * *

**Four hours later.**

Peter sat on one of the beds in the infirmary with his back to the exit. He wore nothing but his black under suit as his Iron Spider armour pieces were stacked on the floor. The windows were opaque and only Adams and Gwen was present and standing near him. Peter was visibly dishevelled, exhausted and still with a throbbing headache.

The automatics had made brain scans and Adams was flipping through the results on a data pad.

Gwen picked up a small flashlight from the medical tray table nearby. Gwen aimed the soft light into his pupils for a moment. They were dilated indicating that Peter's optic nerves were damaged.

Gwen was concerned, but at least he had recovered since he managed to get aboard the shuttle after the personal encounter with Ultron. She had also noted he hadn't been his chatty self, and hadn't divulged much about his experience back there. Understandably he had rested and slept the trip back to the base.

Adams began talking professionally and looked up from his data pad, "It shows increased delta waves. You have a mild traumatic brain injury. A temporary loss of brain function, this can cause cognitive, physical and emotional symptoms in the days to come. I recommend rest, a lot of it for the next several days." He sighed concerned, "The nosebleed has me worried, it's a bruising of the brain. How do you feel?"

Gwen gritted her teeth troubled and returned the flashlight to the table.

Peter's speech was slurred, "Dizzy. I have a headache and my eyes hurt from the light."

Gwen asked evenly, "And you tell us this now?" She brushed past Adams to the light controls of the control panel on the wall near the office tables and turned down the light.

"Well, at least you can walk," Adams continued. "Your motor reflexes albeit slow are intact." He sighed, apologetic. "Sadly I want to refrain from giving your aspirin and ibuprofen for your pain. They think the blood and increase the risk of more internal bleeding." He smiled reassuringly, "Despite it all, I don't think your condition is life threatening, but I do want you to take it easy."

Gwen returned to Peter's side.

Peter nodded slowly and flashed a weak smile, "I will, can I go see my Aunt now?"

Gwen raised an eyebrow, not understanding if he was joking or actually being serious. "Um, Peter, you know she isn't on this base."

Peter narrowed his eyes at his wife. "Oh, I thought... I-I forgot that." He rubbed his eyes.

Adams shared a worried glance with Gwen. "I want you to stay here under supervision of the automatics for one night."

"Whatever you say, Doc," Peter replied dizzy.

Adams smiled and teased good-heartedly, "Oh my, you're receptive to my recommendations. This is a first."

Peter smiled weakly, "I guess. But I need to take a shower. I'll come back later."

Adams protested, "You're a bit wobbly legged."

"Yeah, well I'm reeking with sweat and want to get out of this suit," Peter pointed out. "And I need to talk to Tony, I think."

"No," Adams asserted. "He can wait until I clear you."

Peter shook his head slowly, "He needs to be briefed."

"Peter, I agree with Adams' assessment, no work related for you," Gwen urged as well.

Peter ignored that and peered at them. "With all due respect to both your professions, no…"

Stubborn man, Gwen thought annoyed. She glanced at Adams and asked evenly, "Can I talk with Peter alone?"

Adams was just as annoyed with Peter's stubbornness and replied evenly and nodded, "Of course, Mrs Parker."

Adams placed the data pad on the tray table and duly left the infirmary.

"What the hell went on down there?" Gwen demanded when the infirmary door closed.

"Ultron..." Peter said and crossed his arms.

"Yes, you told us that. And now you're behaving like a stubborn childish boy," Gwen shook her head scathingly. "Don't you ever risk your life like that again, do you hear me?" Once again he had risked his life and she had no idea how to deal with all the strong emotions tearing at her, it was always like that, she couldn't understand why he had to unnecessarily risk his life when he has three young kids to take care of.

Peter mused sardonically, exactly how I wanted to be talked to. He countered snide, "Thank you, dear, anything else?"

"Don't get snippy with me, mister!" Gwen exclaimed bothered with a glare, his behaviour wasn't helping.

"Of course not, you're the only one with exclusive rights being snarky," Peter reproached frustrated.

Gwen breathed hard and demanded coolly, "Excuse me?"

Peter was equally parts frustrated about their argument and exhausted from the encounter with Ultron and didn't' want to fight and merely shook his head, "Never mind."

"Fine," Gwen spat near furious and turned to leave, heading for the door. Over her shoulder she snarled, "If you want to risk your well-being, be my guest."

Peter scoffed. If there was someone that he had to listen, no matter the situation, it was his wife. "No, wait."

She stopped short of the door and turned to face his back. "What?"

Peter glanced over his shoulder at her and continued, "I stood behind to slow down Ultron while the team and troops recovered more civilians and the twins."

"I know that."

"We fought, he said some stuff."

Gwen turned around and returned to Peter's side. "Go on." She didn't want to know how much of pain he went through.

"Then Ultron...he approached me and the he shot some lasers from his eyes to mine, it hurt like hell." He sighed, frustrated, "I don't know what the purpose of that was... I feel that there's something more besides Ultron's desire to destroy mankind, Gwen."

Gwen said bleakly, "Everything we did this past month, all the hard work in tracking down every piece of minuscule lead, all those that died, led to that we basically have more questions than answers. The Breach is still an enigma." She asked carefully, "Why did Ultron allow you to go?"

"I-I don't know." He lied, if Ultron was right about his state, he didn't need to worry Gwen more. Maybe he was just saying things to bring him emotionally down.

Gwen grimaced sympathetic with gentle eyes and reached out and hugged Peter close. She kissed his lips and caressed his cheeks. Peter wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his forehead to hers and breathed out clearly overwhelmed by the experience with Ultron. Gwen wasn't sure what to say. She hoped her presence was enough.

Peter leaned back so he could look into her eyes and said quietly, "It invaded my mind and body for some unknown reason, not happening again."

"I'm sorry," Gwen whispered softly. "I'll stay with you here tonight. Or we can sleep in our quarters…but Adams wanted to monitor you."

It was bulky hugging her in the Iron Spider armour but Peter kissed her lips which she reciprocated tenderly and he took a breath of her scent. It was comforting being held by her and just feeling the warmth of her soft lips

Peter smiled weakly, "I would appreciate the company. Thank you."

Gwen smiled and said reassuringly, "I will help you the best I can."

Peter nodded grateful and took a breath to calm down. Gwen planted a soft kiss on his lips.

"Daddy…?" Elizabeth called for her father as she stepped inside of the infirmary.

The couple unwrapped themselves from each other's arm. "Hey missy…." Peter smiled and opened his arms.

Elizabeth hugged him as he brought her into his lap. "Are you hurt?"

He stroked her golden hair. "It's nothing to get worried about it."

Gwen placed an arm around Peter's shoulder and spoke, "Daddy will be staying here tonight, just to check if everything is alright with him."

"Alright…"

"It's already late, sweetie, " Peter kissed her cheek, "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I can't sleep when you are away." She said, softly.

Peter's heart sank; it wasn't only Gwen who was having a hard time with everything that was going on. "I'm here now; you don't need to worry anymore."

Liz hugged him again. "Okay."

Peter sighed, relieved, before nodding at Gwen as he caressed her back.

"C'mon little missy, I'll put you in bed." Gwen smiled.

Elizabeth kissed Peter's hand and then gently holds her mother's hand as they walked away from him and towards the door.

"Night, daddy, love you!"

"I love you too!" Peter smiled to himself as the most important girls of his life stepped out of the infirmary, holding each other's hands. He stretched his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck. He was diving in exhausting, but duty always most come first.

* * *

Peter had arrived at the Virtual Conference Chambers and met up with Steve in one of the antechambers before walking up all the stairs. He had not been in these chambers for over a week, but it all looked the same. They entered the large empty room and saw the big vid screen facing them. Tony was already there, talking with the many important politicians.

The British representative, Louis, was speaking with Tony _"Ultron's forces are in our territory as well. The US is no more or less unfortunate than any other country out there."_

"But the US was the first United Nations country attacked; our reports suggest that we face the brunt of the attack." Tony argued.

The Australian representative, Yvonne, interjected, "_How do you know that it's the case? New Ultron fronts are opening up everywhere."_

"The reports are accurate." Steve said, the represents turned their attention to the Super Soldier "It is a full scale invasion, and indeed, the rest of the planet will soon follow."

The politicians, even Tony, were silent, watching Steve and his masked Spider-Man friend besides him.

He continued, "And it's just the beginning, we need to amass an effective defence and counter them. They'll just push forward, taking country after country the longer we do nothing."

_"Your territory maybe suffering, but the British have lost London. The Russians and the Italians need to bolster our own defences_." Yvonne informed.

"We must fight this enemy together!" Peter interjected.

The Australian told Peter in a sharp tone, _"Mr Spider-Man, need I remind you that the last time we fought a large force it was because of your country's interest in the Tesseract?"_

"True, but in the end we survived because the Avengers managed to handle the situation." Peter was more diplomatically this time then in his previous outburst. "But Ultron is much stronger than those Aliens."

Yvonne asked,_ "If we throw everything we have at the US and loose, what then?"_

Tony intervened and told them, "We have a plan in the making. And frankly, it's all we got at the moment, but we found a blueprint some years ago in a secret Hydra's base. It originated from the Second World War.

_"What is it exactly?"_

A holographic image of the device showed up in the middle of the room. "It's appears to be a weapon of some sort, it's already being built."

She was perplexed, _"And this is capable of destroying them?"_

"So it would seem."

Louis was not impressed, _"It's a fool's errand, and Hydra lost the war. Clearly the weapon is flawed."_

"It was incomplete." Tony explained. "They ran out of time, and the war ended."

_"Do you believe in this, Spider-Man?" _Yvonne asked concerned. _"After what you have seen of Ultron and his army?"_

Peter turned sombre, "It sure as hell beats standing around here and arguing about it! We need to stand together to get through this."

The politicians said nothing; they watched each other, gauging each other for an understanding until Louis shook her head.

Yvonne turned to Peter, she spoke as she was superior in every way,_ "At the moment we cannot commit to the plan and give you the military support needed. Our own country must be defended._"

_"Farewell."_

Tony rubbed his face and passed through them. "Never gets old." He stated before heading off the chamber.

When they were alone, Steve turned to Peter who was leaning his back against the wall. He spoke with a soft and concerned voice, "You okay?"

Peter removed his mask and sighed; he spoke in a mournful voice. "I don't know, Steve. I'm…it's just they're stalling." Peter shook his head.

"I understand your frustrations, but I need you strong."

"Yeah..."

Steve watched Peter in silence for a few more moments as he stood with arms crossed and looking down on the floor, "I'll go back to my own room, relax a bit, you should do the same."

Peter nodded and gave him a faint smile. "Sure. Night, Steve. "

* * *

_The forest was thick with trees and underbrush, casting strange shadows in the dark. The air was cold enough that he shivered, his teeth chattered. Peter looked down to his hands and saw his old red and blue suit which he was now wearing minus the mask. He heard things in the distance, he was unsure if it was animals in the forest or something else. He heard the guttural noise getting closer to him, as well as feet running through the mud._

_**"It's something...Something that your mother and I have to do." **__Richard's voice echoed._

_Peter turned around, searching for the voice's source. "Father…?" He called._

_**"Not choice, responsibility."**_

_He instantly recognized the voice, his Uncle, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen._

_**"I'm already dying; your blood can't make me die more."**_

_**"You're weak."**_

_The Osborn's voices haunted him._

_**"At least you know that your efforts won't get you anywhere."**_

_Something was stalking him. And fast._

_**"Are you afraid of the dark? Because I'm going to kill the light."**_

_A strange creature emerged from the shrubs. It was almost human, deformed and with a grey and blistering skin with red- glowing cybernetics emanating._

_To his horror, Peter recognized the face. Once beautiful, its red eye-cavities peered at Peter. The skin had begun to root and came apart, exposing the new metallic skin._

_**"Leave...Gwen...out of it."**_

_Peter was aghast and dreadful watching an Ultron-like Gwen. His lips quivered and he wanted to burst out crying. His love had been taken from him._

_Suddenly Gwen lashed out with an inhumane and piercing hiss and growl, it sounded like a language but Peter could not understand it._

_Peter bolted away as fast as he could. She ran after but didn't quite catch up with him, but Peter couldn't shake his pursuer. They both crashed through the woods and bushes. Peter was exhausted, sweat poured from him and the rocks on the ground and the thick underbrush tore on his skin. Blood flowed freely. His adrenaline pumped furiously._

_Suddenly he took a wrong turn and the path was blocked, he had run into a gorge. And the creature was just behind him._

_The creature dashed forward with a shriek and landed upon him and he fell to the ground. The Ultron's – Gwen's– hand carefully felt his face and she gave a low his and furiously started to claw at his body. Peter tried to push her away without actually hurting her._

_Sudden intense pain washed over him and the dream wavered and expanded from a small white dot into a piercing flash of whiteness filled with a slow buzzing._

* * *

Peter awoke with a scream while the whiteness slowly resolved into a dimly lit room. The veins pumped with blood and his heart pulsed hard. His muscles quivered and it felt like glass was piercing in his head while he sweated profusely. Peter sat up in a jolt and breathed hard.

He was still in the infirmary.

There was a scuffle on his right. In the nearby bed Gwen awoke. She had accompanied him to the infirmary hours earlier; she had elected to keep him company after he had talked with Tony and showered. Peter appreciated the company, but it had been strange sleeping separated in two beds; the infirmary beds were not big enough for two. They had been unable to cuddle and talk before they had fallen asleep as they usually did; instead they had to fall asleep without that intimacy they both were used to.

Gwen's feet hit the cold floor, she wore a white nightgown. She reached out and squeezed his hand.

"Peter?" Gwen asked drowsily but concerned.

"Just a bad-" Peter tried but was cut off.

"Dream…?" Gwen asked, worried. "More like a nightmare." She continued much softer, "And isn't that the crux of the problem, you label it as bad dreams but we both know you have some intense nightmares?"

Peter turned to face her as she wrapped her arms around his bare torso and rested her head on his shoulder.

Peter sighed weary and relented, "I know, I…I just don't want to bother you."

Gwen lifted her head from his shoulder and mustered not to roll her eyes upset at his childish behaviour. Gwen looked into his eyes and sighed softly, "You claim you want us to be open to each other and share those war related things…I do wonder sometimes if you really mean that? Do you think I would view you as a lesser man for the nightmares?"

Gwen suddenly recognized her own hypocrisy; she hadn't shared her own nightmare weeks earlier. Instead she had hid it, buried it. She also recognized it was not healthy for their relationship if they were unwilling to share. That was a sign of distrust, but she did trust the man she just…didn't want to bother him having her nightmares piled upon him as well. He had enough stress from the war as it was. And that stress was getting to him.

Peter looked down on his legs under the bed sheet and sighed ashamed, "I don't. I'm not... I don't know. I..."

Gwen kissed his cheek and assured, "I don't think you are, you know." She instructed, "Hop in a bit and lie on your side. We're going to make this work, you're not sleeping alone tonight."

Peter did as instructed and turned to the side, giving Gwen space in the bed. She crawled in under the cover and they wrapped themselves around each other in the cramped bed, there was almost not enough room for both.

He chuckled weakly, "This is…intimate."

She raised an eyebrow, "Since when did you complain about that?"

Peter could feel her cold feet and legs entangled with his. He said concerned, "You're cold."

Gwen smiled affectionate and teased, "I need my cheap heat source." She grimaced concerned and prodded, "Talk to me, Peter."

Peter nodded, his eyes turned sad, "I dreamt that you were a... machine. You chased me in a forest and killed me. There were some voices from those who died in the past. It was very intense and vivid."

Gwen squeezed his body and kissed his lips and said sympathetically, "Likely a side effect from what you experienced with Ultron."

Peter nuzzled close and mustered a smile, "Sometimes I forget how much you actually know about me, my little Avenger spy." He was happy to be wrapped with her, it made his horror from the nightmare dissipate slowly. Her presence reaffirmed that despite the intensity it was only a dream, she was very much alive, and so was he.

Gwen didn't know what to say. Sometimes it wasn't easy to comfort with words, she wished she was better at it, she thought. Instead she hugged him close and kissed his lips softly. Her Peter was much, much better at comforting with words than she was. He and his silver tongue…

"I don't know what to say to help you," Gwen confessed, feeling powerless at the current situation.

Peter smiled stronger, "You're helping a lot already. Don't fret about it."

Gwen smiled encouragingly, "Okay."

"What about you? Do you sleep alright?"

Gwen gritted her teeth a bit; she couldn't muster herself to lie to him. She didn't want to lie.

"I had a pretty rough nightmare a few days ago," Gwen confessed.

"You never told me."

"No, because…" Gwen grimaced ashamed and chuckled humourless at her own hypocrisy, "I don't want to bother you. You have enough problems as it is with the war."

"You're not a problem-!" Peter started to say, then thought better of it and stopped. He himself had kept his nightmares secret. He sighed, "We're pretty messed up aren't we? We're hiding personal things which hurt us."

"Not the word I would use," Gwen said dryly. She softened, "But you have a point. Don't you profess we should be open? I say we've failed a bit, really."

"We have," Peter agreed despondent. "So…what did you dream about?"

"I was in a city, Washington I believe. The Ultron's forces attacked and people died all around me. I was caught and put in some sort of machine and injected with nanites and was slowly turned into one of tbem, screaming for you before my mind was overrun with loud noises."

It ached in Peter when he heard that and held her tightly, "Jesus, woman, I'm sorry."

"It wasn't pleasant," Gwen replied sober, "just as your own nightmares I can imagine. I was shaken when I woke up."

"You should have told me…" Peter said quietly.

"Just as you should have," Gwen pointed out.

Peter kissed her lips, "You're right, of course."

Gwen nodded. She didn't know the time, but it was late. She smiled affectionate, "I'll keep you safe tonight."

"Thank you," Peter smiled. He loved that playful, loving and snarky woman.

* * *

**January 28th - 2028 - Night**

**England - London**

Matt sat in the Big Ben clock tower in the Palace of Westminster. Through the telescopic sight of his sniper rifle he peered down on London. He had been in the tower for almost three days now, taking out targets that appeared below. The intense fighting that had raged across the city had died down; only sporadic gunfire could be heard. The drones were still traversing the city, destroying anything and everything they came across. The once great city had been reduced to rubble, it hurt Matt and the unknown attackers had destroyed all military forces that had counter-attacked the city; Matt could not fathom the number of civilians and soldiers that had died during the fighting. Matt had been unable to do anything but sit in the tower with his sniper rifle and shoots anything he saw. He cleared the visor of his helmet that covered his entire head and sighed.

His leg still hurt and he had tried his best not to put any strain on it, although he had to wander downstairs to the abandoned restaurant in the building to get some food, otherwise he would have starved up in the clock tower. Up there he had been scared, he expected any time that some strange creature would burst through the service door, but for three days nothing happened, but he knew he could not stay up in the clock tower forever, he needed to find medical help for his leg, and he would be able to survive much longer with others. So for the rest of the day Matt had waited for the sun to set so he could slip out into the city. He was not entirely comfortable with walking outside with his leg, he would not be able to move as fast as he wanted, and if he came into contact with the enemy it could be problematic getting away. Maybe his team was going to find him; they were called the best for a reason. He needed to see his boy and girl again, so thinking negative wouldn't get him anywhere.

Matt began his way down from the clock tower. With his painful leg it took almost an hour to walk down the 300 steps down to reach the exit. He stopped and peered carefully through the service door he had gone in through a few days earlier, he surveyed the area before stepping out. Further down the street he saw the shuttle that he had crashed in. The nightfall made everything eerie dark, he regretted that he had not taken with him night vision goggles, but it was no time to dwell on that now. As far as Matt could see, the immediate area seemed clear of hostiles so he pressed on.

He was unsure where he would go, considering that several machines were on the other side of the Thames, Matt headed north instead. At the very least he needed to get out of the city if he could not find any military units within the city limits. He decided that the streets were too dangerous to walk through so he darted into the buildings instead, using the back alleys to move. His radio was functional so he tapped into the radio controls and searched the radio net for any radio communications, but there was nothing except the VI from the emergency radio broadcast.

_"Greater London residents are instructed to go directly to the closest pre-designated evacuation sites. Pick-ups are every fifteen minutes. There are emergency evacuations in progress. Head immediately to your nearest emergency service shelter. Troops will be there to meet you. Bring citizenship identification and no more than one baggage item per person. Beware of your surroundings. Remain alert."_

Matt shut down the radio feed and sighed. Things weren't getting any better. Maybe that super weapon that was being constructed rumours were just blind hope, wishful thinking. With one last try, he turned his radio on again and spoke.

"This is Corporal Matt Williams, Noble Team, and US Marine, anyone catching up this?" He called, not getting any kind of response. He was about to shut down his radio when a familiar voice responded his calling.

_"Matt? Is that you?"_

"James? Where are you guys?"

_"We got pinned on the subway, we've been waiting to get in contact with you again for two weeks man."_

"Really…?" He turned around, carefully checking his corners for any threat.

_"Yeah, you know our team, no one gets left behind. We're called for extraction, we'll be assisting an operation coordinated by no one else than Steve Rogers himself. "_

* * *

**January 29th - 2028**

"How's she?" Peter approached Clint who was standing next to the cell's door which was made with reinforced glass. Wanda was being kept there for security protocols while they don't reach the decision to trust her or not, but she had been collaborating after all.

"Um.. Quiet, I'm avoiding talking with her."

"She inquired anything?" Peter glanced the cell, seeing the brunette sat in her bed, looking at him, motionless.

He gulped, feeling guilty. "Yeah, questions like my name and accomplishments."

Peter sighed. "Alright, I'll make the final judgment then."

"As you wish…" Clint turned on his back and typed a password on the panel next to the cell's entrance, allowing the web-slinger passage.

Peter entered the rather small room as the door behind him closed. He crossed his arms and faced the mysterious woman who looked very calm, and that was a good sign, most of the time. She wasn't nervous or anything close to that.

Peter started, "I'm Peter -"

"Parker…" Wanda finished his sentence for him.

He raised an eyebrow. How she managed to know that was now literally bugging him. "Have we met before all this?" He asked.

"We haven't, the first time we're actually fighting each other, Spider-Man."

"H-How do you know that?' He took one step closer, trying to figure what was going on.

"I know lots of things, I know that you're in agony, fear, and you're slowly falling into pieces." Wanda replied, some weak red flares started to emerge in the atmosphere around them, "Ultron is winning, you're broken."

"I may be broken, but I'm not giving up, neither should you…"

She smiled; his position was typical from any glorified hero out there. "Okay, I won't be prying anymore, but tell me, what's your biggest fear?"

"That's a very personal question; ask Daredevil, the answer should be more intriguing than mine." He stated.

"I'm not a scientist, but I can tell that there's something wrong with you, physically."

"Enough about me..." Peter cut her off, "What are you planning to do now that you're here? Can we trust you?"

"Why live in denial? Why don't you look out for help?"

"There's no need for help, you just met me, you don't know anything about me or my life." He stated, trying to maintain a calm position. The atmosphere was tense.

"Does your wife already knows that? Or is she going to know when you're dead because of it?" Wanda asked, seeing his brown eyes now turning red.

Tired of mind tricks, Peter closed his fists and tried to suppress the anger that was overcoming him. He was feeling exposed, he wanted to beat something, let his primal state take control of his body and actions, vent his anger and frustrations. In a blink of an eye, his body relaxed, he was back to his normal himself again. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

Wanda stood up and approached him. "The real question is - Can I trust you?" She placed her right hand close to his cheek and absorbed the red aura from his figure, absorbing her influences back.

Peter opened his eyes, realizing that he was under her control for a brief moment, and what she's capable of. He sighed, and spoke, "Yes... yes, you can trust me."

Wanda stood in silence for a brief moment, analysing the man standings in front of her. Eventually, she nodded at him and returned to her previous spot.

"And thanks for helping me to save my wife, I've read the reports, you boosted the building's signal."

A way of proving her value, she thought. "You're welcome."

* * *

**Base's Surface Gym**

Peter took a hard fist to his cheek and fell on the canvas with a groan. Peter's lip cracked and blood flowed and filled Peter's mouth and he tried to spit it out but the mouth guard prohibited that and Peter had to swallow down the bitter taste. Even with his protective headgear his head pulsated hard after the blow from Thor.

Peter wore his regular training outfit with a blue protective headgear similar to those used by boxers , Thor was no different, they wanted to blow some steam off, and not get some injury, but behind all that, Peter wanted to test his body's physical state.

Peter conceded that Thor was definitely a good hand-to-hand fighter. The trio had decided not to adhere to the rules of sparring as neither of them knew the sport, it wasn't something one could learn after a 30 minute brief. Thor drew from years of fighting experience. There were various rules and arm drags, bear hugs, punches and headlocks of all manners, but for today the humans didn't need to bother with that and basically it was a free for all. Thor had the upper hand and could most of the time counter the attacks, and this made him annoyingly cocky as he had defeated Flash even if the he had fought admirably. Flash was on the bench with his protective headgear next to him, he exhaustedly gulped down water from a bottle.

As smart Peter was, he had been studying Thor when the Asgardian fought Flash so Peter had an idea how he fought. Thor was exceptionally good, and that showed.

The place was spacious and housed a variety of functions such as showers, storage and seating lobbies. And there had gathered a crowd of curious people around the ring where Peter and Thor was locked in combat, they had recognized the Asgardian fairly quickly and even a few women watched Thor with great interest, admiring his athletic body, most people didn't knew about Peter's identity, for them, he was just another soldier.

Thor cockily strutted around the ring, his predatory eyes squarely locked on Peter who was writhing on the floor mat. But he made the mistake of moving a little too close to Peter who suddenly peeled himself of the floor and lunged, smashing him on the side of the head with a fist which staggered Thor. Peter then locked his muscular arms around the Thor's arms and torso and dragged him down, both were on their knees, chest-to-chest. Peter pushed himself to his feet and lifted a struggling Thor up with him with a tightened hug; he arced his back and… WHAM! Peter and Thor smashed down and Thor slammed his side on the floor and his head hit the canvas hard.

The gathered small crowd outside the ring winced while others cheered or booed.

Peter let go of Thor and forcibly rolled him over and straddled the Asgardian and delivered a not so powerful punch to his

Anger flashed in Thor' eyes as he struggled free. One of his arms hit Peter's stomach and the human buffeted and gasped for air as Thor then smacked away one of Peter's arms and in a lightning strike his other fist connected with the side of Peter's face.

A dazed Peter fell over awkwardly on the floor and pushed away from the floor to get some distance from him for a re-attack. Peter staggered away but didn't come further than a few steps when it was Thor's turn to lunge at his friend. He grabbed one of Peter's feet and yanked hard and with a yelp Peter crashed down face first on the floor.

Thor pushed himself of the floor to attack but Peter rolled to his back and delivered a hard kick to Thor' shoulder and the God of Thunder staggered from the blow and fell back on his back.

Peter got up from the floor and dashed into Thor knee first into his stomach and grabbed around him who groaned from the knee-shot and started to pound Peter's face and shoulders with his fists as they rolled around on the mat and traded blows.

Their hearts were beating hard and loud. Adrenaline was flowing.

Thor rolled the human on his back and grabbed one of Peter's arms and dragged him up as Thor got back on his feet and pushed down the human face first hard on the floor and ringed the arm around Peter's' back who winced in pain.

With his free hand Peter pushed up from the floor, taking advantage of all his superior genetically enhancements and rolled around dazed. He used that momentum and managed to get on his side with Thor still clenched to his back. Peter jammed his free elbow into Thor' stomach which knocked the air out of him and he groaned.

Thor let go of Peter and rolled to his back and gasped for breath, gulping down air.

Peter got up and grabbed one of Thor' arms and yanked him up and drove him into the mat, Thor's chest slammed down and Peter pressed down one of his knees on one of Thor' arms as he followed through the movement and got on top of Thor' back and pressed down the Asgardian into the canvas and slammed his fists into Thor's shoulders and head.

Thor was disoriented and his vision was blurred.

"Damn you, mortal," Thor cursed into the mat and he soon followed up with a raucous chortle, "You win."

Peter stopped beating him grinned wild with a small trace of blood in his mouth and around his lips. Peter let go of Thor and stood up. So much for Thor's previous joke about his own reach and flexibility, and how he's a ladies man back at Asgard.

Thor rolled over and Peter hovered above him and offered his hand and the human pulled up his Asgardian friend. Both were out of breath, exhausted, sweaty and breathed hard, and not to mention bruised and sore.

Peter reached into his mouth and removed the translucent mouth guard, covered with blood and saliva. He pocketed it into his trousers.

"Was it as good for you as it was for me?" Peter snickered. He swiped away some blood from his mouth with his hand.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Thor replied annoyed. "You cheated." He cleared his throat and spat out more bodily fluids.

The small crowd, sensing it was over, left.

Peter frowned, "I did not cheat. You told us we had free reigns."

"Yeah, well, you cheated with all your abilities."

Peter shrugged matter-of-factly, "I did hold back." He teased, "Don't expect any 'reach and flexibility' in the showers though. I'm a taken man."

"Funny," Thor replied sarcastically.

Flash jogged over from the benches and grinned enthusiastically, "That was awesome! Humanity won."

Thor snorted with a glance at the Flash, "You lost before, so it's 1 x 1."

"Whatever," Flash shrugged dull. "So what's next?"

"Running," Thor said. He smirked and taunted, "And I'll out run both of you."

The Asgardian slender and strong body was capable of moving at high speeds, and they could easily outrun the avarage human.

"Yeah?" Peter countered. "You said something similar before the fight to."

Flash mumbled dull, "I hate running."

Thor teased good-naturedly, "Well, the way you're huffing and puffing in your black suit, I think this will be good for you, Flash."

"Whatever, big guy," Flash reproached. "Adrenaline will get me through anything."

"If you say so..." Thor gestured, "Let's go."

The two humans followed Thor to the track outside the gym. Behind them, small VI-controlled cleaners raced out from their hiding places in small nearby storage containers to clean and decontaminate the ring.

The base's courtyard was a huge, perfect for maintaining the soldiers physically ready for any situation when required. Soccer and basketball fields, running tracks, it was also good for a breath of fresh air. The landing zones filled with planes, helicopters and shuttles wasn't too far.

The trio trekked on and Peter discarded the head and mouth protection gear in a nearby trash bin, as did Flash. There were several runners on the two kilometre long track going around the massive courtyard. The trio got in position, one runner per lane, and Thor counted down and off they went. As suspected the predatory Thor sprinted quickly and was in the lead, taking long and fast steps.

Thor focused his attention on the long track ahead going around the courtyard, and even sore from the fight he pushed his body hard. The steady thump of his footsteps echoed in his ears and he felt beads of sweat roll down his forehead. Behind him he could hear his competition. Peter was close by, mere meters.

Peter had his target 'locked.' Determined to if not beat Thor, at least get in close. He kept forcing his legs forward to push harder to keep up his sprint; he felt the warm pull of his quads and smiled. He hadn't run properly in a long time, it was a great change of pace and scenery after spending hours on one of the tread mills of his apartment back at New York. Sweat ran over his body, his muscles stretched and pushed hard and his breathing was synched with the thump of his feet.

Flash on the other hand was lagging further behind them, struggling a bit. He was physically strong. Running was definitely not his strong side as he mainly focused his training on muscles and not endurance. His heart pounded hard, warmth seeped into his muscles which burned from the lactic acid, the air rushed in and out of his lungs and he had to force himself to breath in a well-paced rhythm but his breathing hitched in his throat a bit, making his already screaming lungs about to burst, aching for air.

That was when Peter started to feel dizzy again, his muscles falling him and his breathing getting heavier and heavier. He shook his head and maintained his speed.

One after one, they crossed the finish line, Thor of course had won but Peter wasn't far off. They breathed heavily, their muscles screamed.

"2-1," Thor declared smugly.

Peter nodded, "Good race. Damn your fast."

Thor chuckled as he peered at Peter's body, "You look like hell, Peter. You okay? You slowed down back there."

"I'm alright,"

"What will Gwen say when she sees you?" Thor snickered.

"She'll probably be annoyed with my physical state," Peter said. "And then we make up, worsening my state, but that she doesn't care as longs she gets satisfied." He joked.

They laughed.

They saw a nearby water cooler, these also dotted the training grounds, and both grabbed a bottle of water each and Peter took a second bottle for Flash who they patiently waited for. Both men greedily gulped down the cool water.

Eventually Flash crossed the finish as well, out of breath. His legs shook, his heart pounded and his lungs ached.

"Damn…" Flash cursed. He groaned and coughed. He bent his knees and leaned forward with his head between his knees, he placed his hands on his knees.

Peter walked over and asked concerned, "Are you alright, Flash?" He offered the water bottle in view of Flash.

"Yeah, I hate running."

Flash took the bottle and nodded grateful. He screwed of the cap and stood up and drank from the bottle.

"You're going to be alright," Peter said sympathetically and patted Flash's shoulder. "Maybe we should sit down somewhere?"

"Sounds good," Flash said content to hear that as he had swallowed half the water.

Thor nodded, "Sure, there's some benches over there." He gestured across the courtyard to a cluster of solitary benches with nobody there.

The trio left the running track and trekked on to the benches, they detoured to the water cooler and grabbed a few more bottles and discarded their empty ones in a nearby trash bin. They continued to the benches and sat down comfortably, facing each other, sipping on the cold, fresh water. Their breathing was calmer, as were their heart beats. Their muscles still ached a bit. They peered out over the massive facility and the attendants running, wrestling, throwing spears and so forth.

Flash asked to start up a conversation, "So this is what you Asgardians do for exercising?"

Thor nodded, "Yeah. They have been around since ancient times. Rooted in the military and is a regular part of our society, shows strength and merit, which is important to us."

"You're pretty good in hand-to-hand," Peter praised. "Ultron definitely is going to struggle with your people."

"I hope," He nodded. "Think we can win this?"

Peter stared the ground and took a sip of his water. "We find the Tesseract, and Ultron is history."

"Bastard machine..." Thor cursed.

"I know that it's not easy, but I believe that we're going to win this," He affirmed. "We go home, rebuild, and live rest of what life's has in storage for us."

"We've been through a lot over the years." Flash added.

Peter elbowed him, gently. "Still going, I just have to thank you guys for being there for me, means a lot."

"That's what friends are for." Thor concluded.

The trio nodded in agreement, enjoying the view of the sun hiding itself on the horizon of the bases. Peter meant his words, there isn't a lot of people that Peter considers his friends, he never had many, Harry was his only friendship for a long time, even when they were away, and after his tragic death, he learned to appreciate every single second that he shares with those people who he considers his family.

"Daddy…!" Two familiar voices called. Peter turned his head at the sound's direction and saw his boys running towards him through the long running way, with Steve just behind them, catching up with Peter's two little Spider-Men's.

Peter smiled and rose from his spot. "Hey!" He knelled on the floor as they both hugged him. He stood up and spun around, holding both twins with his arms, "What are you two up to?"

"We've been looking out for you." Aiden started.

"Yeah, mommy was helping Liz with her homework and it was very, very boring." David finished.

"Oh, that's boring," He chuckled. "Why don't we run this entire track, looks fun, right?"

Both Aiden and David examined the track with their brown eyes, not to enthusiastic about it. "But it's huge!"

"Hey, you guys want my old suit, right?" They both nodded at their father, "If you run this entire track with me, I'll consider giving it to you two. No sacrifice, no victory. "

"Really…?" Aiden grinned.

"Yep..."

"Okay then!" Peter kissed their foreheads and gently lowered them on the ground as the courtyard's lights poles were automatically lighten up. They both positioned themselves at Peter's side and waited for his signal. Thor, Flash and Steve just observed the energetic trio with a huge smile on their faces.

"Go!" Peter shouted as their boys instantly started to ran. He didn't moved at first, but let them form a considerable gap between him and their position, before starting running after them and let them think that he was struggling to catch up, and that gave the twins an enormous confidence boost, after all, they're defeating one of the most, if not the most iconic figure alive, Spider-Man.

* * *

After Peter had walked Thor back to the base he returned to his section and bathed the twins, he walked back to his room. Once home, he strolled through the room looking for Gwen, suspecting she had returned from her errands. He stopped at the computer's desk near the living room as he didn't see or hear her.

Peter called out, "Gwen?!"

A moment later she shouted from her current position,_ "I'm in the bathroom!"_

Peter turned on his back and walked towards the bathroom. He saw several boxes and duffel bags packed with Gwen's personal items stacked in the corner, and on the bed the clothes she had worn was placed. Peter strolled into the bathroom and stopped in the doorway and saw Gwen in the large bathtub in the floor a few meters away. She looked quite happy, soaking in the warm bubble bath which smelled of lavender chamomile which filled the bathroom.

Peter leaned on the doorway and smiled amused, "Hey."

"Afternoon," Gwen smiled. "You look handsome as ever."

"Thanks." Peter said playful, "Speaking of 'looks,' you're sure doing an awful lot of maintenance over there, looks comfortable."

"It is comfortable," Gwen sighed content and slipped down a bit underneath the bubbles. "I needed this. Just relax a bit." She smirked sultry and raised one of her slender legs up from the bubbles, water and bubbles dripped down and she rinsed her leg slowly with her hands, "Want to join me?"

"Don't mind if I do," Peter smiled back and started the remove his clothes, throwing them away into the bedroom; some landed on the floor others on the bed.

Gwen lowered her leg into the water again and smiled amorous as she watched Peter strip in front of her.

"You're a very exquisite specimen, Peter," Gwen purred as she enjoyed the sight.

"What a ringing endorsement," Peter quipped and was soon naked and kicked the shoes out of the bathroom. He walked over to the large pool and stepped into it and walked over to Gwen. He lowered himself into the bubble bath at her side and slipped his arms around her slim body and held her close as they shared a kiss.

Gwen smiled and snuggled closer, one of her hands found its way under the water to his thigh and squeezed it affectionate while she draped her other arm over his shoulders.

"God, this was good," Peter sighed content as well, enjoying the feeling of her naked body and the warm bubble bath. He glanced at her and smiled, "You're very distracting, Gwendy. "

"Well, then I've succeeded in my nefarious plan," Gwen grinned.

"Which was?" Peter asked and inched a bit closer to her.

"Lure you into the bathtub and seduce you," Gwen said wanton.

"Sounds intriguing," Peter teased and nibbled on her lips which she reciprocated.

Gwen giggled as they parted, "It's good that you're so easy to manipulate."

"You can't help being so captivating, can you?"

"Nope," Gwen declared with a childish grin. Gwen sighed content again, "It's moments like this with you which makes me feel good, to get away and be alone."

Peter squeezed her body affectionately, "You're very loyal Gwen, and I can always count on you. Facing the war with you helps a lot"

"We're a team," Gwen reaffirmed. "You fill me with confidence, Peter."

Peter smirked, "It's not all I'm going to -"

Gwen giggled and swatted his shoulder, water splashed around them, "Stop." She pressed her body to his side with a sultry smile, "I've taught you well. You're a very good boy." She flirted.

"Definitely," Peter smiled adoringly.

Gwen smiled and looked into his eyes happily, enjoying the blissful moment of teasing. She contemplated quietly, "There's a tiny cut on your lower lip."

"Sparring…with Thor."

"Oh, okay then." Gwen leaned her back more closer to his chest and rested the back of her head on his neck. She sighed contently, appreciating such intimate moment. "How do you feel?"

"Much better now," Peter kissed her cheek and continued empathetically, "This will soon end, and then we're going live happily with our kids again, forever this time."

Gwen smiled, "My small family."

Peter caressed her bare stomach underneath the water. "You know, I look back, and I see two crazed teenagers in love, and now, we're married and parents of three beautiful children, have your ever managed this before?"

Gwen rested her hand over his. "When I was going to catch the plane to England, it was when I imagined what would happen between us in a few years if we're together back then, it broke my heart actually."

Peter kissed the side of her lips and said softly, "I know, but hey, here we are. I can't imagine myself living without you and the kids, you all are my life."

"And mine as well," She looked up and kissed his lips before asking, "Do you have any plans when this is all over, hopefully."

He smirked. "Oh yeah, I'm taking Ren for a long walk, tingle my little girl, play hide and seek with my boys, make up all day with my wife..."

Gwen laughed.

"... And maybe have one more baby."

Gwen deadpanned. "Peter... you're one amazing father, everyone knows that, but four kids?"

"What? I'm a love machine.' He joked.

Gwen couldn't help but laugh at his horrible joke. "You're awful, you know?"

He went to kiss the smooth skin of her neck. "Just speculation, baby, your wish is my command. You know how much I love to bug you about this."

Gwen giggled as she slowly passed the soap around her cleavage. She liked what she was hearing. Gwen smiled and mused softly, "It's something I'm hoping for. You know, I've been daydreaming occasionally."

"Daydreaming?"

"Yeah…An empty tropical beach, no people but our family. We're kissing, watching the kids and listening to the ocean."

Peter smiled, "That sounds inviting, Gwendy. I guess we've to settle for this bathtub for now."

Gwen smiled brightly, "It's not the location that matters, but the company so this is fine."

He sighed contently. "I love you, Gwen," He whispered next to her ear, "One more time because it always feels really nice to say, I love you, Gwen Stacy Parker."

She smiled. "You know that I love you too, and my god... you're so sweet."

"Oh, thanks for making me feel like I'm an eight years old." He joked, nuzzling her golden hair.

Gwen looked at him and gave him a tiny peck on the lips. "You're welcome," She teased, before asking, "By the way, what's up with that folder?"

Peter leaned his lips away from hers and gulped. "Um…nothing...?'

Gwen completely turned on the bathtub and leaned her, covered in bubbles, chest against his, before resting her hands on his strong shoulders. "Really…?"

Peter cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

Gwen smirked. "Um...nothing...?" She repeated his phrase but now in a very sensual way, before moving her lips closer to his as Peter turned his head to the side, making her warm lips kiss his cheek.

"Hey, hey, let's not rush things..."

"Tell me," Gwen wrapped her slender arms around his neck and used her body to press him against bathtub, using the passionate friction in her advantage. She moved her lips close to his left ear and asked, "Please?" She gently bit his ear.

He chuckled nervously; he had to keep the secret safe, whatever the cost, even if that meant fighting against his wife's flirtations. "I just remembered I promised Liz that I would cook her some spaghetti tonight, you know, it's her favourite meal."

Gwen leaned back and gave him a serious glare. She gently bit her lower lip and spoke annoyed, "Fine. Whatever... We're having a talk later." She stood up and stepped out of the bathtub, leaving her husband totally one.

Peter sighed, feeling victorious and defeated at the same time. He looked up at Gwen who already had a white towel wrapped around her beautiful body. She was now standing in front of the mirror, wrapping a ponytail around her blonde hair. "What kind of talk?" He asked.

"The serious one…" Gwen replied, not looking at him. She walked away and left the bathroom.

Peter moved his hand to his face and took a heavy breath. "Oh my..." He splashed some water from the bathtub with a disappointed expression. "Not the serious one."

* * *

"Do you like it?" Peter sat next to Elizabeth in the circular table from the now empty mess hall, lowering his own plate filled with the spaghetti he had prepared for them. He looked down at his daughter with a huge smile of expectation as she tasted her father's work.

"Hmm…!" Elizabeth nodded, swinging her legs under the table, and slowly savouring the food's marvellous taste. There wasn't such thing as her father's food. She properly placed the fork in the small empty space of her plate and cleaned her mouth with a napkin.

"I'm assuming that you've enjoyed it then." He handed her a glass filled with orange juice.

"It's very good, daddy." She smiled, enthusiastic, before drinking the glass' contents. She finished it and looked up at him, "Where have you learned how to cook?"

"My Aunt taught me, she's the best." He brought the fork which had a small bit of spaghetti around it to his mouth and ate the food made by him. It indeed tasted good.

"You could teach me too." She suggested, "Uncle Howard said that I would never know how to cook if I asked mummy to teach me."

Peter chucked. Howard had to tease his beautiful sister, for his own sake. "Uncle Howard is silly; mommy is good cooker as well." He affirmed, "When she was carrying you, she spent a great deal of time learning a huge amount of recipes, she failed a lot at first, but she knows a lot by now. She could have asked me to cook for her every single time during the pregnancy, why she didn't? Because she wanted to cook the best meals just for you…." He gently pinched her nose, receiving an adorable giggle in return.

"I know, I will ask her then too."

"She will love to teach you."

Elizabeth smiled and moved next to Peter as he wrapped his right arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder and said softly, "I miss grandma, my uncles, and my friends."

He drawn soft circles on her shoulder and kissed the top of her blonde hair. "Let's hope that they're safe, you'll see them soon. Trust me."

"I trust you, daddy." Elizabeth looked up and glanced at him with her innocent green eyes.

Peter smiled. "Thank you, honey," He kissed her pink cheek, "Could you do me a favour?"

"Yeah..." She nodded.

"I've made a plate for mommy as well, when you're done with yours, can you bring it to her? I'm going to see Flash after this."

"Have you and mommy argued?" She inquired, curious as to why he wanted her to deliver the plate by herself.

"Of course not, why do you say that?"

"Well, my friend, Molly, said that her parents aren't together anymore - they fought a lot. I don't want to see you and mommy fighting."

"Hey, don't worry, nothing is happening between us," Peter assured, "We may have some disagreements here and there, but that's something that all adults have, I love your mommy, everything is fine sweetie."

"Alright then..." Elizabeth gave him one of her cutest smiles, and asked, "Oh! Why do mommy and daddy have to kiss every time?"

* * *

**Flash's Room**

"What's your record?" Flash questioned Peter who was struggling to properly push up on the floor of his room.

"947." Peter replied, gasping softly.

"Wow, you have to hurry up because you only made 321 so far." He crossed his arms.

Peter did one last push, before lying himself on the cold floor, recovering his long lost breath. "Something... is wrong with me." He sat on the ground.

"I can see that," Flash offered his hand and helped him stood up him from the ground. "You have to see a Doctor, I almost passed you back at the running track."

"Yeah, you're probably right, not tonight though," He stretched his shoulders. "What's our next move? I was making dinner for Liz, missed the meeting."

"Well, the twins gave us lots of Ultron's facilities coordinates, including the one where the Tesseract supposedly is being kept, and guess what?"

"I'm listening."

"It's what creates those new versions of drones, and it's called 'The Seed of Life' by the big guy."

"Just what we needed to win this," He said, hopeful. "When are we going to retrieve it?"

"Soon, but you really should do some body scans before the operation is a go." Flash suggested, worried about his friend's health.

"I know, I know," He approached the closest wall and leaned his head against the surface, "I'm screwed." He sighed.

"What happened?"

"Gwen said we're having a talk later, but now it's later." He turned at Flash's direction. "She knows I'm keeping a secret from her."

If there's one thing that Peter knew Gwen hated, were secrets being kept from her, especially if they were his, that's why their relationship was based on trust, and while it was painful to not tell her what he was planning, it's for a good cause. It was basically the place where they would live the rest of their family together, guiding their kids, and growing old.

"Are we talking about the -"

"Yeah…" He nodded in frustration.

"Oh no, not the house..." Flash whispered, glancing the floor.

"She's going to try and break me." Peter rubbed the back of his neck.

"Mm-hmm," Flash pointed to the table where the blue folder was currently located. "I'm going to protect that, and, uh, you go in there, and you be strong." He patted Peter's shoulder.

"It won't be easy..." Peter shrugged.

"Remember, I'm not there to save your ass this time."

* * *

Peter retrieved the keys and unlocked the door of his bedroom and stepped inside as he looked for his wife who wasn't present. He needed to clear things up with her. "Gwen?"

_"In a minute…!" _She replied from the bathroom.

Peter cleared his throat as he slowly walked towards their bed, still holding the keys with his hands. "Um...so, honey, here's the thing." He noticed lighten candles in both sides of the bed stand, for some reason which he wasn't aware of. "I'm not trying to keep anything from you, you're my wife and that's part of the deal - I'm well aware of that," He paused. "I would, however, like to keep some things in the special category that you don't need to know about... yeah." He nodded to himself, before hearing the sound of the bathroom's door opening.

Peter turned on his back, his jaw almost falling into the ground at first; he did release the room's keys from his hands as the cold object fell from his hands.

Gwen was wearing tight red lingerie that left little to his imagination; her golden hair was lying on her shoulders as she placed her hands on her waist, giving him a show that he wouldn't ever forget. Both parts of her two-piece were coloured a very light powder red, lace decorations covering them. Her curves were accentuated, her rear fighting with her cleavage for his eyes attention. He wasn't quite sure where to look, every aspect of her body screamed at his intense desire. She gave him a sultry smile, clearly intending to have such an effect on him. The red pattern only accentuated her golden hair even more, and she used the advantage of being his favourite colour to turn that against him.

_Oh god..._

Peter's eyes roamed her whole body, undressing her on his mind, and slowly falling into her trap. He sighed and quickly shook his head, determined to resist against what he knew she was trying to achieve. "N-No…No…not today."

Gwen started to slowly walk towards him, adding a bit of sway to her hips. He quickly glanced her and continued, "This has worked on the past, but not today!" He stated.

"What is it?" Gwen asked, softly and mischievously at the same time.

Peter awkwardly gestured to her body, while trying to not look at her. "This, this, all that."

Gwen sighed, before cocking her head at him with a sensual smile. "What's your secret...? Peter?" She inquired again.

He stubbornly shook his head again. "My lips are sealed." He now glanced at the wall on his right side and kept his lips shut, while trying to look at what she was doing without actually making eye contact. That was one complicated situation for him to handle.

Gwen was now just a few inches from her husband's figure. She grinned at his pointless resistance. "Well... let me help you, unseal them." She purred. She leaned close to his exposed neck, breathing close to the skin, before kissing it and moving her lips to his jawline, sending cold shivers down his spine.

* * *

Someone knocked Flash's door, causing him rise from his desk's chair. It was probably Peter who was going to inform him about his little conversation with his deadly wife. Just in case, he grabbed the folder from the desk and walked towards the door. He turned the knob and was greeted by the sight of no one else than Gwen Stacy herself, she was wearing a purple coat and slippers and impatiently glared Peter's best friend.

"Hand it over." Gwen demanded in very commanding tone which he had never heard before. She wasn't going to simply accept a 'No' as an answer from him.

Flash sighed. He knew that Peter wasn't going to make it. "He cracked like an egg." He handed her the folder without any hesitation.

Gwen quickly grabbed the blue folder from his hands and opened it, reading the 'word' Pewen on the front page. She looked up at Flash and raised an eyebrow. "What's this?"

"It's the combination of yours and Peter's name." He muttered. "You were supposed to -"

"Whatever." Gwen cut him off and walked away, heading towards the room she shared with her husband.

"...get surprised. Okay, fine." Flash shook his head and slowly closed his door. Mission failed

* * *

"Peter, it's very sweet that you tried to surprise me." Gwen slowly turned to the folder's next page, carefully observing her husband's houses choices, some very luxurious, others more simple, simple compared to the expensive options he had compiled with Flash's help. Every single one was close to the beach.

"With the dream home," Peter smiled as he crossed his arms over his shirt and leaned his back against the bed's headboard. It wasn't meant to be like that, but at least he wasn't feeling like an outlaw anymore. "I like that one, right in the sand, the perfect house for the perfect woman. What do you think?"

Gwen smiled briefly as she looked at the photos again. She loved Peter's initiative, he just wanted to make her happy like always, but it was hard to think about the future with so much important stuff going on.

"It's not right, isn't it?" He continued, worried that she wasn't approving his plan. "You know, I could continue to play detective and try to read your mind -"

Gwen looked back at her husband and spoke, "Well, I haven't... Um... it's just something, it's hard to explain."

Peter smiled softly and moved his hand next to his face, showing her the golden ring that cemented their love towards each other. "Hello, husband, it's my official title, you can tell me anything."

"Um... when I was a little girl, and I was with my dad, we always imagined what my future would have been like, like my own dream house. I loved our little place at California, but I wanted my own place, my own fairy-tale castle... It's stupid." She stopped and shook her head.

"No, no, it isn't," Peter assured her, "Babe, please go on."

"Well, a cosy, homey, simple," Gwen smiled, "But we have a house, I don't think that we need to move on just because of an old dream of mine, there's more important things to focus on than that." She explained.

"It's perfect."

"Really…?" Gwen asked, softly.

Peter leaned closer and gave her a tiny peck on the lips. "I'm going to find our dream home, a place just for ourselves, our family, no danger, peaceful," He kissed her lips again. "It doesn't need to be luxurious, as long we're happy, it's perfect."

Gwen touched her forehead against his and closed her eyes as he caressed her cheek. "You know, this remembers me the moment when we're talking about our future family, eight years ago."

Peter carefully closed the folder and grabbed it from her lap and placed it over his own bed stand. He turned the lamp down and proceeded to snuggle with his wife as they wrapped themselves in each other's arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and kissed his neck softly.

"I do remember it," He kissed the top of her blonde hair; "I wish I still had that drawing."

* * *

**Eight Years Ago**

Peter sat against his pillow, with Gwen snuggling next to him as she observed his actions. He retrieved a pen and a small paper from his bed stand and started to drawn a house on the blank piece of paper.

"Our proper house, not apartment, for our kids to ran around and wreck things up." He smiled, not moving his eyes away from the paper.

"Kids…?" Gwen asked, playfully. She caressed his toned stomach and kissed his cheek.

Peter chuckled. "Better safe than sorry," He finished the house's door and proceeded to drawn their figures in front of the house's entrance, starting with himself and then moving to drawn his wife next to him on the drawing. He had an arm wrapped around her waist and she seemed to be holding something on her arms while he didn't finished that specific part, "A little boy..." He turned at Gwen's side. She smiled at him, a persuasive one. "Or a girl..."

Gwen giggled. "I'm okay if it's a girl or not, I'll love them equally." She continued softer and squeezed him lovingly, "I want you, but if it's my choice, I want a daughter first."

"A daughter, huh…?" Peter asked amused with a faint smile.

Gwen winked at him. "Well, I mean, if you want a boy we can discuss this someday."

"Maybe I want a daughter too," Peter smiled, getting lost in their tender moment.

"You don't need to say that only because I want a daughter," Gwen reminded him considerate. "We're two in this."

"Well, maybe I want a little daughter running around and sit on my lap and watch Lion King with me," Peter pointed out. "It's not bad to dream."

Gwen nodded and smiled as well, getting caught up in it all, "Yes, I want that."

Peter teased, "I bet you already have a name figured out."

"Maybe," Gwen shrugged matter-of-factly.

"Do I have anything to say about the name?"

"Probably not," Gwen replied snarky.

"I love you, you snarky and beautiful woman," Peter said lovingly and kissed her lips softly.

"I love you too," Gwen smiled as they shared a brief but passionate kiss.

Peter looked back at his finished drawing, daydreaming about their future. "One day."

She smiled softly. "One day."

* * *

**A/N : Hey everyone, it's been weeks since the last update and I'm well aware of that, and it will stay that way from now on, I want to have more time to write the chapters with the quality that I'm aimed for, bigger and important. So, I'll update once or twice a month, but since this month marks the one year anniversary of this story, I'll push another chapter close to the date where the first chapter was published, April 28th.**

**I don't know if you guys have noticed, but this chapter was the biggest one, and I haven't reached that without effort, it was exhausting, for me, and probably for my beta as well, who again, finished the last details, so thanks again, FireflySurvivor.**

**Last part was a huge tribute to the "Chuck" series, one of my favorite moments of the whole show. "Chuck" lovers are going to notice it, I hope so.**

**Noble Team was reference to the Halo franchise, Reach. They're going to have a pretty big importance on the next chapter.**

**I'm already working on the next chapter, which will be pretty intense, so don't worry about me ever abandoning the story if the update takes too long to arrive, I'm always working on it.**

**Reviews are always greatly appreciated, while I'm writing this story for me and for you, they're pretty important, like fuel, but please constructive, if anything, I'll address it via PM.**

**Later!**

**Quotes : Chuck, Firefly, Avenger Age Of Ultron and Transformers.**


	45. Love & Loss

**March 12th - 2028**

Gwen was in their bathroom looking at her image in the mirror, applying the day's makeup. Earlier she'd taken a warm shower alone, despite some protests from Peter, but Gwen wanted a few minutes with her own thoughts and had thus wanted Peter to take the first shower. She smiled briefly before she quickly sprayed on some perfume and put on some new blue undergarments and left the bathroom. She walked down to the closet and found her shirtless handsome husband sitting on the bed engrossed in a data pad.

Peter looked up at the movement in front of him and smiled as his brown eyes roamed her body, she smiled back at him. It always gave Gwen a shiver down the spine when he admired her. They didn't speak to each other while she got dressed at the closet near him, but she could feel his eyes on her. A few minutes later she was dressed in a new satin blouse, light blue this time, and a pair of black pants. She heard Peter move behind her and then hugged her frame from behind.

Peter leaned against her neck and took in her scent as his arms wrapped around her abdomen.

Gwen smiled, "Something I can do for you, Spidey?" She asked, adding his nickname with a suggestive tone.

"Maybe," Peter answered hugging her closer and kissed her neck softly. "I love that curvy body of yours."

One of Gwen's eyebrows rose up and she feigned annoyance, "You think I'm fat?"

Peter tensed and coiled back a bit, "No, absolutely not I just-"

Gwen laughed as she turned around in his embrace and planted a hand on his chest, "I'm just teasing." She could feel his heart beating and the heat from his body and how he shivered from her touch.

Peter could see the mirth in her eyes and the grin that graced her lips. He shook his head, "That wasn't fair."

Gwen leaned in and planted a lingering kiss on his lips. She pulled back a bit when they parted and sucked on his lower lip before letting go.

Peter breathed out, "You are such a tease Gwendy."

Gwen smirked, she loved teasing her lover. "You'll have to patiently wait, though."

Peter chuckled, "It might be difficult to wait that long."

She shot him an evil grin as she moved her arms around his neck, "But you will have to play your cards right of course."

"Ah, always playing the angle Mrs Parker," Peter quipped. "Didn't I win a few points earlier this morning?"

She purred, "Mmm, well I did enjoy that wake-up call." Gwen planted a soft kiss on his lips once again.

Peter grinned after they parted, "I thought you would."

"I hope the rest of the morning was satisfactory as well."

Peter smirked, "You are such a selfless temptress Gwendy."

Gwen laughed, "Temptress you say?"

"Uh-huh."

She smiled for a few moments before she rolled her eyes and scoffed as she glanced at the direction of the AI console by the door, "Damn AI disturbing us like that."

Peter chuckled, "Yes, it wasn't the best timing ever. But Jarvis is still recovering from Ultron's virtual attack back at the Tower. Take it easy with him."

Gwen turned her eyes back to Peter and shook her head. "Of course..."

"I thought it would kill our little moment." Peter mused.

Gwen nodded but smirked, "It almost did, but I enjoyed being with you regardless."

Peter grinned, "I'm happy to oblige." He released his hold of Gwen. "I better check up on what Jarvis actually wanted."

Gwen nodded and Peter walked up the stairs to the AI console. Gwen closed the closet and followed suit.

Peter stopped at the AI console pressed the call button and Jarvis representation showed up immediately.

_"Yes Peter?"_

"Was there something you wanted earlier?" Peter asked.

_"There's a certain Helen Stacy requiring Mrs Parker's presence through a video call."_

Gwen's eyes shot up as she approached Peter. "Mom…? Where is she?"

_"Helen Stacy was successfully evacuated to another military base on the country, we just made contact and she is now available in Peter's laptop." _Jarvis informed.

Gwen smiled. "Wow, thank you Jarvis."

_"You are welcome Gwen. I would also like to extend my apologies for the earlier interruption; I respect both you and Peter's privacy."_

"It's alright. Thanks again."

_"I'm glad." _Jarvis' holo returned back to the panel.

Peter turned to Gwen's side, she was smiling, relieved. He slowly wrapped both arms around her waist and brought her closer to his chest. "You should talk to her."

Gwen looked up and genuinely smiled at him. "I know, it seems that things are finally getting better."

He kissed her forehead. "I'll give you two some space, okay?"

Gwen shook her head. "Definitely not…You're my husband, the father of my children, she wants to see you as well."

He chuckled softly, doing what she wants. He gave her a quick peck on the lips before moving his arms away from his from her waist. "Well, I'm going to wear a shirt then."

Gwen laughed. "I'm sure she won't mind, if she survives the view of my husband's toned abs." She joked.

Peter turned to Gwen and grinned slightly, "It feels nice to be loved by you, honey." He opened their closet's door and searched for a proper shirt.

Gwen sat on his desk and replied, "What are you talking about? I'm only with you because you're hot, there's no love involved." She teased as she turned his laptop on.

Peter returned and stood behind her chair. "It's only because I'm hot, huh?" He leaned down as he trailed soft kisses on the delicate skin of her neck.

Gwen giggled as she caressed his perfect hair. "C'mon now, you don't want us to be caught in the act by my own mom."

He laughed and kissed the side of her warm lips. "There's a first time for everything."

"Cliché…We aren't teenagers anymore." Gwen was about to continue if her husband hadn't started sucking the smooth skin of her neck. "Peter!" She turned on her chair and gave him a deadly stare.

"What?" He crossed his arms innocently.

"I swear to god that if you've left a mark on my neck I will -"

_"Gwen? Is that you?"_

Gwen turned the chair back to the laptop's direction and smiled happily. "Mom…!"

_"Oh honey! I was so worried!"_

"It's okay now," Gwen said sympathetic. "How are you?"

_"I should've been the one to ask you that, I didn't know where my only girl was."_

Gwen leaned on the desk. "I'm with Peter and the kids, it wasn't easy, but we're now safe."

_"Thank god, I knew that you would keep her safe, Peter."_ She looked at him.

"She means the world to me, I would do anything for her," He replied as Gwen looked at him for a brief moment, glad for having him on her life. "But how are you guys?"

_"We're on this base for weeks now, and just now that they managed to maintain contact with the rest of the installations."_

"My brothers…? Are they okay?" Gwen asked.

Helen nodded. _"Simon and Phillip are currently sleeping on their own rooms, it's early."_

"And Howard…? Where's he? What about his wife and my niece?"

She sighed. _"Howard... he left Miranda and Kate and enlisted, he's out there. They're here, thank god."_

"You mean..." Gwen paused. Peter placed hand on her shoulder and squeezed her gently. "He's fighting? Those machines…?" She asked again, making sure that she heard the news right.

_"I know how you feel; it's been always like that, I tried to stop him..."_

Gwen completed her sentence. "... but he went anyways." She sighed and whispered, "Damn, Howard."

Peter interjected, "I'm sure he's fine."

_"I really hope so, Peter…" _Helen continued,_ "I was told that his unit might arrive at you guy's base, warn me if that ever happens, okay?"_

"We will, mom." Gwen nodded.

_"And how are my grandchildren?"_ Helen now smiled.

Gwen shook her head and forgot such thoughts. "They're doing well, better than I've actually expected. Liz is strong, you have no idea," She replied. "The boys are a bag full of energy to us, they cheer everyone up."

"Oh, did you know that Gwen wants a fourth child?" Peter teased, lightening the atmosphere up.

"Peter!" Gwen turned her head and narrowed her eyes at him with a cold glare. "I've never said that!" She stated.

Peter evaded her green eyes and focused in Helen's image on the laptop. "It's true, what do you think?"

Gwen opened her mouth at him in shock, before returning to her previous spot. "No, mom, it isn't like that."

Helen grinned and shrugged her shoulders. _"I don't see a problem."_

"Mom…! Don't encourage him!" She protested.

"See, baby…?" Peter leaned down and kissed her cheek from behind. Gwen just moaned in disapproval as she noticed a smile coming from her mother.

_"Well, I think that you two have much to discuss." _Helen grinned._ "I have to go now, darling."_

"This won't last any longer, mom."

_"Hopefully, and you Peter,"_ She looked up to the man who her daughter had chosen to live the rest of her life with, _"Keep my girl safe and happy, like you always did."_

He smiled. "Aye ma'am..."

Eventually, the connection was shut down and the married couple were now alone again.

Gwen rose from her chair and walked away without any word. "My. God. Peter, you're so annoying." She leaned her back against the wall and crossed her arms under her breasts and fixed him a glare.

He chuckled and slowly approached her. She cautiously pressed her hand against his toned chest. "Don't even think about it."

"I got my little revenge for all the teases you keep doing at me." Peter gently grabbed her purse and placed her hand against the wall and above her head as he pressed his chest against hers, adding some physical pressure.

"That's cheating, just because you're stronger." Gwen complained, looking up at his brown eyes.

"You could just walk away if you really wanted." He brushed his lips against hers, freeing her hand, before moving his own hands to her waist. "Yet, here you are." He whispered softly.

Gwen sighed. She was getting seduced by her husband and there wasn't anything that she could do about it. On Peter's arms, she always felt free, and now, her mother and brothers were safe, and she hoped that Howard was doing well, that was more than what she had before. She could now relax her mind and body a little bit.

"You're too much irresistible for that to happen." Gwen said huskily, she wanted to kiss those lips that were now on her neck.

He trailed soft kisses from her neck to and to the smooth skin of her cheek, stopping right in the corner of her lips to ask, "Do you love me?"

Gwen sighed, she was being tortured. "Yes... you know that."

Peter smiled and connected his lips to hers, sucking her lower lip and cupping her cheeks with his hands as she reciprocated the passionate kiss. She loved that man, the only person who knows her from head to toe, who completes her.

Suddenly, Peter broke the kiss and started laughing as he made his way towards their bed, leaving Gwen alone and swimming in a pool of confusion. "What's so funny?" She asked.

Peter rolled on the bed, bursting into fits laughter. "Oh, I'm only with you because of your body, there's no love involved!" He quoted her in a silly way.

Gwen glared him, for interrupting the passionate kiss, and for mocking her. "Ha,ha,ha.." She deadpanned as she approached the bed.

Peter lay on his back and placed his hands under his head. "You got to admit though, I'm a genius."

She crawled onto the bed and straddled him. "I know that you have quite the ego, maybe too much for this room."

"My charm..." He shrugged his shoulders.

"But again, I have the advantage."

"You're sure about that?" Peter smirked.

Gwen cocked her head and ran her hands under his shirt, touching his abdomen's defined build and chest. "I'm pretty sure."

He rose and slowly moved his arms around Gwen's slim frame, pulling her into a loving embrace. "You know, you make me forget about everything going on, it's hard to get back out there after spending moments like this with you and the kids."

Gwen smiled and kissed his lips softly.

He broke the kiss and cupped her cheek, before continuing, "I just want you know that no matter happens -"

"Don't talk like that, you know what is going to happen, you're going to kick Ultron out of this planet, and you're going to get back to us, to your family and friends."

Peter smiled, and replied with a passionate kiss, not wanting to be realistic about the possible outcomes, but just listening to his beautiful wife's words.

* * *

Later in the morning, Peter stealthily opened the door of his sleepy kid's bedroom and peered inside, seeing them still curled up on their respective beds and sleeping peacefully. Elizabeth was wrapped around the covers and had her right hand under her head and over the pillow, like an angel. He thought.

On the other side, not so surprising, but rather hilarious, David was facing the wrong side of the bed while Aiden was laid on the correct one. David's feet was lazily resting on his identical brother's chest, and he didn't seem to mind that all, maybe they were both used to each other's silly actions.

"How are they?" Gwen asked, standing behind her husband's figure.

Peter turned on his shoulder and grinned. "It's the perfect time for the best wakeup call of their short lives."

"You're evil."

Peter chuckled softly. "Every hero has a dark side." He winked and turned back at the door's direction. He slowly stepped inside with Gwen following him. Carefully, turned the lights on and spoke with authority, "Let's wake up people! It's already late for breakfast you three sleepy heads!" He approached the twin's bed and started to pull the covers away.

Elizabeth was the first one who started to lazily stir under the covers. She slowly opened her eyes and saw her father gently stirring her identical and youngest brothers.

"C'mon boys…!"

"Dad..." Aiden brought the covers over his face and turned to the side, accidentally exposing his brother on the process. David groaned softly in discontentment.

Peter joked once he noticed that David wasn't wearing a shirt, "You're just like your mother, put a shirt on, dude!"

Gwen silently scoffed and smiled from the other side of the bedroom.

Peter moved his hand underneath the sheets and stopped at Aiden's belly, and started to tingle him, before gently grabbing David's feet and rubbing it. They both started burst into soft fits of giggles while trying to free themselves for their father's evil hands.

Gwen chuckled as she approached Elizabeth's bed and sat beside her, being much more passive instead of her husband's aggressiveness to wake their children up. She caressed Elizabeth's stomach and leaned down to kiss her forehead, receiving a warm smile from her beautiful daughter that resembled so much to her.

"Good morning, sweetie."

"Hi mommy," She lazily stretched her arms and looked at her father who was tingling her brothers. "Is daddy okay?"

Gwen chuckled. "You know, he's always like that." She turned her head at him and smiled.

Aiden jumped onto his father's back and wrapped his arms around his with a squeal. Peter rose from the bed and hold Aiden's legs tightly, supporting him. "Oh, you want to fight, buddy?!"

"Yeah…!" Aiden replied between his giggles.

Not wanting to be left alone, David gave him a bear from hug, joining his brother's attempt to handle their father. Peter threatened to jump back to their bed, noticing the move; Aiden raised his hands to the ceiling and used his feet to stand upside down as Peter fell to the bed he shared with his brother. David couldn't control his giggles as he rested his head on Peter's chest.

"You think I can't get you there?" Peter challenged his spider minion.

"No!" He smiled.

"Boys…" Elizabeth mused. She gazed her mother with affectionate eyes.

Gwen chuckled. "I agree. They're something else. But you know the drill regarding your gifts, about not abusing them."

"With great power..." Elizabeth frowned, thinking.

Gwen helped her out, "Comes great responsibility."

Elizabeth smiled kindly.

It didn't took too long to someone knock the bedroom's door. _"Guys, it's Flash."_ He warned through the other side of the door.

"In a minute…!" Gwen kissed Liz's forehead and stood up as she said to her boys, "Uncle Flash is here, we should at least look like a civil family."

Peter finished wrapping the twins around the covers, trapping them as they tried to break free while laughing at the same time. He looked at his wife and spoke, "Touché, Stacy."

Gwen grinned, enjoying the bantering. She unlocked the door and was greeted by the sight of her husband's best friend. "Hey," She smiled kindly.

Flash nodded. "Morning, someone you know is here."

"Who…?"

He replied, "Your brother."

* * *

People died in war. It was the simple nature of things. Even a small conflict was no exception. People died, and whenever that happened, somebody somewhere lost a friend or family member that they cared about. Even those on the other side had people that they loved, and they felt the pain when they died.

It seemed even worse when a person saw someone die right in front of them. People continued to die, and yet that person would just keep wishing and praying that they would not be next, that they would somehow survive the fighting and go back home. And when they got hurt, it would seem like an immense shock, as if they had been reminded of their own mortality, the fragile nature of their very existence. And they would wish to live, if not for themselves, then for their friends and family, just so they would not have to go through the pain and trauma of losing a loved one, and the lingering hurt of knowing that they would never see them again.

But for those who had a loved one being seriously injured, and waiting to know if they will even survive, the wait is just as painful…

Peter paced up and down the hall. Dimly he wondered if it was indeed possible for someone to wear a long, narrow hole in the floor from constant pacing. Sure, they may have shown that on cartoons and comedies, but that was different. Shaking his head, he realised that such thoughts were simply distracting him from the matter at hand. He turned to his wife.

Gwen was sitting in one of the chairs and with Elizabeth sat on her lap, hugging her mother. Gwen's body as stiff as a board, her hands twitching from extreme nervousness, and her face seemed frozen into one of intense worry. It looked as though she would only relax when somebody came out and gave her good news. If the news was bad… well, Peter simply did not want to think about it.

As if to answer his question, the door opened and a doctor stepped through. Gwen whipped her head around to face him. Her intense face relaxed into one of relief when she saw the smile on the doctor's face. Peter felt himself start to relax too.

"Howard is fine," the doctor replied. "The bullet just grazed his jugular, and we were able to fix it. We also removed all the pieces of shrapnel. He's recovering well and he's awake now."

Gwen gave the biggest sigh of relief in her entire life, and went to put her arms around Elizabeth in a comforting embrace.

"Can we see him?" Peter asked.

"Of course," the doctor replied. "In fact, he asked if he could see you three." He gestured into the room. Peter took Elizabeth's left hand while Gwen held her right one as they stepped inside.

Howard lay in the bed, his neck and other parts of his body wrapped in bandages, and a bracelet drip was in his left arm. Despite his obvious pain, he managed to give his family a reassuring grin. "Hey guys." He greeted somewhat cheerfully.

Gwen sat down next to her brother and held his hand comfortingly. "How are you feeling?" She asked softly.

"Better than before," Howard grunted. "Damn drone got me in the neck, and I'm on the ground. Some guy comes over to help me and a grenade takes him out. I got some of the shrapnel, but he shielded me from the rest." He sighed. "He gave his life for mine. It's a debt that I'll never be able to repay." He seemed very sorrowful about that.

"You're here now." Peter said, as he placed a reassuring hand on his brother in law's shoulder.

Howard nodded. He slowly turned his head to the other side and met Elizabeth's perfect green eyes. She smiled shyly at him. Howard spoke, "Hey little missy, I've missed you, you know?" He calmly moved his hand to her cheek, touching the delicate skin, and then gently pinched her tiny nose, receiving a soft giggle in return.

"I've missed you too." Elizabeth leaned over to kiss his forehead.

He smiled. "Where are your brothers? This place is awfully quiet, what happened with the Parker's?"

"Hey!" Peter protested.

Gwen chuckled, that was certainly her brother. She replied, "We left them with Natasha, they're very young, I wasn't sure if..." She hesitated for a brief moment.

"I know, and you're right." He squeezed her hand, softly.

Gwen smiled. "Now that you're here, safe, I can lower my guard, mom and our brothers are okay as well."

Howard sighed, happily, before asking about his wife, "How's Miranda?"

"I exchanged some emails with her, she's handling everything well." Gwen replied.

"And Kate…?"

"She misses you."

He looked up at the ceiling, relieved. Knowing that his family were safe, brought his spirits up, after all, everything could be lost, but that hadn't the same emotional weight as his family's safety. "Remember when she was born? When you hold her for the first time?"

"I do. I was pretty excited to hold my niece, and Elizabeth was impatient as well to see her little cousin." Gwen replied, gazing her brother's eyes. "We were at your apartment, minus Peter, who obviously was busy dealing with the city's problems." She elbowed her husband.

He shrugged his shoulders and deadpanned. "I made up for it later."

Gwen rolled her eyes at his inconvenient flirt.

* * *

**Four years ago**

**March 19th - 2024**

_"Be careful," Howard slowly lowered his new-born daughter in Gwen's arms, before sitting next to his wife again, who couldn't help but smile at the brother and sister's typical banter._

_Gwen narrowed her green eyes at him as she sat down on the couch, holding her niece with her arms. "Thank you Howard, but I'm pretty sure I know how to properly hold a baby." She turned to look at her daughter who was sat beside her, eyeing the baby on her arms with eyes full of curiosity._

_"She's so small." Elizabeth said, gazing the baby who was tucked in covers._

_"She's beautiful; you were just like her once." Gwen smiled, paying attention to her niece's beautiful features, her raven dark hair, pale skin and azure eyes, similar to Miranda's. She carefully caressed Kate's cheek with her thumb, and spoke, "Hey little one, I'm your Auntie, Gwen, and this beautiful girl next to me is your cousin, Elizabeth."_

_"Hi." She greeted._

_At first, Kate didn't make a move, but just release a soft squeal. She opened her mouth and closed it, and Gwen instantly took that as a signal that she was ready to sleep, it was no surprise since new-borns spent most of their time sleeping._

_"Looks that someone is ready to fall asleep," Gwen affirmed, before sighing, "Shame that your Uncle can't be here right now."_

_"Speaking of Peter, where's he?" Howard inquired, wrapping his arm around his wife's waist._

_"Busy with his job, probably." Gwen replied._

_Howard chuckled lightly, aware of Gwen's annoyance towards the subject._

_"Helen told me that you're pregnant, Gwen, congratulations." Miranda smiled happily._

_"Oh, thank you," Gwen nodded, "I was going to announce it for you guys now, but mom already took care of that." She smiled._

_"How many months along are you?"_

_"Just one so far…" Gwen quickly eyed the baby on her left arm with a soft smile. She moved her right arm around Elizabeth's figure and brought her daughter closer as she fixed her eyes on the baby who was protected on her mother's left arm. "Two boys…twins."_

_"Wow, that's awesome," Howard said. "Were you two planning it? I don't remember you talking about it before."_

_"Surprisingly, we weren't planning anything. While myself and Peter knew that we would probably want another child in the future, we never talked about it recently." She explained._

_"That's quite the surprise then." Miranda spoke._

_Gwen grinned. "You have no idea." She looked down at the sleepy baby on her arms. "Kate's already sleeping; her father's traits are already kicking in." She teased._

_Howard narrowed his eyes at his sister, "Hey!"_

* * *

**Present Day**

"You were drooling all over my daughter, though." Howard chuckled, weakly.

Gwen smiled and stated proudly, "And I'm not ashamed, I have to be the best and coolest Auntie ever."

"Yeah, and I think that you've accomplished that."

"Thank you," Gwen leaned down and kissed his forehead, softly. "If you need anything, ask for me or Peter, get some rest, okay?"

"I will." He nodded, squeezing his sister's hand gently.

Gwen stood up and moved herself next to Peter as he patted Howard's shoulders and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'll give you my word; you'll be seeing your daughter again."

"Thanks, Pete." Howard smiled back, trusting his brother in law's words. He knew what Peter is capable of, and he was damn sure that he's essential for their victory over Ultron and his army, he would succeed, he always did.

* * *

**Sorovia - Eastern Europe**

Ultron carefully landed on the destroyed asphalt and stopped behind a platoon of drones who were assuming a guarding position. He calmly walked past them, gently moving some units by the shoulders to the side, giving him a straight passage to his objective.

He saw a line of captured soldiers in front of hill, all unharmed, some heavily injured, and behind each soldier, there was a single drone guarding each of them. They were being kept alive for interrogation, as Ultron demanded. Critical information about their allies and plans aren't going to be wasted.

Ultron used his red glowing eyes to analyse each one of the captured group, before speaking, "You'll know why you're here, after all, your wars always included this same method," He paced, "Your end is inevitable, but I'll make it come sooner than later if collaboration is present." He paused, waiting for a potential response, but it never came.

Ultron sighed and continued, "Your government fell, your heroes fell, and your army is soon going to be exterminated, there won't be anything left. There's absolutely no reason to continue this."

A scoff was heard. One of the soldiers looked up at Ultron's direction and said, "Just what I needed, a machine telling me what to do." He muttered.

"Computers have been doing that for years now, what's the problem?" Ultron inquired calmly.

"You... you remind me of a guy...Stark. Same arrogant attitude, but at least he collaborated with us when needed. You're nothing than a cheap knock off." He affirmed.

Ultron exclaimed angrily, "Don't compare me with Stark! He's a sickness!" He sighed, before taking one step closer. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I overreacted."

"Iron Man kind of does that when he wants attention."

"Well, do I look like the freaking Iron Man?" Ultron gestured to his own face. "Stark is nothing! I'm doing a favour to you all, something that Stark is incapable of achieving!"

"Killing everyone on sight?" He challenged.

Ultron chuckled. "You think I'm evil? Really…? That's a bummer." He sighed, before whispering to himself, "I'm offended to be honest."

"If we can't... The Avengers are going to finish you off, then all your nonsense will be over."

Ultron laughed. "I was designed, by them, to save the world. People used to look up at the sky and see hope. I'll take that away from you too." He turned to the left and shot one of the prisoners, instantly killing the fallen soldier. "By the way, that's killing everyone on sight. What I have in mind, is something much more meaningful than this. Or I would be no different from you all!"

The man was shocked at the sight of his companion now lying on the asphalt. "You're going to pay for that!" He tried to stood up if a cold and metallic hand from behind hadn't pressed him back to the ground.

Ultron raised his powered hand at the soldier's direction. "I'm already paying for your specie's future."

* * *

Peter returned to his room and strolled through the door. At the closet he saw Gwen in white lace lingerie made of diaphanous material. Her clothes were on the bed and she was rummaging through her part of the closet.

Peter headed over and smiled amused, "And what are we up to?"

Gwen glanced at him with a playful smirk, "I'm just looking for my sport outfit, underwear, and I'm going to head down and exercise. Do you want to join?" She added sultry, "A warm shower after cardio is always nice."

Peter approached her and hugged her from behind, wrapping his arms around her. He said downcast, "Sorry, Steve is teaching Flash some close quarters moves. But if you want to train to with us, go ahead."

Gwen turned her body slightly to look at him despondent; she had to postpone her daily exercising.

"Well, that's too bad." She teased, "I wanted to steal you for a while."

Peter teased back, "You're impossible."

"I have my needs," Gwen said coyly.

"I know you do," Peter smiled.

One of Peter's hands roamed her body a bit, caressing her toned stomach before he touched the diaphanous waistline of her thong and Gwen shivered with delight and beamed.

Peter raised an eyebrow and prodded, "Something wrong?"

Gwen smiled again and shook her head, "No, far from it I'm just enjoying looking at you. You're easy on the eyes, Peter."

Peter beamed, "Oh, well, thank you Miss Gwendy…Flatterer."

Her fingers subtly drew circles on his abs and she smiled slyly, "Hmm, yes. You know, I've been thinking-"

With a grin Peter cut her words short and pressed his lips to hers. Without any resistance from Gwen his tongue pushed its way into her mouth, exploring her tongue, sucking on it. He could feel her melt in his arms as her tongue responded and slid over his as they explored each other in the kiss. A soft content moan of appreciation slipped from Gwen while her hand slowly inched under the waistline of his trousers and explored while one of Peter's hands slipped under her blouse and travelled upwards as he gently caressed her skin. They both loved their physical affection and intimacy, they both loved making out and exploring their bodies even if it didn't lead to something more energetic, it was a way for them to express their desire for each other.

Gwen cut the kiss short; their breathing was a little ragged. She faux chastised peering into his beautiful eyes, "Dork, it's very rude doing that."

Peter smiled amorously, "I can't keep away." He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her close.

"And you're lucky I allow access," Gwen teased. She removed her hand and wrapped herself around his neck.

"I thought that was a mutual agreement," Peter pondered amused. "You have free access as well."

She countered faux arrogant, "Well, Gwen Stacy Parker is in charge of this relationship. A Goddess takes what she wants when she wants it. I don't need permission."

"I'm just catering towards your ego. I've figured you out, you know, my beautiful, and possessive woman," Peter taunted with a smirk.

Gwen frowned defensively, "You just don't figure out a woman, especially me!"

Peter chuckled. "You are addicted to lace, aren't you?" Peter smiled and looked down her cleavage.

"Pervert," Gwen said knowingly where his eyes were. She kissed his cheek and purred seductively, "I love thin lace. I love that sensuous feeling, and it's much more comfortable if you ask me."

"And you like being sensuous, don't you," Peter grinned and planted a few kisses on her shoulder.

"Sometimes…" Gwen affirmed wantonly. She turned in his embrace and placed her arms around his neck with an alluring smile as she pressed her body to his. She touched his shoulders and necked lovingly.

Peter kissed her lips and his hands wandered her back and butt, caressing and exploring her soft skin. He smiled as he looked into her gorgeous green eyes, "I was thinking we could later watch a film as neither of us will have anything to do."

"A movie…?" Gwen asked curiously.

Peter moved away his face just a bit and nodded, "Yes. I'll reverse the imager on the glass case so it faces the bed and we can snuggle and munch on some popcorn for some downtime."

"I'd like that," Gwen smiled. "What film?" She scoffed, "And not Fast and Furious again."

"Nope," Peter assured. He baited teasingly, "It's an old film I loved as a child. It takes a few pages from Hamlet, and that's all I'm saying."

"I love Hamlet," Gwen beamed. Then she frowned suspiciously and asked, "Hamlet? A young Peter Parker…? Not a combination I would have entertained."

Peter raised an eyebrow and said faux offended, "That's very presumptuous of you."

"I know you very well to know you and classics don't match even if I've tried to cultivate you," Gwen said snarky.

"I feel so loved by you, Mrs Parker," Peter deadpanned.

"And you should consider yourself lucky that you are," Gwen declared with a grin.

Peter chuckled and kissed her lips, "You are so adorably hot."

Gwen nodded with exaggerated enthusiasm, "It's not easy, you know, being adorable hot. It takes discipline and years of training. A lot of people don't appreciate that." Gwen beamed, "Thank you."

Peter chuckled and kissed her lips again, "You're welcome. I have some stuff to do, I'll head down and make some popcorn and be right with you when possible. "

"Good," Gwen smiled and amorously returned the kiss. She enjoyed their teasing banter.

"Want anything to drink?"

Gwen shrugged, "Ice water will balance out the salt."

"Okay." Peter quickly kissed her soft lips. He released her and gave Gwen and her lingerie an appreciative look as she smiled at the special attention.

Peter left, but before heading up the door, he detoured quickly to the light controls on the wall and set it a soft mood light. "I'll come to you soon."

* * *

"Peter, what can I do for you?" Adams turned on his chair as he noticed the person who trusts him to keep his secret identity safe stepping inside of the infirmary.

Peter rubbed the back of his neck as the doors behind him automatically closed. Flash had told him to pay Adams a visit and talk about his condition, easier said than done. He leaned his back against the wall and spoke, "Doc, can this stay only between us?"

"Of course," He nodded and crossed his arms. "What's it?"

Peter sighed. He didn't want to get through a whole battery of medical exams just because of some bruises here and there; still, his friends were getting worried. He had to overcome his natural stubbornness, for his own sake.

"Recently, I feel that my body is betraying me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I'm doing some activities, I feel dizzy...weak," Peter explained. "As you know, I'm genetically modified because of my father's work, and one of the benefits is that I don't get tired easily."

Adams frowned, thinking. "I see," He paused. "Do you know when those situations are most likely to occur? Any patterns…?"

"Yeah, most of the time, when I'm using my powers," Peter replied.

"Have this ever occurred before?"

"Now that you mention... Do you remember that time when I wore the black suit?" Adams nodded. "I had that same sensation, that's why I took it off. I was supposed to get better, and I did, now this..." He sighed.

"I can't really come up with a diagnostic right now; it seems your body is doing this to itself, without an external reason." Adams said, "I'll do some blood tests and I'm going to take a look at your suit's physicals readings if it's no trouble."

Peter nodded. "Sure, thank you, Doc. Anything else?"

"If you ask, could you bring a hot coffee to me?"

* * *

Peter took his seat next to Steve and close to the rather large circular table made of glass at the meeting room. Most of his teammates were already there and localized in their respective seats, just waiting for Tony who was standing in front of the table as he glanced the huge holographic panel in front of them.

Peter asked, "Where Pietro and Wanda are?"

Steve replied, "I don't know if they really are with us."

"It's complicated," Tony turned on his back and continued, 'They think I was responsible for their father's death in Pragia."

"Are you?" Thor questioned from his seat.

Tony shook his head. "Someone smuggled Stark's Industries missiles and used for the terrorist attack. It wasn't my fault."

"But you created those missiles." Thor affirmed.

"For the government, to help them to finish wars," He stated. "That's why I created the initials drones, to keep people safe, but Ultron... he was the ultimate solution, a peacemaker. I tried to give people peace through technology, improve their lives, and give them safety. The scepter was the key to conclude my job."

Natasha smiled, sarcastically. "Well, you did a wonderful job."

Bruce interjected, "I was part of Ultron's creation, we shared the same vision about this, progress can't be stopped, sooner or later, someone would create something equivalent to Ultron, with bad intentions, and if someone has to use technology as a way of achieving peace, that person is you, don't blame yourself for everything that's happening. This is a mistake, and it won't ever happen again."

Peter was conflicted, while the creation of Ultron was their fault, he couldn't help but agree with Banner, he couldn't condemn their actions, technology can improve people's lives, his own suit is part of that and he wasn't a hypocrite to deny the fact, on the other side, people can't be reckless with it, or else it will backfire, like Ultron did. The futures uncertain, but he knew that if they won the war, that's going to be a heated topic among people.

Tony stood calm. "I tried to create an armour around the world, no more aliens or wars. I know what I've done, and there isn't a single time when I'm not thinking about every family that I've destroyed. That's why we're here, to fix this." He turned to the panel behind him and showed the group some footage about an old Shield's helicarrier over Sorovias's city.

Peter deadpanned. "How...?"

"Ultron apparently has access to every single secret out there, and because of that, he found the carrier and is now using it as his mobile centre of command…His own castle." Tony explained as he crossed arms.

"And the Tesseract is there?" Steve asked.

"If the twins are telling us the truth, likely..." Tony said.

Peter spoke, "I believe in them, mostly in Wanda... Pietro is more problematic."

"Hothead…?" Natasha leaned on the table.

"Yep…." Peter nodded.

Steve sighed. That wasn't going to be easy. "So, what's our plan? It's the only lead that we got; we need to do something about it."

"And we will," Tony said, "We could launch an assault, the ground team is down on the streets, forcing Ultron to reallocate troops to fight them, while the other one infiltrate the carrier to recover the Tesseract and the scepter ." He suggested.

"We can't let the carrier intact, destroying it is going to be a massive win, who knows what's being kept there besides the Tesseract?"

Bruce intervened, "What if we carry a bomb to deploy at the carrier's core?"

"Too risky," Steve shook his head in disagreement. "Something can happen, causing the bomb to explode while we still are inside."

"The ground team can keep it while the infiltration team deals with Ultron and his forces on the ship." Peter added, "Better yet, we can have a third group to receive and deploy the bomb while we personally fight Ultron. This way, his forces won't be solely focused."

"Failure is not an option though," Natasha said. "We need someone capable of doing that while we distract Ultron."

"Noble team," Steve interjected. "I called them just in case; they're the most professional guys that we have."

Wanda and Pietro walked inside the room, "What about us?" She asked.

"That's up to you two." Steve replied.

Banner stated coldly, "Messing with people's minds isn't a good start."

"I could have killed Stark when he was alone months ago, your team was busy dealing with the Base's soldier, but I didn't."

"That now makes me comfortable." Tony chuckled sarcastically.

Wanda continued, "You guys have never been in our situation, we wanted justice for Stark's crimes, Hydra did this to me and Pietro, we volunteered because we wanted, we're not dumb." She crossed her arms. "I never knew Ultron's plans for mankind, I thought he just wanted to get you, Stark, and when I realized what he had in mind... it was too late."

"So, now what…?" Peter questioned. "Ultron's still a problem."

Steve spoke, "Tomorrow, it may be the day where this war will end, we get the Tesseract, and the scepter back. Are you two coming?" He looked up at the twins.

"I'm not sure I trust you all," Pietro replied. "In fact, how can I trust the guy who killed my father? That's reason why I have these powers, because of Hydra, because I would be able to handle you."

Wanda held his arm gently. "Pietro..."

Tony sighed. "Kid, I didn't kill your family."

"The bomb that dropped in our house had your name on it." Pietro stated, with piercing eyes.

"Not my fault, your country was in civil war, the US wasn't involved, someone smuggled it to your country. That person wasn't me." He argued back.

"We won't get anywhere if continue through this path; we need to work together. And you two, you can help us." Steve gave his advice.

Pietro and Wanda looked at each other's eyes, reaching a consensual decision. "Then what…?" She asked.

"Then you're part of this team, and Ultron will have two more persons to fear."

The twins stood in silence for a moment, before eventually nodding.

"This weapon you're building, its Hydra isn't it? Could you tell me truth about them?" Wanda took one step closer. Pietro followed her closely.

Steve nodded and said, "They worked in the shadows for years, shaping future, manipulating people, controlling information... innocents have died as they played their games. After the war, they became a radical group with radical methods. Always vanishing without a trace…" He explained.

"I see..." Wanda knew something about the organization, but at the time, she only seeks her personal goals, without caring about the rest and consequences.

"I'm glad you do. Is everyone ready to unplug Ultron's battery?" Tony inquired.

Steve smiled. "Well, I hadn't any plans for tomorrow anyways."

* * *

Later in the evening Peter had found Flash at his quarters and both friends had headed over to the bar in the lounge, accompanied by his boys, it had been some time since they both had taken time to drink a few beers and just talk.

"What can I get for you two?" Peter opened the fridge.

Aiden looked at his brother as they decided what they both wanted with a quick nod. "Can we get some soda?" Aiden inquired.

"You know that your mother wouldn't approve that for now."

David continued, "Please?"

Peter sighed. So much for following Gwen's desire, he had to be the super cool dad against the evil mother, maybe it was something defined by nature, he wondered.

"Just this time…" Peter grabbed two sodas.

"Yes!" Aiden cheered.

"And don't tell your mother." He opened the tin can with his finger and handed it to his boy's grasp.

"We won't." David grinned.

He knelled down on the floor. "Now give me a strong hug."

The twins giggled and did as demanded, hugging their father as he hugged them back. They parted and Peter stood up as the twins made their ways into the couch, ready to watch some DVDs they had found.

Flash took a seat on a bar stool and quipped, "Get me something of the hard stuff, will you super daddy bartender?"

Peter chuckled, "Something specific, sir?"

"Horosk…"

"What's that?" Peter asked and turned to the large shelf of booze behind the counter.

"Oh, if you could drink it you'd love it. That will knock you out cold if you aren't careful."

Peter shook his head, the bottles were luckily arranged in alphabetical order and he saw no horosk, "Sorry friend, nothing like that here. You should have put in a requisition order."

"Hmph, I'll sneak out and buy some after we're done with this war, just get me some beer then."

"Coming right up," Peter said and fetched his friend beer bottle. He turned to the counter and found a bottle opener and opened it before handing the bottle to Flash.

"Thanks."

Peter grabbed a bottle of beer as well, and turned to the counter.

"Hand me that stool," Peter said and put away his bottle.

Flash rose up and lifted the bar stool next to him over the counter. Peter grabbed it and sat it down on his side in front of Flash.

Flash mused as his friend sat down, "One hell of a month... Wanda, allying Thor's people with us and now planning the Tesseract's retrieval…"

"Don't forget Pietro," Peter pointed out and opened his bottle and took a sip from it.

"Think he'll be part of it?"

"I don't know."

"Too bad," Flash said and drank some beer before he sighed, "We lost some good friends. We're not coming out of this war unscathed, Pete."

He nodded slowly and drank some, "I know."

"But it doesn't look nearly as grim now with reinforcement, sure the war is messy, but Thor's army helps. Hope it'll do some good, even with politicians involved."

"Yeah…We have the Breach being built, but it's a long way until the end of the tunnel."

Flash nodded, "Indeed." He continued bothered, "In my army days, the only time I mixed with politicians was when I was under their orders."

"A lot of corrupt politicians…?"

"You have no idea," Flash murmured.

"It's always going to be like that, no society is void of corruption. Some places might be less corrupt than others."

"I get that," He took a sip, "And this brings something that I always wanted to ask you."

"What's it?"

"We have our values and principles, but for how long can we keep on them?" He paused. "Back at Afghanistan, we're little because most troops were moving back to home by the time, but I did some stuff... that I'm not very proud of."

"You do what you've to do, Flash."

Flash looked up, seeing that his old friend had indeed changed since the war started. He seemed colder. "What's the worse situation that you have been through? That's if you don't mind me asking, of course."

"When Harry took Gwen away from me, Harry wasn't just a simple guy that I could easily defeat, and then he dropped Gwen down and..." Peter stopped, remembering the night like if it was yesterday. "There wasn't time to think, just act."

"Harry was your friend if I recall, would you... kill him in order to save Gwen?"

Peter widened his eyes at Flash's question, remembering not so pleasant memories.

"That's not an easy question, Harry will always be my friend, he wasn't himself in that night, but if there wasn't any other option... Yes, I would," Peter replied. "That's not an easy thing to do, it can break you if you let it. I still can't forgive myself for... you know, but.. Its that or letting someone else I care getting hurt."

"I see... I know how important Gwen is to you, makes sense."

"Again, I would try to find the best solution." He clarified.

"No argument there." Flash quipped, "So you're not with Gwen tonight? What gives?"

Peter chuckled, "She actually mentioned earlier before we went our separate ways that she wanted an evening with some lit candles and a bottle of wine…but I made plans with you before she could voice them, we're going to watch a movie later."

"So you're stuck with me for now."

Peter chuckled, "You know what I mean. I have work to do, and you have to do better than 'what's what' to make me abandon it."

"So…that 'work' is that metaphor for someone special?" Flash teased drinking the last of his beer.

Peter smiled. "Well, in all fairness I'm stuck with your ugly face for a while so I've to spend some quality time with Gwen when possible, despite everything going on, we still are a married couple."

"What a lover boy."

* * *

"It looks like we have a little intruder in mommy's bed." Gwen smiled as she approached her bed and saw Aiden lying on her side of the bed, already wearing his blue pyjamas.

"Hi!" Aiden smiled happily.

She kicked off her slippers and lied down on her side of the bed and next to Aiden as she wrapped her arms around him while Aiden rested his head next to her mother's neck.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Gwen kissed the top of his brown hair and caressed the soft skin of his stomach.

Aiden touched Gwen's neck with his small fingers. "I couldn't sleep."

"Why's that?'

"I don't know, it just never came. Liz and Dave were sleeping and I felt alone." He confessed.

"Well, I'm here now." She turned off the lamp, trying to make her son sleep peacefully. She embraced him again as she stroked his soft hair.

For a moment, he closed his eyes and slowly drifted into sleep on his mother's safe arms, but it didn't long once he remembered something that was on his mind. "Mommy…?"

"Hm...?"

"When are going to get back to our house again?" Aiden asked innocently.

"Soon, sweetie, daddy's working on that." Gwen moved her right hand underneath his shirt and caressed his back reassuringly.

"Okay," He hugged her neck. "I love you."

Gwen smiled kindly and brought him even more closely to her. "I love you too." She kissed the top of his head. "Close your eyes, rest, I'll be here, my big boy."

The minutes ticked by and the door opened on the other end and Peter returned with a tray in his hands with a plastic bowl filled with heated popcorn. There was a carafe of water and two glasses as well. He approached the office desk and placed the tray on the table as he booted up the computer and made several changes to the settings; the computer's monitor was extended to the glass wall and properly inverted to face the bed.

Peter walked towards the bed and saw his wife and son wrapped in each other arms and under the sheets. He sat next to Gwen and gently squeezed her shoulder, being careful to not abruptly wake her. She opened her eyes and slowly turned to her husband's side, giving him a genuinely smile.

"What are you doing with another guy in our bed?" Peter kissed her lips.

Gwen chuckled softly and replied, "Aiden couldn't sleep so he came here while I was taking a shower."

He nodded and caressed her cheek with his thumb. "Should I bring him to his bed? We can always watch the movie some other day."

"It's fine." She removed her arms from Aiden and lay on her back. "I wasn't really sleeping, just taking a nap while you were out. We should watch it."

"Alrighty…" Peter stood up and carefully retrieved his fast asleep son from their bed as Aiden instinctively rested his head on his father's shoulder. He gave her a wink and walked away, heading towards the door with their child on his arms.

* * *

Some minutes later, Peter finally arrived back to their bedroom. He set up the media player on his desk to fill the holographic screen in front of the bed and loaded the video.

"This should be interesting," Gwen pondered as Peter walked down the steps. "You're very secretive."

Peter assured, "It's nothing dangerous, you know." He placed the tray on the night stand and sat down on the bed and removed his shoes.

"I think so."

Peter lied down next to Gwen and now she smiled happily as she snuggled close. Peter wrapped an arm under the curvature of her body. He reached for the bowl of popcorn and placed it between them.

Gwen sighed content, "This was a good idea, relax a bit and just be together."

"I know," Peter said and kissed her cheek.

They watched the screen which was black and slowly faded in as an African chant filled the speakers in the room and a sun rose over an African grassland. The sky was coloured red with sparse clouds. A group of native African voices joined the solo voice.

Gwen frowned, "Didn't you say something about Hamlet? Hamlet takes place in Denmark."

Peter simpered, "I said the film had taken inspiration from Hamlet. Not that it was Hamlet."

"Uh-huh," Gwen uttered trite.

There were quick shots of African animals reacting to the song, they watched the sun rise. A rhino turned around, several topis did as well, a group of meercats gathered in the grass and a cheetah scaled a hill. Several marabou storks strolled through the banks of a river and another entered the frame and took to the skies and several flew over a majestic waterfall.

Once again Gwen grimaced; this was not a live-action film. Instead it was an animated film.

Gwen was confused, "We're watching an animated vid?" Her frown deepened.

Peter was indignant, his childhood was apparently insulted, "This is a classic, woman."

Gwen glanced at Peter and narrowed her eyes, "Citizen Kane is a classic. Gone With the Wind is a classic."

"Stop," Peter shushed her. "We're reliving my childhood. Eat some popcorn and be quiet." He grabbed a handful of popcorn and munched on.

Gwen shook her head before she pillowed it on his shoulder. The saving grace was to cuddle with her Peter.

For the next hour and a half the film continued on and Gwen softened and was amused by it and let the story take her on the journey of laughter, tragedy and triumph while she gladly munched on popcorn with Peter. She enjoyed herself and appreciated what Peter had wished to do; for both to be carefree and for Gwen to have a silly moment of respite watching an animated film, but just being a regular married couple was something she desired despite the war and its ramifications.

Finally the end credits rolled and some sappy romantic song played over it.

That song is probably right up Peter's alley, Gwen mused.

She turned a bit to face Peter and looked into his eyes, the bowl had been emptied during the film and stood on the nightstand and Gwen could reach out to Peter. She unbuttoned a few buttons on his shirt and slipped a hand in underneath and caressed his abdomen. She felt a pang of regret at her initial reactions to the film. She kissed his lips.

"I didn't mean to bash the movie, I was just surprised." Gwen apologized sincerely.

Peter shrugged, "It's alright." He smiled, "You seemed to enjoy the film after all."

"I did," Gwen smiled. "And the time we spent watching it. A film from your childhood you said?"

Peter's eyes sparkled joyful, "Yeah, I loved it – and still do. I've watched it over and over again, never get tired of it."

Gwen smiled at his high spirits, it was infectious.

Peter was happy his plan had worked and squeezed her body and beamed, "And this is not the only time we're going to watch it. Plus I have a whole library of all sorts of films I watched as a child or teenager that we're going to watch someday."

"Sounds like a great idea, Peter," Gwen said softly and kissed him which he gladly reciprocated as their tongues met and slid across each other in a deep and sensuous kiss as she sat on his lap and wrapped both arms around his neck.

Eventually, Peter broke the kiss and stared her green eyes. "What are you doing?" He asked, snaking his arms around her waist and slipping his hand under her blouse, caressing the smooth skin of her back.

"Absolutely nothing..." She replied, innocently.

He chuckled, before quickly kissed her warm lips again. "There will be an operation tomorrow."

"What kind of operation?" Gwen inquired.

"To retrieve the Tesseract…Ultron activated one of Shield's flying stations, it's enormous, and it's now stationed in one of the cities in Eastern Europe, the Tesseract is being kept there." He explained.

"Are you going?" She moved her fingers to his cheek.

"You know I have to." He tightened his grip over her.

Gwen touched her forehead with his and closed her eyes. "I know." She said softly.

Peter sighed as he closed his eyes at the intimate touch. "I'm not a man of making promises, but I'll do my best..." He cupped her cheek. "...to get back to you."

She whispered softly, "I'll hold you on that. There's so many things that I still want to do with you, so many things that I want to experience with you at my side. I refuse to believe that this is the end of our lives.

Peter held some incoming tears back. He just leaned his lips closer to her and slowly kissed them, savouring her taste, appreciating the passionate moment with the woman of his life, the only woman that ever knew how it is to be loved by Peter Parker, and how to love him, a nerdy, responsible, father and guardian of the needed, a man who wouldn't stop at nothing to simply save a cat from falling down from a tree, or to save the fate of the whole human race. It was an angel…Gwen's angel.

They parted and stared at each other's eyes. He moved a lock of her golden hair behind her ear and spoke gently, "It isn't, this is just a temporary obstacle in our lives, our family won't be destroyed because of it, and I won't allow it."

Peter hugged her again. She buried her face next to his neck and rested her right hand on his left shoulder, taking comfort on his presence. Peter pulled the bed sheets up and over them, covering their warm bodies as he turned the lamp off. It didn't take long to Peter feel a single tear drop on his shirt. He kissed the top of her hair. There wasn't anything to say, being wrapped in each other arms, in the silence and darkness of their temporarily bedroom, was enough for them, Spider-Man and his own protector.

The both stood in silence, safe in each other's arms, and slowly drifted to sleep, without heroes, enemies, and promises… Just them.

* * *

Waking slowly, but surely, Peter sighed. Eventually giving in to his body's needs, he opened his eyes and turned his head to the beautiful woman besides him.

Gwen was sleeping soundly next to him. Her soft breathing sounds whispered into his ear. Her arm was draped across his chest and one of her bare legs was entangled around one of his own. The blanket had dropped low enough to see the top of her chest. Her hair was mussed attractively and it seemed like she had a small smile on her face, like always.

She looked beautiful.

Turning slightly, his hand found the way to her thigh and caressed her smooth flesh. He briefly indulged himself with the soft feeling of her skin and was rewarded with a contented moan from his wife.

Looking over her shoulder, he read the time off the clock on her bedside table and knew that he needed to get up and get ready for the incoming missing. As much as he wanted to stay in bed and lounge, there's still a war happening.

Peter carefully slipped away from her arms and brought the sheets close to her neck. He sat on the edge of the bed and brought his hands to his face, sighing. The next mission wasn't a simple one, an assault towards one of Ultron's most security bases, recovering the Tesseract is trivial or else everything was lost.

He stood up and silently walked through the darkness of their bedroom and towards the bathroom. He opened the sink's faucet and filled his hands with cold water and then proceed to slowly clean his face as he stared his own figure through the mirror's reflection, marks of war could be seen on his body, tiny scars, bruises and purple stains on his skin, his advanced healing could do wonders when compared to the average human, but it's impossible to make a miracle happen, he's still a mere mortal.

_The world is different now. The old rules no longer apply._

Peter returned back to the bedroom and quickly checked on Gwen who still was peacefully sleeping on their bed, resting a hand where his torso was supposed to be, while nuzzling his pillow. He smiled and reached for his part of the closet, grabbing the chest area of his now loosen and inactivated Spider-Man suit and proceeded to wear each piece of the armour.

_So much pain…So many lives._

Peter holds his mask with both of his hands, feeling the now soft material, and gazing Spider-Man's golden eyes, a tool for achieving a better future. He turned around and walked towards Gwen's side of the bed and slowly sat next to her.

_This darkness must end._

Feeling only slightly guilty, he met Gwen's lips and gave her a soft kiss to wake her up.

She sighed contentedly and sleepily returned the gesture before pulling away and opening her eyes. "Hi."

"Hi, mommy..."

"Is it morning?"

"Very, very morning," Peter answered as he yawned. "How's my girl?"

Gwen smiled. "I'm good, thank you, honey." She replied and stretched languidly.

He took the time to admire her form as the sheets fell away, reveal more of her white underwear's glory.

Noticing his stare, she smirked and propped her arm on the pillow and rested her head on her hand as she presented herself to him. "See something you like?"

He shook his lustful thoughts away. "I do, but I need to get up, unfortunately."

"I can see that," Gwen roamed his 'Iron Spider', as it was called, suit with her eyes, seeing her husband ready for whatever danger that crosses path him.

"Yeah," He nodded with a shy smile. "You know, my Uncle once said that you're pretty."

"I think you mentioned it before." Gwen said. "I wish I could've got to know him better."

"He's the best." Peter chuckled. "But I disagree with his opinion, though."

Gwen gave him a cold glare, causing her husband to grin.

"You're gorgeous," He leaned closer for a quick kiss which Gwen happily reciprocated. "When we go back home, I'm going to make you the best dinner ever, just you and me." He said as they parted.

Gwen smiled affectionately. "That might be a little difficult when you have kids, but it's a lovely plan."

"I'm sure the grandmas aren't going to refuse to spend an energetic night with them."

Gwen chuckled at the very plausible situation and gazed is brown eyes. The smiled disappeared and she eventually looked moved her gaze away from her husband, remembering that such moment could not happen due to the current events.

"Don't think about it," He kissed her hair. "I'll be back before you know it; get some rest. Tell the kids that I'll tingle them again if they decide to not leave their bedrooms." He placed his left on her cheek.

"I will." She kissed his palm.

"See you soon," Peter kissed her lips again and stood up, not delaying his departure any further. He unlocked the door and moved his mask down his face as he stepped outside, leaving Gwen in the darkness of their bedroom as she covered herself with the bed covers, and resting her head on his pillow.

* * *

**3 Hours Later**

Spider-Man approached Clint's chair from behind in the cockpit. He was fully armoured, and ready for action.

"It's approaching the city. The helicarrier is ten minutes away though." Clint informed.

Sorovia was seen in front of them, rapidly growing in the view screens. Even from this distance immense balls of fire could be seen, showing vast cities being annihilated by the Ultron's forces.

"Keep up; we're going to need you for the extraction." He patted his shoulder.

Spider-Man turned on his back and saw the rest infiltration team's member, Natasha, Flash, Steve and the famous four members of the Noble Team who were sat on the seats on the right side of the shuttle's bulk.

_"C'mon, Matt, tell him." _One of the members sat next to Matt whispered as he elbowed his teammate. The rest of the Noble team chuckled silently. _"He's here."_

Matt scoffed under his helmet. _"Keep quiet, Kaidan…" _He whispered back.

Natasha raised an eyebrow, before asking, "What's going on?"

"Nothing…" Matt replied in a professional tone. It wasn't every day when he got to work with Avengers. He didn't want to give them a bad impression.

Kaidan insisted, "Matt here, he's a very, very big fan of our -"

"Kaidan…!" Matt shrugged his shoulders and gave him a cold stare through his helmet's visor.

His partner raised his hands. "Right, I'm not sayin' a word anymore."

Another member of the group interjected, "Matt's a big fan of you, Spider-Man, even his boy and girl share this obsession. You got a fangirl over here." He chuckled as he leaned his back on the seat, avoiding Matt's glare.

Peter smiled under his mask. "Really…?"

Matt scoffed, shyly. "Yeah..."

_"Peter's becoming popular, eh?" _Tony joked through the private comm since he was flying outside.

Peter ignored his tease. "Well... that's cool."

"Tell me about it." Kaidan laughed again. "He's still mad because your movie never happened."

"Not really," Matt replied. "They would probably come up with a story that wouldn't do Spider-Man justice -" He stopped, proving his friend's point about his obsession with the masked hero.

The group chuckled as the mood was lightened, something that Peter always managed to achieve regardless of the moment's situation.

"I agree with you," Peter nodded. "I'll tell you this; we get this done, and I'll tell you some stuff about me."

"Wow - really?"

Peter chuckled. "Yup..."

"Oh man, now we're going -" Matt was interrupted as the ship's bulk trembled.

"We're being under heavy fire," Clint informed from the cockpit. "Time to jump, guys..."

The ship's back entrance was open, showing the group the enormous flying carrier's parking zone which was occupied with Ultron's drones

Steve undid his seatbelt and stood up. He placed his shield on his back. "Remember, no bad language in the comm." He ran towards the exit and jumped out from the ship.

Spider-Man cocked his head at Natasha's figure. "Did he have his parachute?"

Natasha grinned. "He does that all the time."

Spider-Man stretched his shoulders. "Ladies first…?"

"You could take some heavy fire for me, though." She replied.

He nodded. "Always a pleasure..." He took a step forward and ran towards the bridge's edge as he repeated Rogers' past movements, evading the incoming blasts by swooping his body on the air as the distance between him and the carrier's was shortened.

* * *

Gwen let out a frustrated sigh as the doors of their bedroom closed. She needed someone to talk to. She needed to vent her frustrations. She didn't have many friends right now did she? Peter was her confidant, whenever she needed to talk he was there for her, and she loved him for that. But now Gwen needed somebody else.

She activated Peter's laptop and quickly sent a message to MJ.

_Maybe she can't even talk, busy with work perhaps._

The minutes ticked by and Gwen had given up hope to talk to her friend but a sudden beep was heard from the laptop and the screen lit up.

Gwen opened the message and smiled heartfelt. Yes, MJ had time for her oldest friend.

* * *

Mary Jane was sitting on her bed in her room. There were a couple of dozen refugee centers dotted around the installation. MJ herself worked at one of those run by the local government.

With a day off MJ had planned to take it easy for most of that day. Working day was between eight and twelve hours and after that a individual had to plan the rest of the day accordingly so he or she could get some free time after work and still would get enough sleep to work for the next shift.

For most of the day MJ had been glued at the news, she as everyone else had heard about the assault. She had also heard that the Avengers had arrived on scene and she had no doubt Peter and Flash and his team had saved the day. That her Gwen had survived alone for a brief time made her equally proud and scared. She had no doubt Gwen was a capable woman, but even the thought that Gwen could get hurt - or worse - sent a dreadful feeling through her body. MJ had confidence in her best friend's ever so sexy Spider-Man that Gwen would be alright.

MJ had been in the shower when the message from Gwen came, and she had been delighted to hear from her again. They kept in touch with e-mails but MJ preferred to talk to Gwen whenever possible. She had wrapped a soft robe around her body and leaned back on the pillows with her laptop in her lap. She had started the vid-chat program and was waiting for the connection to establish with Gwen.

A few moments later a connection had been established and MJ could see who she considered to be her older sister on the laptop.

"Hey Gwendy," MJ exclaimed joyous and relieved.

"_Hey MJ..."_ Gwen replied happily through the laptop's speakers. _"I hope I don't disturb you."_

"Never, if I'm not working I'll always have time." MJ said giddy.

_"And I as well…Don't ever hesitate to call."_

MJ teased, "But what if you're preoccupied with Spider-Sexy what then?"

Gwen cleared her throat, _"Well, if I'm busy - regardless of what that might be - I'll call you afterwards."_

"How is the family?" She asked.

_"We're managing, I was with Howard a few hours ago, the kids are with Flash now, and Peter... Well, I can't really tell what he's doing right now, it's not that I don't want to, but it's a matter of confidentiality."_

"Oh, I get it, what about Flash? Is he doing well?"

"Yep…When he's close to Peter, they're pretty happy. In fact, he's teaching the kids how to make an origami. Aiden just recently brought one to me, a flower." Gwen smiled.

"Aw, your kids are so sweet, Gwen!"

_"That they are. You give them love, and you'll receive love. While I wanted to be a mother someday, the thought always made me nervous, didn't know how good I would be at it."_

MJ laughed, "You're one awesome mom. I still remember when you're preparing yourself for the wedding. Isn't it crazy how time flies."

_"I know, I've been thinking about that too. So many things have happened in our lives, but I've been living a good life, accomplished the majority of things that I wanted, being a supportive wife, built and family, and now I'm here."_

MJ teased, "You're old."

Gwen narrowed her eyes at her friend. _"I'm not old! Just because you're one year younger, doesn't mean anything."_

"I was just joking, you're still gorgeous." She giggled.

Gwen smiled.

"So what can I do for you?"

Gwen sighed and shook her head, _"Ugh. It's about Peter."_

"What's going on? He's treating you right I hope."

_"Yes of course, always. But...I just caught some woman gossiping about him when I was having breakfast."_

"About?"

_"You know."_ She shrugged her shoulders.

"You're jealous!"

_"I'm not jealous."_ Gwen replied coldly.

"Yes, you are. You're super possessive." MJ teased.

_"Whatever, I'm possessive; he's my property, and nobody else's." _Gwen stated.

MJ snorted, "You're mad? You should be used to this kind of harassment by now. I mean - your husband is the freaking Spider-Man! The world's most sexy hero…!"

Gwen scoffed. _"She doesn't know who he is though. Peter only appears without his mask when close to people he trusts. I'm just annoyed that with everything going on, people are wondering if they can bed him instead of focusing on the war."_

"True. Is she pretty?"

Gwen shook her head, _"Not even the slightest." _She quipped_, "And I've a curvier body than hers so that's 1 million points in my favour."_

MJ giggled, "Well, that's something Gwendy."

_"I just needed to get this off my chest. Talk to someone and forget about this whole war for a brief moment. Peter is out and I can't really tell the kids this kind of stuff, you know?"_

"Of course, I get you, I would be somewhat annoyed if the same often happened with Flash." MJ asserted with a sly smile, "And he better be with you for more things than your body."

Gwen giggled, _"I assure you he's invested in me and that's not only because of my assets. Hello? Nine years of marriage?"_

MJ nodded pleased, "Good."

Gwen reassured with a smile, _"We have our ups and downs, but truth to be told, it's very good between Peter and me. Always have been, thank god we have a good communication."_

"Oh? Care to explain?" MJ pushed as her face lit up by a curious smile as her best friend seemed to have lightened up a bit after venting her frustrations.

Gwen smiled heartfelt and was silent for a moment before she said, _"Peter told me he was searching for the perfect house for our family to settle down after the war is over. Away from the city's problems, so we can spend the rest of our lives there. He says he's joking, but I think that he wants another child."_

MJ squealed in glee and then covered her mouth with her hands

Gwen's cheeks flushed red despite her makeup.

MJ was ecstatic and dropped her hands and exclaimed "Oh my god this is amazing!"

Gwen nodded_, "I told him I love what he was doing, and I want that as well."_

MJ smiled coyly, "You never told me what you love about him."

Gwen chuckled, _"Well…he is focused, sweet, determined, funny and very capable."_ Her smile got wider, _"He's tall... sexy, mainly and quite handsome."_

MJ smiled happily for her friend and exclaimed, "This is so great! You two are born to each other. I always knew."

Gwen smiled but was still blushing a little, _"Well-"_

"But you are telling me this now?" MJ complained playfully. "You can't sit on things like this without telling me! That's not fair Gwendy!"

Gwen teased, _"Oh, I think it's very fair MJ."_

MJ huffed playfully, "I think you should make amends and tell me something hotter from your relationship."

Gwen shook her head_, "No, I don't think so."_

"Yes," MJ pushed. "We're like sisters! C'mon! We have to share this kind of stuff."

Gwen chuckled, _"Maybe. But you don't tell me yours either, I don't even asked you though, it's only fair."_

"Gwendy…" MJ complained and pouted. "Why do I sense that's your doing?"

Gwen flashed a victorious smile, _"I have to respect my husband's needs for privacy. But I'll tell you this: he's pretty amazing."_

She chuckled and asked casually, trying not to seem overzealous, "So…when can I talk to the boys?"

_"Well… Flash and Peter have been pretty busy recently, I guess it can be arranged,"_ Gwen said friendly.

MJ exclaimed happily, "Great! Promise me that the next time we vid-chat that you'll have them with you."

Gwen chuckled, _"Alright, I promise."_

"And Gwendy, don't wait too long," MJ implored.

_"When time permits we'll chat again and they will be present."_

MJ nodded approvingly. She asked, "So what will you do later?" Not every conversation needed to be about her friend's relationship.

_"Well, nothing fun sadly. I'm just waiting for Peter to come back, I miss him already. I asked Tony to give me some task. I'll oversee the restocking of the base with food and other supplies, and maybe some medical support if needed. "_

"Doesn't Peter do anything besides saving the world?" MJ asked teasingly.

Gwen smiled, _"He does, but my personal job is to assist him. He has a lot on his plate and if I can lessen some of his work he can focus on other things. So you were free from work today?"_

"Yeah I was. What about you?"

_"In a way, I'm planning on just taking it easy, there's been a lot to do recently, and just relaxing will be my goal today. Speaking of relaxing, Tony wants to make a little reunion of friends before the final move, spend what could've been everyone's last time together."_

"Don't speak like that. It sounds great though; wish I could relax a bit." "MJ sighed. "Are you tired?"

Gwen nodded, _"A little, it's been a hectic day to say the least. But it seems we'll have at least one day with administrative chores which will actually be welcomed. I think an evening with some candle lights lit and some classical music in the background would set me at ease."_

"Sounds kind of romantic… just don't forget the wine," MJ said with a wink.

Gwen chuckled, _"I won't. The base is well stocked with all matters of spirits and some very good wines in the bar."_

"Lots of partying to blow some steam…?" MJ asked evenly.

_"Not really. The bar is open to anyone. But we all have our different ways with coping with the war."_

"Do you have any other establishments then a bar?"

_"Yes, the bar itself is located in a recreation room with couches a poker table. We also have a library on the other side of our floor where's everyone we know is pretty much established."_

"Wow."

_"Yeah, this was built in case of a nuclear attack and to protect the president as well, so that's why the 'wow'."_ She chuckled.

"Are there any good books in the library?" MJ asked curiously.

Gwen shrugged, _"Don't know actually. I haven't been at the library."_

"I've been re-reading Robinson Crusoe lately. Have you read it, sis?"

_"Yes, of course. But it was ten years ago last time. It's a good classic."_

"It is. I think you could go to the library and see if it's there; it was ten years ago since you read it."

Gwen smiled, _"Alright, I might do that. Look, MJ, I'll have to return to my upcoming duties, both professional and maternal, and I need some tea before I start working so I need to leave. But I loved talking to you and thanks for listening about...her."_

"No problem Gwendy... Write again soon."

_"I will, I promise. Bye MJ."_

"Bye!"

* * *

"This is taking damn too long." Ultron complained as he gazed the containment pod lying on the floor next to him. There was a mysterious dorment figure inside of it, not making a single move. A cable stuck on the back of Ultron's head connected him and the pod together. Before getting back to the carrier, he used Loki's scepter to force Dr. Helen Cho to use her synthetic tissue technology, vibranium, and the scepter's gem to create the perfect body for him.

_The most powerful substance on this planet, vibranium, was used to create a soldier's Frisbee. _Ultron thought.

"Can't this go any faster?" He asked.

"Negative." One of the many drones located inside the room replied.

Ultron scoffed. "Doc, when is this going to be completed?"

Helen Cho stood next to a computer and replied, "It's your basic consciousness, Information noise. Soon -"

"How soon…? I'm not being pushy." He assured.

"We're imprinting a physical brain. There are no short cuts." She informed.

Ultron mumbled, "Stupid Stark can't even build some decent technology."

Suddenly, the locked large gate which was the only main entrance to the commanding room was burst apart with Iron Man and his Avengers' teammates carefully stepping inside. _"Aw, junior, you're going to break your old man's heart."_

Ultron's drones were about to engage if Ultron himself hadn't raised his hand, signalling them to do the opposite and wait to see how the situation develops. Being brought to reality, the Doctor realized what she was doing, but she stood quiet, not wanting to anger Ultron while the Avengers don't secure the place.

"If I have to…" Ultron cocked his head at Iron Man and removed the cable from the back of his head, interrupting the transference.

"Nobody has to break anything," Thor stood next to the billionaire and intervened.

"Clearly you've never made an omelette." The machine's leader joked. He looked at the twins who just recently entered the room. "Ah, Pietro and Wanda, I wanted to apologize for our previous encounter, I've expressed myself in the wrong way. Silly me..."

"What about me?" Spider-Man asked, "You left me alive, honey."

"I see. I'm getting cocky." Ultron mused. "Well, not happening again." He chuckled. "But, hey, twins, can we be friends again, start fresh?"

"We're never friends." Wanda stated, closing her fists.

"So you ran to Tony? What if I told you that this whole ship was designed by him?"

_"This was never my life, Shield was infiltrated by Hydra, I wouldn't be surprised if they have stolen my technology when they're still active."_ Tony explained.

Pietro walked around them, "Oh, this is funny, and here I thought that I could trust you."

Steve interjected, "Pietro, please, give us a chance." He pleaded.

Ultron said disgusted, "Blah! Captain America, the god's righteous man, pretending to live without a war… I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but -"

"If you believe in peace, we should all start over." Thor affirmed.

Ultron took one step closer, "I think you're confusing peace with quiet."

_"Yeah…? What's in that pod? And where's the Tesseract?"_ Tony questioned inpatient.

"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan," A blue glowing light was now emerging in Ultron's hand. "Well, the short and cooler version is: you evolve...or you die!"

Ultron rapidly pointed his blue glowing hand at Iron Man's chest and used it to abruptly push him closer to his direction as he fired a red blast towards him, causing the billionaire to crash against the wall and land onto the floor. Drones suddenly appeared besides the other Avengers and engage them. Steve swung his shield around and quickly chopped one of the drone's head off and proceeded to deal with the others as Thor fought one in the air and Natasha abused of her melee attacks.

Spider-Man managed to jump at one of the flying drones as they both uncontrollably flied around the large room, exchanging punches as he tried to dominate the drone. Meanwhile, Iron Man flew from the ground and towards Ultron's direction as they collided and separated again on the air, flying blasts at each other. Ultron quickly grabbed a panel from the ceiling and threw at Stark's direction who punched the electronic with his right arm as it was torn apart, just as Ultron fired another blast at his armour's chest as he smashed against the bulk behind him.

_"Distract those drones, I'll deal with Ultron. Noble team has to find the Tessaract." _Tony ordered as he flied towards Ultron and to the ship's bulk, carrying Ultron along, before they collided against the metal and got through ship and into the outside.

After deactiving his past opponent who crashed back to the area's ground, Spider-Man landed in front of a huge window where he had a view of the entire city beneath them. "I thought I was already doing that." He gasped as one single drone appeared besides him. It tried to grab him if he hadn't quickly kicked the machine in the stomach and into the window as it crashed against the glass, falling off the ship.

Spider-Man turned around and approached the broken window, seeing the drone disappearing on the air while hearing the sound of gunfire coming from the city. "I wonder what Bruce is doing down there."

Captain America threw his shield across the room and hit the last enemy as the weapon went back to his grasp. "He's probably 'hulking' everything." He looked to the twins close to him and nodded professionally.

"Hey, Nash, how does the touching thing works again?" Peter asked Natasha as he glanced at the city. "Cause I think-" As his sense failed him again, one heavily damaged drone, from the ground, managed to fire a single blast at Spider-Man's back, making him fall off the ship through the window's hole.

Natasha quickly pulled one pistol from her waistline and fired at the drone's head, instantly deactivating it. She looked at Steve and Thor and asked somewhat annoyed, "Do we really need to save him?"

Steve smiled and shook his head. "Yep, but that's a task already taken by someone else." Steve reached for his earpiece asked, "Noble team, we haven't found the Tesseract, only an unknown pod that Ultron tried to protect." He gazed the pod as Wanda approached and touched the pod's cold surface.

"I can feel... It's dreaming." Wanda said perplexed.

Steve saw the Doctor who was once under Ultron's control and nodded to Pietro for him to check her out. He continued, "What's your status?"

_"We encountered little resistance. Kaidan took one in the arm, he's fine though. No signal of the Tesseract."_ Matt replied through the comm.

"Damn," Steve sighed. "Right, anything else…?"

_"Yeah, we've found the labs and... there were experiments."_

"What kind of experiments?"

_"Um... civilians... they were merged with cybernetics, they didn't talk, nothing, just…Soulless."_

Natasha covered her mouth with her right hand. "Oh my god…"

Thor rested his hands on his hips and shook his head in disbelief.

Steve closed his eyes. He had seen bad stuff during the Second World War, sick experiments. He couldn't ever get used to it. "Did you... pull them out of their misery?"

_We evolve or we die!_

_"Yes, sir…"_

"Okay, this place is a nightmare, be ready to receive the bomb at any moment. We need the Tesseract first."

_"Roger that. We'll keep an eye on it."_

Steve shut down the connection and approached Wanda while trying to not think about what he just had heard seconds ago. "Can we crack it open?"

"It's too strong. I can't hack it either." Natasha replied from behind.

Steve reaches for his earpiece again. "Clint? We'll need to extract something."

_"On my way, Cap."_ Clint replied.

Steve nodded and turned to look at his group. "This station can't stay working. We'll -"

The Super Soldier was interrupted when something in the carrier and meters away from their location exploded and caused the carrier to shake it a little bit, stunning them for a brief moment. He rose from the ground and looked at his surroundings, seeing his teammates recovering from the tremor.

"What happened?"

Hawkeye informed, _"Um...guys, I don't want to hurry things up, but the four engines just blew up in case if guys haven't noticed."_

Natasha said shocked, "No...the city, it will kill thousands of civilians if let this thing fall!"

* * *

Now evading the trees and chasing Ultron through the dense florest of Sorovia, Tony waited for the right moment to fire a blast at Ultron's back which quickly stunned him and caused him to crash against the ground as he rolled towards a tree which helped to stop his quick momentum. Ultron leaned the back of his head against the tree as Iron Man landed right in front of him.

_"Talk..."_ Iron Man aimed his right hand at Ultron's face.

"Sure," Ultron nodded. "The Tesseract was never there, you just interrupted the connection. If I can't retrieve my creation -"

_"You're not getting anywhere." _A small missile rose from the armour's hand.

"Of course not, I'm already there. But first, you might come back to your friends, because that carrier is now falling down."

Inside the helmet, Tony narrowed his eyes at Ultron and fired the missile at his creation's figure, blowing it into pieces. He activated the propulsion system and flied away from the location and towards the carrier where his friends were supposed to be.

_"Guys, we can't the ships intact, or else it will destroy the entire city."_

Steve replied, _"Tell me about it!"_

_"Where's the bomb?" _Tony asked.

_"Our troops are being obliterated, I've sent Peter and Falcon to assist them, and Noble Team has one casualty. We're running out of time."_

Tony sighed, coming up with a plan. _"Okay, wait for Clint and get out of the carrier along with that pod. Ultron doesn't want us to take it, I will assist the ground team with Falcon and the web-head."_ Tony spun on the air and changed his trajectory to the city.

_We can do this._

* * *

"Thanks for the rescue, Falcon!" Spider-Man quickly jumped from Falcon's back and into the air as he punched a drone that had just flied past them on its jawline, sending its head meters away. He instantly fired a single web at Falcon's feet as they rapidly flied through the city to reach where the ground team was struggling to keep going forward.

"You're welcome!" Falcon replied, flying around a building, avoiding the drone's blasts while that smashed against the building's walls next to them, and carrying Spider-Man along for the ride. "You seemed to be stunned back there. You okay?"

"Yeah…!" Peter shouted from behind, holding the web-line tightly.

It didn't take long for the pair to arrive at street which was now a gruesome battlefield. Soldiers standing in one side while Ultron's forces stood on the opposite direction, exchanging blasts and bullets like if there wasn't a tomorrow. A crashed allied truck that was probably carrying the bomb could be seen behind the soldier's position; they seemed to be protecting it. Falcon approached their allies and dropped Spider-Man into their lines. Without a warning, like always, Hulk landed between the two factions and proceeded to absorb the enemy fire while destroying the units at his reach.

Spider-Man quickly approached the truck's metal door and went to push them apart since they were previously stuck, revealing stunned troops on their seats and the rather small nuclear bomb on the floor. "Guys…! You all can sleep tonight once we're dealt with this!" He offered his hand to the closest stunned soldier and helped to pull him out of the truck, repeating the process with the others until they were all standing on solid and firm ground.

He webbed the device and retracted the web-line, pushing it towards his direction, before holding it under his left arm. Through his mask's internal visor, Spider-Man opened the private comm with his team, and hid himself next to a car and informed, "I got the device, what's next?"

Steve replied, _"Clint's here, get the device to the extraction point and I'll activate it as the team goes away."_

"What? Are you nuts?" Spider-Man leaned his head out from his cover and saw Hulk ripping a drone in half, before throwing the pieces of metal at their enemies.

_"Someone has to activate it remotely; we discovered that Ultron has planted a firewall around the ship that interrupts all types of outside connections."_ He explained.

Tony interjected, _"Cap, you're the leader of our little gang, don't play the hero now."_

"Well -"

Noble Team's leader, Matt, interrupted, _"No, you're getting off this ship, this was a trap and we won't let Ultron succeed with it. We'll activate it._

_"Negative, get back to the commanding room for extraction…You did enough, soldier._" Steve insisted.

_"With all due respect, sir, you're more important for this war than us. We've made our choice. This ship is an abomination, and it's falling towards to the very people we sworn to protect."_

A brief moment of silence dominated the comms. They knew that whoever planted the bomb, there wouldn't be an opening for escape, and that they would be gone like the ship will, all because of Ultron, who made them entire team fall into a trap with not turning back. Peter couldn't help but think about those soldiers' family, he had read their dossiers, the best of the best, but even then, they're mere humans, and now they weren't getting back at home. He now understood in the skin what Gwen and his children have being through over the years.

_"I..."_ Steve paused. _"I'm sorry..."_

"_I'm not, we knew what we're getting into, it had to be us, and someone else might have gotten it wrong. It was a honour to fight alongside you guys, Avengers. Earth needs you. We'll be waiting for as long as he can -"_ Matt's connection was abruptly shut down.

_"Damn!"_ Steve angered. _"Peter, there's not time. They won't hold out for much longer and the ship is ten minutes from your position._

"I... Yes, I will."

_"There's only one functional shuttle left in a few meters away from your position. Good luck." _Steve shut down the connection..

Spider-Man signalled Falcon who was flying above him, meaning it was time to push forward and reach the point where the still functional shuttle crashed was located.

After seeing Hulk absorbing most of the blasts and that the ground troops were finally managing to push forward, Spider-Man quickly vaulted over the car and since there wasn't any enough tall building that would allow him to reach his objective by just swinging around, he ran forward like if the world was about to end in a blink of an eye.

Some drones saw Spider-Man and started to fire energy blasts at him as he quickly evaded a part while the rest stopped so close to him but he still was lucky enough to get unscratched. Iron Man flied above him and engaged back those drones, giving him little room to breathe for a brief moment as he ran his own personal marathon, jumping over cars, evading blasts, carrying the device under his left arm as the seconds passed by.

Unexpectedly, an explosion next to Spider-Man caused by a lost energy blast managed to violently spun him around on the air because of the impact as Peter uncomfortably landed on his back. He wasn't hearing that much, while conscious, Peter was somewhat stunned and unable to move. The only thing he could do was see through the mask's cracked lenses the enormous carrier's approaching his location.

What looked to be a person and not a drone walked close to him. Peter turned to his head to see who it was, but the sun's light was blinding him. The person leaned down and recovered the device from his grasp as two mechanical wings emerged from his back. He looked up and flied away, leaving Peter alone on the ground, hearing only the sound of the battlefield and Hulk's war cry echoing across the street.

He tried to stand up, but his body was starting to betray him. He eventually managed to stand on his knees as he glanced at the carrier that in a few minutes, turned itself into a blaze of fire across the once blue sky, all of that being reflected on his mask's lenses, the view of failure and tragedy, A trap which was perfectly crafted by the artificial intelligence, who apparently wanted to exterminate the whole human race; Another victory for the construct.

Peter stood in silence, realizing the lives that were lost a few seconds ago, the sacrifice of a team and probably Falcons who never stopped at nothing to deploy the bomb and save what was left to save. Was there any hope left? Is this the war where freedom would be finally destroyed? Could they even defeat Ultron? Those were thoughts that shattered his consciousness.

_"Peter? I got you on the map. We can't stay here any longer. I'll be closing by to pick you up and... There's a place I want to bring you guys."_ Clint informed. _"Natasha is arriving to take care of Banner."_

'I... Understood…"

* * *

**Six Hours Later**

The trip back to the base had been very quietly, with no conversations at all. Clint had brought his teammates to his family's farm where his wife and kids were safe from the war since it was a very distant place from the city, recharge the spirits and visit a more calm place with fresh air. Most of his friends were quite surprised that Clint had a family, nobody besides Fury and Natasha knew that. The reason is that he wanted them to be off records, protect them from exposure.

As the Avengers' and the troop's shuttles arrived the base's LZ, Peter, who was still wearing the complete set of his armour, walked down the shuttle's bridge and saw a crow of officers waiting for them. Everyone was expecting to hear good news, which unfortunately, wasn't the current case. Flash approached him, noticing that his friend's suit wasn't that much intact, meaning that the assault wasn't easy at all. Something bad happened, he thought.

Steve respectfully nodded at the pair as he walked past them, heading over the crowd to explain what happened back at Sorovia, disappointed and hopeless sounds were now echoing. Everyone knew what was at stake, and how such important assault could have been defining for the war's conclusion.

"Hey," Flash approached Peter.

"Hey," He said emotionless.

"Are you okay?" Flash asked worried.

"To be honest with you; not really..." He shook his head gently.

"Want to talk about?" Flash placed his right hand on the back of Peter's covered neck.

"I... I don't feel well, I'm tired. Tomorrow…?"

Flash patted his shoulder gently "Sure. I'll respect that -"

"And that's why you have to leave the important job to real soldiers." An officer walked by with his friend and interrupted the pair as he faced Spider-Man with deadly eyes.

"What are you talking about, Williams?" Flash questioned from behind, eyeing the soldier's uniform badge.

"Walk way." Spider-Man ordered codly.

"Why do you think that the mission was a total failure?"

Flash shook his head. "What? Are you really blaming them?"

The officer turned on his shoulder. "I do. Why? Can't you see that we're not getting anywhere with them taking the lead? What makes them so special?"

Spider-Man replied for Flash, "Because we actually know what we're doing out there."

Not taking well the remark, the officer bit his lower lip and turned around as he swung his right arm at Spider-Man who evaded the punch by moving his head to the side as he quickly reacted and punched the soldier on the chin, being careful to not abuse his strength. He feel down on his knees as his partner tried to grab Spider-Man if Flash hadn't jumped forward to drop him on the floor, not letting him go away from his grasp.

Noticing the stir, Steve Rogers quickly hurried towards them and went to take Flash off the officer, but he was not letting him go that easily. "Flash, this is not the time!" He said, as he pulled him away.

The officer recovered his breath and slowly stood up, gasping heavily, while the other one cleaned the blood trace coming from his lips.

Steve looked at Flash and Peter and ordered, "You two go get some rest. We'll discuss everything about the mission some other day. You've done enough."

* * *

After checking on his children and making sure they're okay and safe, Peter stood in front of his bedroom's door and leaned his covered forehead against the door. Knowing his wife very well, Gwen was probably waiting for him on the other side of the door, worried about his condition, which was the least of the problems that he has to face it. Silently, he turned the knob and peered inside, seeing Gwen sat on their bed with one single lighten lamp as she peacefully read a book. She was wearing one of his shirts which turned out to be too large to her slim frame. It was a relaxing view. He wanted nothing but to relax and wrap himself on his wife's arms and forget about the war for a change.

As Peter stepped inside, he closed the door and locked it with the keys. He was pretty sure that Gwen head heard him now, and he turned to be right.

"Peter." Gwen closed her book and placed it over the bedstand next to her side of the bed as he walked towards him.

"Hey." He sighed and pulled his mask off, holding tightly with his left hand.

"Are you alright?" Gwen asked concerned as she cupped his cheek.

Peter closed his eyes and turned his head to the left, avoidind her gaze. "I... I can't do this." He shook his head.

"What do you mean? What happened?" Gwen rested both hands on the cold surface of his chest.

"We lost, that's what happened." Peter snarled and gently pulled her arms away from him. He took his now loosen chest piece off and dropped it on the ground and walked away to the nearest wall, letting his wife face his back as he leaned his forehead against the wall.

Now Gwen realized what went wrong, and how that was affecting her husband. She slowly approached him and spoke, "It's not over yet -"

Peter turned around and threw his mask across the room. "People died, Gwen! I saw everything! Do you know what does that means? It seems that you don't."

Gwen stood calm; raising her tone wouldn't do any good. "And you're blaming -"

"It means that it's over! Ultron won, and I can't do anything about it, I can't..." He closed his fists.

She didn't say anything, but just allowed her husband to vent his frustrations which was probably the best thing he should do at the moment.

Peter continued, "Hearing the agonizing screams, and knowing that I could done something about it instead of watching Noble Team disappear in a blink of an eye... You don't get it, you don't know what I have done to keep going and going.. I'm tired." He rubbed his face and took a heavy breath. "I'm tired of this... I'm a failure that's what I am, an accident." He whispered.

"If you listened to me just a little bit…"

"There's nothing you can say, what's done is done and you can't do anything about it." Peter snapped. He walked past her and headed towards the closet to wear normal clothes. "I need some time alone, I'll be back later. Don't follow me."

"You're not getting anywhere." Gwen stood next to him and crossed her arms.

"Yes, I will." He wore a shirt. "You will stay here."

"Could you please stop acting like an ignorant?"

Peter quickly closed the closet's door and turned to face her. "What do you want from me? Is being your sappy romantic husband and love toy not enough?"

Gwen ignored his snarky remark. "I want you to stay quiet just for a second and listen to me."

Peter scoffed. He tried to walk past her but she stood on his front with arms crossed. "Excuse me? Who do you think you are to stop me from doing what I want?"

"No. I heard everything that you had to say, and now it's my turn to say what I want. I'm your wife and I have every right of doing so." Gwen stated. "Why are you doing this to yourself? You take the world on your shoulders and if something bad happens, it's all on you? You think you failed someone?"

"I failed the entire human civilization, and now they're going to pay for my mistake!" Peter replied.

"They…? What are you then? An alien…? You're just a human like me, you're not perfect and you don't always win, but that's why you're so special, you never give up and you never cease to pursue your goal."

"This is no fairy-tale, Gwen."

"What's happening to you? You think you're the only who's suffering?"

"I changed! You think it's easy to put my head out there and ignore everything that's happening? You don't know anything. I'm out there doing what needs to be done!" He stated. "It's never that that simple. I thought you knew that."

Gwen pressed on. "It is! You lash out, snap and berate because you are unable to handle your emotions in a way that is considerate towards others…and yourself." She said saddened, "I understand you, I empathize with you. I care a lot about you! And your behaviour hurts me, especially when you attack yourself." Gwen challenged, "Are you going to treat your Aunt or our kids the same way you're treating me whenever things go bad from now on?

"What?" Peter demanded furiously.

"I understand your behaviour, were it comes from, I can help you to deal with this. But this has to stop before you destroy not only our relationship but also that with Elizabeth and the twins."

Peter folded his arms and demanded with a glare, "Venting your true feelings, are we?"

Gwen pressed on undeterred but with a calm voice. "You cannot lash out with such venom you've done recently at me nor can you bottle up your emotions and turn into a cold man. You have to properly express such emotions in a way more constructive manner than you're doing now, because the kids may not understand your plight and why your reactions are so fierce, and a baby even less so. You might ruin those relationships to the point where they are irreparable. You never have been like this before, Peter; don't let this war change the great man that you are."

Peter's head dropped and he unfolded his arms. He fidgeted with her fingers and breathed out exasperated, heeding his words. The last thing Peter wanted was to ruin his relationship to Gwen or their kids.

"Gwen... I'm.. I'm sorry for my behaviour," Peter said regretful. He looked up and his eyes were glazed and saddened, "I'm sorry for how I treated you. It wasn't fair."

Gwen asserted, "No, it wasn't fair." She didn't want to escalate anything, but she wasn't enthused about his behaviour. "All I wanted was to help you. All I wanted was your help, Peter. We should help each other. Instead you locked me out and almost walked away."

"I know, and I'm sorry," Peter replied softly. "I care about you, the thought of hurting you is unbearable, I wouldn't ever want to do that."

"You can't just shut me out when things go bad and sneer and say all the things you do. The attacks on me and you wear me down. You pretended like you didn't know me, accusing me of wanting sex when I wanted to help you and needed you to." Gwen sighed emotional.

Gwen deflated and his shoulders and head slumped in frustration. Here she chastised him – she wasn't wrong in what she felt – but he was actually mature to say he was sorry for his behaviour. But he had the right to be angry. He was still amped up on the ghastly sights from Sorovia, he was furious at Ultron. He was drained emotionally. It was all a jumbled mess of emotions.

Peter closed the distance and placed his hands on her waistline and rubbed affectionate.

Gwen asked softly, "Please just tell me what's on your mind. I want to help you. I have so many fears, and one of them is losing you to this war."

Peter looked down to meet her pleading eyes. Peter's eyes were glazed and he continued talking morosely, "I have this eerie warm lump inside me, and it's nothing good. And it consumes me and it has since after Sorovia, Gwendy. People play their political games, these politicians bickered and stalled and since this war started we had to play the same stupid game to appease them." Peter snarled frustrated, "This war…no, this slaughter…this is a damn slaughter and it took months before some people even did anything, and some stalled until two weeks ago. Nobody gets that we're torn they all think I, the Avengers, will get us out of this mess and I can't see how." Peter deflated from the pressure he was on.

Gwen wrapped her arms around Peter's shoulders in a tight hug. She felt increasingly remorseful and held back tears and whispered, "And you haven't told me this? What about all the things you've told me we're fighting for? Our family's future together…?" Gwen choked up, "Our future isolated house?"

Peter welled up with frustration and hugged her back, "I'm…just so exhausted, I don't know how long I can keep this going now that Ultron took the Tesseract because it feels like we're losing."

"I don't want you to hesitate to talk to me ever again because things like this destroy you. And us." Gwen pleaded heartbroken, "You don't have to do this alone. I'm just as scared and angry as you, Peter, but you keep me together. I know you project this persona of an unflappable hero leading the rest of us but let me back in so I can help you."

Gwen cupped Peter's face and pressed her lips to his which parted willingly and her soft nubile tongue slid into his mouth and their tongues mingled wetly, their eyes shut close in the tender moment. They kissed affectionate. The tension slipped away a bit and Peter got lost in her newly showered scent and her body pressed to his.

She broke this kiss and her hands slid down his cheeks to behind his neck where she caressed the skin with her fingertips. Their eyes met and both had a sense of deep longing but also pain.

"I missed you for hours," Gwen murmured. "I love you and I want you back."

"I just... I can't hold it together anymore, Gwen." Peter confessed saddened. "I don't want lose the people I love most on this world, but..." He breathed heavily.

Gwen hugged him closer reassuringly, drawing circles with her fingertips on the back of his shirt, before speaking, "Even if we fail..." She whispered softly.

Peter continued her sentence, "...what better way is there to live?" He kissed the top of her blonde hair. "Thank you so much." He wrapped his arms around Gwen's back and brought her even more close as he rested his forehead in Gwen's shoulder.

Gwen hugged him back, before whispering, "Just promise me that, no matter what happens, you will be there for us, just like you always were."

"I will," Peter replied softly. "I promise."

* * *

**A/N : That was intense. It took some time, but it finally came out. This wasn't a simple chapter to write to be honest, probably the most tiresome one, lots of plot points running around and characters to handle, combine that with the cold I got before actually getting to the last part and it gets exhausting. I wanted to short it a little more, but I couldn't remove more parts than I originally did, one of them told how Gwen survived back at the clocktower, in the end, it didn't really felt necessary and somewhat out of place, I'm not so sure, but it may appear in future chapters if you guys are interested on seeing it. **

**After this chapter is published, there's only two chapters left, the next one being a quick update in one or two weeks and it won't feature any action as well, it will be everyone's last moment together before this storyline's finale.**

**And that brings me to another topic, originally and without spoiling too much, I wanted to write an extra "short" chapter that would be Peter and Gwen's last night together, as you can already imagine it, it would surpass the T rating, but I'm really compromised in making it very special and sweet, I wouldn't call it a lemon because there's a whole emotional strong stuff attached to it, in fact, it's mostly finished already, but then again, if most of you reject it, despite being totally avoidable since it's a separate chapter, I won't publish it. I would really, really like to hear you guy's thoughts on this one.**

**Oh, I have seen Age Of Ultron, and I quite like it, not as good as the first one though. Too much action. Ultron didn't felt that much threatening and he always failed most of the time. The rest are spoilers. The movie is very enjoyable.**

**Now to the question,**

_**Are Liz, David and Aiden going to have Spidey's power? Because they are a little bit too normal. Or maybe it gonna come when they will be teenages...Hum..**_

_**Nice chapter, as usual :) **_

**\- Egg Man**

**First of all, thanks for the questions, I'm always happy to address any doubts. Peter's children have his gifts, months ago, remember writing a part where Elizabeth gets a cookie jar after discovering her abilities, so, yes, they can have Peter's powers, now, if they're going to use them like he did, that's a whole different story. I understand why you're having second thoughts regarding this, I admit I haven't written too many chapters where the kids use their gifts. Hopefully, this one make it more clear :) Also, you really need to make an account, haha! **

**I love my Beta for taking her time to help me out with this, you're the best, FireflySurvivor!**

**I hope the waiting was worth it and most of you felt satisfied. And I would love to hear you guys thoughts regarding that extra chapter. Have a good one!**


	46. Final Hours

**Nick Fury's Helicarrier - US Space**

"Tell me everything." Peter leaned his back against the wall of the small interrogation room and crossed his arms as he faced the table where Gustav Fiers was currently sat. "I didn't come here for nothing, I want answers, and you seemed to know a great deal of them."

"Did you watch all the interrogation tapes?" A much older Gustav asked, emotionless as ever. "That means you already know the truth after they showed you all the 'lies' that I've been spreading in my cell."

Peter stood calmly. "It's hard to believe that you're doing something good back then, can you blame us? I don't buy it. I didn't even care anymore, I've moved on life."

"Look at you..." Gustav analysed Peter with his cold eyes. "All grow up, Avenger, Father and Hero."

"I'm not here for your mental games." He snapped. "You stated you're doing something good for humanity, people considered you to be crazy, but in the end…are you?"

Fiers chuckled. "Every story has two sides. What do you want to know?"

"The truth..."

Fiers took a heavy breath and rested his arms on the table. "Can I have a coffee? If the world is about to end, it would be nice to -"

Peter cut him off, "No."

"Fine…" He scoffed. "Well, as you know... I used to work for Hydra for a really, really, really long time, but some of their methods were…disturbing."

"Cut to the chase. Why the Sinister Six? Why clones? Why the symbiote? You mentioned that it was all about me, let's no forget the AI that you're always talking about, but nobody believed you."

"Don't you see? They're all connected. Hydra, Norman, Richard, Symbiote and you were all part of the big plan... even Ultron." He coughed weakly. His age was already taking its toll on his health. "Sometimes, you have to be the bad guy to be the good guy, someone needs to do make the hard decisions no one's willing to make, and that's where I came in."

"And what does Ultron has anything to do with this?" He questioned, impatiently.

"Ultron is an advanced form of extra-terrestrial life. During the 40s, they wanted an army of these drones. The ultimate weapon and the catalyst, but they ran out of time and archived the project. If I'm correct, they recently continued the research with the current technology and after recovering Loki's scepter, they somehow tried to transfer the sceptre's essence, which kept Ultron's consciousness, they would transfer into their own drones, if your little group hadn't stopped them first." Fiers explained.

"But...why? Why continue this now?"

"Don't you understand? Despite what you think, Hydra was always about improving humanity, doing what needs to be done, but they lost their way and that was when I left the organization, barely. They did sick experiments to reach such goal to combine organic and synthetic into one thing, the perfect race. Something Hitler always wanted. I didn't want to be part of that, messing up with Mother Nature, trying to play god."

"If you're trying to redeem yourself, sorry, but you still tried to kill me so that's negative points on my books." Peter affirmed.

"I'm not, but I knew what's coming."

"What was coming?"

Fiers stood quiet for a brief moment. "The ending….Everything I have done was to fix this mess. I knew that Hydra would find a way to keep the project alive if they failed, so Stark was the answer, and he addressed the issue and this happened. I wanted to avoid this war, and since no one would ever believe me, after all, Norman got your parents killed ... I made a secret deal with Osborn, he was desperate and I always kept my real goal away from him. I wanted the perfect specimen, contacted Oscorp, gave them great deals of technology in exchange of biological weapons, but none of them worked... and that's where you came."

Despite the fact that Fiers was involved with his parent's death, Peter stood calm. "Me? I was just a kid."

"Hush, boy." Fiers shook his head in disapproval. "I was losing my hopes, but then Richard created the spiders and everything... changed, but your father discovered things he wasn't supposed to, so he doomed us all."

"What are you talking about? It's my father's fault now?"

"The real reason why I worked with Norman was to create a force to stop Ultron, when someone finally discovered him, everything would be lost, it's inevitable, and mankind likes to play with things they don't know how to control. Your father destroyed the very cure for that problem when he made the spider's only blood compatible. He left me no choice; I wanted an army of Spider-Men's when I noticed what you're capable of."

"You're lying. My father isn't the one to blame for this. Stop twisting things for your own sake." He stated, taking one step closer and approaching the table.

"But it does make sense, doesn't it?" Fiers challenged. "The Symbiote was never supposed to kill you... but to eliminate any sick cells, curing diseases, and saving you on the process, it never worked properly before you upgraded it with your own DNA, making the suit the basic structure for the clones. As you know, that didn't work too, so I delivered it back to you, hoping it would be enough when the time arrived."

_But Flash found it first... that's why there's no sides effect anymore, I improved it with my very body._

"Wait, you're telling me... no, if you're trying to help me, why the Sinister Six?"

"Would you trust the guy who was involved with your parent's death? I didn't want that plane crash. Believe it or not, the suit made you stronger, improved your gifts, once recovered, I would have clones better than the original, and without the original weakness as well. The Six was just your training field."

"Weakness...?"

"Without the emotional baggage that limited your true potential, " He replied. "I tricked Norman into thinking you could cure him if you're ever bitten, recovering your modified blood, or do you think it's just that easy to get into the Spider- Chamber? Once we saw you there, the plan was set up in motion."

"I..."

"Either way, that wasn't ever going to work, your new DNA gets flawed as you age, you already know that from you've told me, short memory loss and dizziness. Norman was doomed to die regardless if he had your blood. He passed away years ago, the transfusion you conducted never worked." Fiers revealed.

"Flawed?" Peter realized why he wasn't feeling well recently, it all made sense. "I don't think that's..."

"But you have to."

Peter shook his head in denial. "Nobody has ever told me that about Osborn."

"Why would they? You had moved on life. His death's reveal wouldn't change anything. "

"So, I'm dying?"

"Not really, just exaggerating. See, your body wasn't made to embrace such gifts properly, when you're younger, you had more resistance, but now, with the war going on, you're abusing it."

Peter gulped. He wasn't the only person to have these gifts, and that got him worried. "What about my children? Will they have the same side effects as they get older?"

"Probably not, they're born this way, the embodiment of true human perfection. You should be proud, even Gwen Stacy herself gained advantages from the pregnancy. "

Peter turned around and leaned his back against the nearest wall, wandering through his mind's thoughts. "Ten years later and my life still is a mystery." He sighed. "Regardless of our differences…thanks, Gustav."

Fiers replied calmly, "I never did this for you, but you're welcome." He nodded. "I won't be living for much long, so do us both a favor, and finish this war."

* * *

_"Peter Benjamin Parker... do you really have to do that at the dinner table?" Gwen asked faux annoyed as she gently brought the spoon carrying baby food close to Elizabeth's lips._

_Now shirtless and only wearing his red and blue Spider-Man pants, Peter carefully opened his web shooters at the opposite side of the table, facing his gorgeous girls. He replied, "What? I had a long night taking out bad guys."_

_Elizabeth said quietly, "Bah guys..."_

_He continued, "If you want me to run outta web fluids the next time I'm on patrol.."_

_"Oh no, you're not playing that card." Gwen cleaned her daughter's lips and fixed him a cute glare. "We both know 'going on a patrol' is code for 'I don't want to change a diaper'."_

_Peter deadpanned, feeling Ren wandering around his legs underneath the table. "Hold on, I've changed plenty of Liz's diapers."_

_"The one time you spun a web-diaper doesn't count, and let's not forget what happened one hour later after that webbing dissolved." Gwen rose from her chair and approached him from behind. She snaked her arms around his neck and leaned down._

_"Eww, you're right, that was ugly. What do I owe you?" Peter smiled as she kissed his cheek._

_Gwen teased, "For a super intelligent wife, perfect daughter, and our puffy pug?" She grinned. "Mister whatever you've got is not enough." She said; unwrapping her arms from him and opened the fridge to grab some milk._

_Peter caught Elizabeth looking at him with her big green eyes and a smile. He winked at her, widening his daughter's beautiful smile even more, before replying, "Sorry, Gwendy. I've just been busy lately."_

_"About that...what's going on?" Gwen handed Elizabeth the cup filled with milk and made for babies. "You've been out later and later each night. Is something wrong?"_

_"Don't know, lately, on top of my regular goons, I've been dealing with Daredevil's, not mentioning Punisher's too. Feels like the other guys have been taking it easy, and I've been picking up their slack."_

_Gwen observed her daughter and replied, "Maybe you should talk to them. You have a wife and now a daughter; they should start picking up your slack."_

_"Don't think it works that way." He said softly._

_"Well, it should, you need to spend more time at home and less as S-P-I-D-E-Y." Gwen stood up and brought Elizabeth into her arms._

_"Wait, are we spelling it now?"_

_Gwen approached her husband as he raised from his chair. "We have to, we can't have Liz blurting it out at the park or on a playdate." She gently handed him their daughter. "She can't keep seeing you as Spidey-"_

_"'Pidey!" Elizabeth grinned._

_"Whoa, message received, girls. At home, plain ol' Peter Parker it is." He kissed Elizabeth's forehead and was rewarded with a cute squeal. "Don't worry, I can pull this off. After all, I have been Peter Parker most of my life...and I think I've done a pretty good job of it so far."_

* * *

**March 18th - 2028**

Slowly and instinctively, Peter, who was lying on his chest on his bed, moved his hand to the side and lazily grabbed Gwen's pillow, smelling her natural scent and feeling nothing but an empty space filled with cold air due to the air's conditioner action. He groaned in frustration, and as he stirred just a little bit, he felt a feminine weigh on top of his waistline, a pleasant one.

"Easy now, bugboy…" Gwen gently stroked his perfect hair as she cleaned his wound and reapplied the white bandage on his muscular back. She was wearing his shirt and a black thong, her hips rested besides his waist as she took care of him.

Still not opening his eyes, he asked lazily, "What are you doing...?"

Gwen smiled contently. "I'm just keeping my handsome husband alive." She replied. "Slept well?"

"I think so." He nodded.

Gwen patted his reapplied bandage and leaned down, before whispering next to his ear, "That's nice to hear, good morning." She kissed his cheek and moved herself off his body and back into their bed.

Peter groaned huskily.

Remembering what he had told her about his talk with Fiers, a topic he rarely mentioned, she was much more comfortable now, sure, her husband wasn't totally healthy, the war was taking its toll on his physical condition, but it wasn't anything life threatening.

Gwen decided to check how he was feeling. "You okay?"

He confessed, "Honestly, I'm tired, can't even more... I've no idea how we're going to win this, I'm doing everything I can, but... how long it will take? How much do we still have to lose? How many before it's enough? "

Truth is; there weren't any words to confort him and Gwen knew that. "I know." She ran her fingers over his back, caressing the skin gently.

"Don't worry, honey, I'm fine." Peter turned and raised his chest as he stretched his bare arms and sat on the bed. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, "I just had this dream, more like remembering a real life event on a dream…one of the best in months."

"Tell me." She approached him and cuddled, with their bodies against the bed's headboard. She wanted Peter to stop thinking about the war for once, and since he had taken before at Clint's family farm house, she decided to help with something as well.

"Well, it's a very old memory, Elizabeth was two I think, we're having dinner, mostly you two, while I fixed my web shooters on the table, you were somewhat annoyed by it." Peter explained with a grin as he wrapped an arm around her perfect body and caressed her thighs.

Gwen leaned her head on his shoulder and slowly ran her fingers over his chest, caressing the skin and felling the tiniest scars she could notice. "Ah, you just had started avenging, if I recall right, barely paid any attention to us..." She teased, it wasn't true.

Peter smiled, "I miss such rather calm times." He continued, "We're both under so much pressure to be perfect, and we rarely give ourselves a break."

Gwen replied softly, "We can't give ourselves a break... there's too much at stake."

Peter tightened his grip over her, reassuringly. He didn't know what to say about it, maybe he could prove it with actions instead of words, give her a good time. He gently grabbed her hand from his leg and caressed it. "Where's your ring?"

She raised an eyebrow at the sudden question. "It's underneath my pillow; you know I sleep without it."

"I do? Are you planning divorce or anything like it?" He asked playfully.

Gwen smiled and elbowed his ribcage, gently. "Don't be silly, unless if you do something really bad, that won't ever happen."

"Oh, and what could that be?"

"Forget how to properly massage my legs would be one of the reasons." She purred.

"You're a high maintenance wife, aren't you?" He kissed her warm lips.

"I am." Gwen replied between the kisses as they lay back to their bed, with her husband's weight over her as they appreciated each other lips which were full of passion.

Peter broke the kiss and mused, "Am I imagining things or did we just talk about divorce?"

"Yeah, we're just that weird." Gwen joked, before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"We are," He nodded. "But hey, we just had some time for ourselves."

"You want me to say you're right?"

"I don't want to make you go through that horrible experience." Peter teased as he spun to the right and brought her along, forgetting they're already close to the bed's limit.

It was too late.

"Peter! No -" Gwen released a yelp as she got carried over on her husband's firm arms. She accidentally brought the sheets along which covered her entire figure, and got lucky since she managed to stay over his toned chest as he fell onto the cold ground.

Once in the ground, Peter chuckled briefly. He ran his right hand down her back and uncovered his wife's face, being greeted with an adorable glare. "I _think_ we just fell from our love paradise, honey."

"You think?!"

* * *

**Conference Room**

"I know what's in your guy's head, and I share the same feeling. Ultron won the last battle, but he didn't win this war. We can't let him affect our team's condition, he doesn't realize that our bond, unlike his army, can't be destroyed," Steve affirmed. "Noble Six's sacrifice can't go to waste, we owe their family, everyone is counting with us, trusting their future in us, and we can't let these innocent people down. It's our duty to fight until there's only one of us standing up. I believe that, regardless of the past operation, victory can be achieved. Why? Because I have friends at my side, the people I trust most, my family. We accomplished so many things, and we can accomplish this one."

Tony asked emotionless, "And how.. are we going to do this? You've seen what Ultron is capable of..."

Steve stood in silence, looking at Tony's conflicted and broken figure. "Together."

Peter nodded supportively, "We're a team." He moved his gaze to Stark's figure.

Tony hesitated for a brief moment. He never was into inspiring speeches, he considered them to be pointless and rather awkward, but now, maybe he needed one, and he couldn't refuse Steve's words. He shrugged his shoulders and replied from his chair, "You can count on me, when the time comes, I'll be out there destroying drones in a stylish way with you guys." He smiled and asked Thor, "What about you, God of the blonde locks?"

Thor grinned. "I wouldn't miss this fight for anything."

"And me as well." Clint replied. "And I think that our newest couple shares the same decision."

Since Natasha wasn't present, Bruce had to somewhat deal with the tease all by himself. "W-We are not..." Bruce cleared his throat, "...dating."

Steve teased, "Not officially, you two can't fool us. If anything, ask Clint and Peter for some advices."

Clint grinned. "Oh, I would be more than happy to help you out, Bruce, starting with some swag, you need it urgently."

"What's swag?" Thor questioned confused.

Tony replied, "Look at me," He gestured to himself. "What do you see?"

Thor frowned in deep thought. "I see a..." He frowned. "...mortal, arrogant, cocky and rather -"

"Oh, thanks, that's enough." He said aghast.

Steve went back to the original topic, "With the info Peter gave us, we know what Ultron really is, a sentient alien construct which came from Loki's sceptre, we defeated aliens before, we can do it... again, as a team."

* * *

**High Personal Private Section - Kitchen**

She had been to many parties when younger, most of those, however, had been during her time as teenager and with her boyfriend. This party was different. It was a time for great friends to come together one last time; it was likely that not all of them would survive the next week.

She and Natasha were preparing the snacks for the evening on the fancy kitchen which was connected with a wide living room, art gallery and lounge, not mentioning the games area as well.

Gwen struggled to get the hang of the food preparations though, not being exactly sure of what foods would be appropriate for such a party.

"Well what about sushi? I've seen that at many parties."

Natasha shook her head. "Think simpler Gwen, they're coming for a good time with each other. They're not here as food critics or businesses men."

"Well then," Gwen was getting quite irritated, not directly at Natasha, but at her own inability to get this right, after all, the cast was very different from one to another and she wanted to please everyone. "What about pies? Do we have pies here?"

"Yes." Natasha nodded enthusiastically. "That's the perfect kind of thing, simple food. Things like cocktail sausages, salads, you know."

Gwen smiled, amused at her friend's enthusiasm. "Well then I'll make the salad, I can actually do that."

Without any warning as ever, David and Aiden quickly appeared from behind her with huge smiles spread on their faces. She didn't even feel scared anymore, it was something that often happened on their so energetic family.

"Mommy…!" Aiden called.

"Hey!" Gwen smiled happily as she looked down to the twins, hearing a brief laugh from Natasha from the other side of the kitchen.

"David is hungry!" Aiden affirmed.

"You too…" David narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"But you're more!" He mused.

David crossed his arms. "It was _your_ idea."

Gwen cocked her head at them, figuring out what they're up to as they argued. "Let me guess; you two want something to eat?"

"Yes!" They said in cohesion.

"Um..." Gwen turned back to the counter and picked two small slices of strawberries and handed to her boys. "Here."

The twins hesitated for a moment as they eyed the apparently not so tasty food, at least on their eyes.

Gwen chuckled. "Don't give it that look. It's all I got for now, and it's healthy. Give one for your sister too."

The twins looked at each other, like if they're telepathically talking with each other, before shrugging their shoulders and gently grabbing the slices from Gwen's palm.

"Thanks, mommy…" They ran out of the kitchen, leaving Gwen alone with Natasha.

Gwen shook her head and smiled as she walked over to the fridge, removing the bags of salad that were stored there. As she walked back she stopped, catching sight of Peter. He was sat at the bar in the back side of the living room, staring into the blue holographic projection of Earth in the middle of the room. He had been acting like this the latest days, ever since the last mission. She could understand how it had spooked him, but they worked things out.

"Peter," She called out gently, amazed to get his attention straight away. "Do you want to give us a hand?"

"Sure," He stood up slowly, stretching out his arms. Then he moved over to them, a small smile on his face. Gwen could see through the smile though. "What can I do to help?"

"Well," Natasha studied what they had already done. "You could make up some skewers."

"Aye," Peter walked around the counter, picking up the various ingredients that he needed. "Where's the chicken?"

"By Gwen…"

Gwen noticed the chicken in front of her on the counter. She was going to pass it to Peter, but he got there first. She felt strong arms snake around her, one resting on her waist whilst the other picked up the packaged meat. He pressed his lips to her neck, kissing her tenderly on the side of her throat. She smiled in pleasure; he knew all of her weak spots. There was a snicker behind them, both turning their heads to the sound.

"What is so funny Natasha?"

"You two," Natasha returned to slicing the fruit in front of her. "You two still are like a pair of lovesick teenagers, it's kind of... cute."

At this Gwen turned red, not used to being teased like this. Peter laughed however, clearly not minding the banter. He replied to Natasha jokingly.

"I would never dare to call Gwen cute, Natasha." He joked. "But oh my god... the deadliest and ruthless super spy on the world can actually find something...cute?"

Natasha glared at him. "Don't push your luck, Parker." She responded icily. "But yeah, I'm sure you could get away with...anything with her." Gwen narrowed her eyes, hearing the suggestiveness in her friend's voice.

Peter replied, "Well, she is kind of cute." At this Gwen gave him a jab in the side, rewarded with a little yelp from Peter.

"I'm cute, am I Peter?" Gwen put a slight purr in her voice, not over doing it because of Natasha's presence.

His response was another kiss on the neck, followed by a cheeky pinch on her butt as he walked away from her. She laughed, despite her embarrassment she was enjoying herself. She was spending time with people she cared about. It had so far been truly one of her happiest days, despite what was on the immediate horizon, the final battle.

She was brought out of her musings by a pinging sound, coming from behind her.

_"Peter, sorry to disturb."_ Tony Stark's voice came through the speakers.

"Don't worry, so?"

Gwen smiled, her husband always made time for everyone.

_"Me and Bruce are working on something," _His tone was apprehensive. _"You should probably take a look, it's quite amazing. We need your help as well."_

"Sure, I'll be there in now," He shrugged. "I have no idea what it's about, but I'll go whilst I have time."

"Okay," Gwen put down the salad in front of her and walked over to Peter. She wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a smouldering kiss before letting him go. "We'll get on with this. See you later, honey."

He gave her a kiss in return before waving to Natasha and stepping out of the kitchen and into the cosy lounge, noticing a silent and alone Elizabeth sat on the L shaped couch and in deep thought.

Peter approached his daughter and stood on his knees to stay on her level. "Hey, what's up?"

Elizabeth smiled weakly and met his brown eyes with hers. "I just have been thinking."

"About what…?" He asked softly as he squeezed her hand gently.

"I've noticed how everyone is doing; it's calmer and more silent, like if they're fearing or anticipating something. It looks like everyone is saying farewell to each other, like if we won't ever meet again." Elizabeth explained herself innocently.

Peter mentally sighed. She was right. The last attempt is coming and they knew that not everyone would come back at home if they succeed. And how would Peter comfort her if she was right? He didn't want to lie to his own daughter who, at such early age, could figure almost everything out, with or without his or Gwen's help.

Peter replied softly, "You know, you aren't wrong. These people, are my and yours friends. We care about each other like if we're brother and sisters, and we want to enjoy every single possible last moment together." He moved a lock of her golden and short hair behind her ear and asked, "But, despite everything... I can't let what's happening out there affect our family, and raising my chin and smiling helps."

Elizabeth cupped his cheek. "Everyone needs help some times, daddy, even Spider-Man."

He smiles brightly. It never came as a shock to him when he learned something with his children, now, his daughter. He already knew how much brilliant she is. "You're right. I can't do this alone, my little Spider-Girl." He kissed her forehead gently.

She smiled and hugged his neck as they embraced each other. Peter caressed her back gently, enjoying every single second of the peaceful moment he was living with his beautiful daughter. "Uncle Tony wants my help with something; do you want to come along? I'm sure he won't mind." He offered.

"Is Jarvis coming back? He's really nice."

"He is," Peter nodded. "C'mon, I'm sure Tony will let you talk with him." He gently grabbed her hand and helped her to step down on the floor as they walked away and towards the lounge's exit

* * *

.**Private Laboratory**

Tony entered the large laboratory which was illuminated with a soft blue lightening that relaxed the ambient and made it perfect for long and exhausting research. He saw Clint knelled over the pod they had recovered from Ultron's now destroyed helicarrier, Bruce was standing next to it, probably analysing what it was all about, and find a way to finally open it.

"It's sealed pretty tightly." Clint informed as he stepped down from the pod's surface and into the floor.

Noticing Tony's arrival, Bruce turned on his back and crossed his arms before stating, "We're going to need to access the program's breakdown from within."

Tony nodded. He quickly gazed the container before looking at Clint and asking, "Any chance we can open this with one of your mini explosives? Maybe a concentrated and timed plan can work out."

"Doubtful. The ones I currently got only work with the arrows and not separately." Clint explained. "But I will check out the basement, might find something useful there." He gestured down to the floor made of glass where they were currently standing over, right in the middle of the room, an underground room connected with the lab by a stairwell.

"Thanks." Tony replied as Clint headed to the right and walked downstairs. He looked around and saw Banner typing in computer.

"I can work in tissue degeneration if you could fry whatever system operation Ultron obligated that researcher to plant." Banner approached the rectangular container and typed a few commands on the holographic panel in the pod's cold surface.

Tony rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that..."

Bruce reluctantly turned to Tony's figure as he slowly realized what the billionaire's briefly hesitation meant. He wanted to protest but he wasn't really sure if Tony wanted to do what he just had imagined. "No."

Tony took one step closer. "You have to trust me."

Bruce shook his head and took one step backwards. "But I don't."

Tony insisted, "Our ally; the guy protecting military codes from Ultron's hands? I've found him." He pointed the rectangular and transparent small chip he was holding on his right hand to the empty space next to him as a yellow and circular holographic image from Jarvis' matrix appeared besides him, it looked like the nervous system of living being.

_"Hello, Dr Banner."_ Jarvis greeted. _"And you too, Mr Parker and Elizabeth."_

Peter approached them rather surprised and holding Elizabeth's right hand. "Um... Hi...?"

Elizabeth smiled happily. "Hello!"

Banner quickly nodded at them before returning his gaze to Jarvi's consciousness, totally confused.

Tony smiled. "Peter, Liz, just in time." He continued, "Before escaping from the Tower's network, Jarvis tried to talk with junior, Ultron didn't went after Jarvis because he was angry, he attacked him because he was scared, what he can do." He nodded to the holographic projection besides him and started to walked around it. "So, Jarvis went underground, scattered, dumped his memory, but not his particles. He didn't even knew he was in there before I pieced him together."

Bruce rubbed the back of his neck, thinking, before approaching the pod and questioning, "So, you want me..." He gestured to himself and later to Tony, "To help you... put Jarvis into this thing?"

"No! Of course not…!" He smiled cheekily. "I want to help _you_ and Peter to put Jarvis into this thing."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Wait - what?"

Bruce shook his head, not approving and almost walked away if he hadn't hesitated at first.

Tony smiled cheekily. "It's out of my field. You and Peter know bio-organics better than anyone."

"Stay here, honey." Peter whispered squeezed Elizabeth's hand before letting it go. He approached the duo and inquired, "And you're assuming that Jarvis' operational matrix can beat Ultron's?"

"Jarvis is already beating Ultron, he's keeping him away from nuclear military's codes. That's why nukes haven't be used against us so far. This is the opportunity." Tony paced around them. "We can create the perfect Ultron without his homicidal wishes or his winning personality. Junior tried to upload himself into this, it can face Ultron."

_"I believe this is a worthy goal." _Jarvis agreed.

Bruce hesitated and replied exasperated "I-I'm in loop! Getting back on time! This is exactly where it all went wrong." He protested.

Tony stood in front of Peter and Bruce and said reassuringly, "I know, I know... I know what they're going to say, but they're already saying it." He sighed and continued softly, "We're mad scientists, we're monsters, guys, but we got to own it, make a stand."

Bruce shook his head in disbelief and looked at Peter who later nodded to him.

Tony continued further, "It's not a loop, it's the end of the line, but if we take this opportunity, we won't have to solely depend of this super weapon which is 'supposed' to deactivate Ultron's army in one shot...we can do this."

* * *

Slowly, Falcon opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of Ultron standing a few meters away from him and next to a workbench which had a damaged drone laid over it, behind him, the entrance to a small storage room filled with old equipment's could be found.

The area in front of him was enormous, it looked to be a cave which was more like a facility to Ultron's army, with drones meters away from them being repaired or constructed by other drones themselves, it had a lots of movements and it was illuminated in a dark blue tone, the opposite of all the grey found in there.

Ultron spoke as he dissembled the deactivated drone, "I wasn't sure you would wake up, but I hoped you would, I wanted to show you... I... I don't have anyone else." He paused for a brief moment, "I think what's odd about a meteorite... the purity of it..." He suddenly looks at Falcon, "Boom...! The end...start again, the world may clean for the new man to rebuild." He stops what's he doing and completely turns at Falcon's direction.

Falcon slowly starts to drag himself to the only way possible.

Ultron takes one step towards him. "After Thanos betrayed my whole race, I was meant to be new..." He closed his eyes and looked up, "I was meant to be beautiful... because of my plan to save your kind, this world would look up to the sky and see hope and mercy," He gazed his prisoner again and walks forward. "Instead of seeing horror because of you, you wounded me... I suffer because of that, but like a man once said... what doesn't kill you -"

Suddenly, a metallic hand smashed Ultron's skull from behind and then ripped him apart in two pieces, making space for a new and improved version of Ultron, taller and stronger.

At the unexpected action, Falcon quickly dragged himself backwards with his shoulders as the new Ultron approached him. Once inside, he leaned his back against the storage's wall.

Ultron continued as he approached the storage's gate. "Just makes me stronger." He grabbed the gate and pushed it to the side, locking Falcon. "Think about what you done, why it's wrong to oppose the only force that can stop the end on the horizon, and improve your very race on the way."

* * *

The mess hall was currently empty with the exception of Steve who was now having some coffee. Sometimes, he enjoyed eating alone and peacefully, his mind could be set at ease for a brief moment. It was quiet; he could relax a bit despite the fact that one his closest friends, Falcon, was probably dead. In the past he had always preferred to eat in group, more often with Bucky who still was missing.

After being frozen for decades and without any kind of social interaction, he closed himself since all of those who he knew where gone, he felt like a completely stranger in a totally different world. That changed once he finally realized he wasn't alone anymore, and that doesn't mean being in the media's spotlight again, but actually having people who he considered to be friends.

Hopefully, those people he cared most would find a way to survive. The end was near, with or without their victory, and realizing that such accomplishment heavily depended of a super weapon which he still don't totally approve it since it was develop under his back by the very people who he chose to serve, was unsettling.

Steve just hoped he wouldn't regret it in the future.

He grabbed his glass filled with orange juice and brought it closer to his lips as he closed his eyes for a brief moment to slowly taste the liquid. He almost spat the juice out if he hadn't contained himself after opening his eyes and seeing Wanda standing right in front of his table.

He patted his chest and greeted despite the pain coming from his lungs. "Wanda."

"Steve." She crossed her arms under her breasts.

"What's up?"

"I haven't heard anything about that container we got from Ultron. I'm getting worried." She replied as she crossed her arms.

"Stark is taking care of it."

Wanda slowly opened her mouth in shock, before saying, "No, he won't."

Steve paused, realizing what her reaction meant, but he believed otherwise. "You don't know what you're talking about, Stark is not crazy." He stated calmly.

"He will do _anything_ to make things right!" Wanda affirmed, fearing the possible outcome that Tony could create without him noticing it.

Even if Steve trusted the billionaire, he couldn't help but share the same hesitations Wanda does, after all, a scientist wouldn't stop at nothing to find the cure for something, regardless of the way to achieve that.

He stood up and reached for his small earpiece as Wanda faced his back. "Stark? Come in... Stark?"

"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it, where do you think he gets that?"

* * *

**Lounge**

The two Stacy's were relaxing on the lounge's sofas by the fake window which showed them a normal picture of New York's night, it seemed pretty real. Gwen was greatly enjoying her time with Howard, though she wasn't particularly used to lounging on sofas eating ice-cream, it was like if the war had erased such simple experience from her mind. She smirked at that.

"I'm surprised that you aren't preparing the little party, Gwendy, you know, you're workaholic and everything.

Gwen gave her brother a disapproving look. "Well, I wanted to spend some time with you," Gwen leaned closer to her younger brother. "Besides, I'm just taking a little break anyways."

"Break…? You…? Alright..." Howard scoffed teasingly.

"What? I like to cool down too, okay?" She shook her head disapprovingly.

"Well, I know you for a long time, and when you're into something, you do it."

"Determined you mean?" Gwen corrected him.

Howard chuckled lightly. "Whatever you say, sis..."

Gwen ran a hand through her hair, reclining backwards once more. "So, how was your moment in the resistance?"

"Not good I can assure you, but still, I couldn't say and do nothing."

"I'm glad you're here now."

Howard smiled as they stood in silence, appreciating their time as brother and sister together, but he knew the question didn't simply come out of the nowhere, and knowing his sister very well, she was up to something.

"You're going to the city with Peter, aren't you?" Howard's voice had changed to one of concern. Gwen turned to look at him, seeing her younger brother's apprehensive look.

"I have to, we need the best down there." Gwen placed a reassuring hand on her brother's arm, giving him a little squeeze.

"Gwen, you're no superhero, even less a soldier. What can you possibly do to help them?" Howard asked softly.

"You're right, but I'm not totally useless, I have a degree in medicine, so I can assist those who got injured post the assault, I won't get in any real danger." She insisted. "If I can help them in any way, I must do it."

Howard sighed, so much for persuading his sister at least once in a lifetime. "Fine, keep him safe."

Gwen gave a small chuckle, once again impressed by her brother's sharpness. "I promised I would stay with him, and you're right. Someone has to keep him safe."

Out of the nowhere, a very familiar infant voice tried to scare his mother, "Boo!"

Gwen shook her head and looked up to the ceiling, seeing Aiden upside down, with his hair being pulled down by the gravity. "Have you forgotten who am I, buddy? I'm your mother, and I'm immune to you all spiders' tactics."

He sighed. "Uncle Clint said you would fall for it..."

Gwen smiled. Of course, it had to be Clint's idea, she thought. "Sorry to disappoint, now, come down, I'm still not used to seeing my kids on the ceiling."

* * *

Back at the lab, Clint found himself in a small chamber under his teammates' feet's. His eyes were fixed at the screen in front of him, he was receiving signals from an unknown source, but it wasn't any ordinary signal, it was Morse. He grabbed a headphone and used it to carefully decipher the code as the computer slowly traced where it was coming from.

And old friend was indeed alive. Clint smiled and quickly headed upstairs.

* * *

"Hand me that gear, Liz." Peter asked softly as he focused in the workbench where they were located next to it.

Elizabeth happily grabbed the small desired piece from the red box lying on her lap. "Here you go, daddy." She handed the circular metal to him.

"Thanks." Peter snaked an arm around her back and brought her closer as he kissed the top of Elizabeth's blonde hair.

Standing up and facing a computer next to the large rectangular pod, Tony informed, "Stream work is not compatible."

Bruce typed something in the container's panel before looking down at the cables connected to it. "Genetic coding marks are at 97 percent, you got to upload that schematics in the next three minutes. "

Unexpectedly, the laboratory's door slid open with Steve stepping inside, holding his shield as Pietro and Wanda followed his steps. "I'm going to say this once -"

Tony challenged, "How about 'nonce'?"

Steve insisted, "Shut it down!" He ordered.

"No, not going to happen." Tony walked away from the console and approached the glass wall that was separating him from the armoury where his armour was being kept, already expecting the worst case scenario.

Peter rose from his chair and observed the tense situation where he found himself with his daughter who hid herself behind his legs.

"You don't know what you're doing." Steve said.

Bruce interjected, "And you do? She's not in your head?" He gestured his head to Wanda.

"I know you're angry." She affirmed calmly and reassuringly.

"Oh, we're way past that... I could chop the life out of you and never change a shade." He threatened, still not over the time when Wanda manipulated his mind during Ultron's invasion.

Steve took one step closer. "Banner, after everything -"

Tony interrupted him, "It's nothing compared to what's coming!" He stated firmly. "There's a child here, you really want to do this now?"

"We won't if you stop this, haven't your learned -"

"I did!"

Wanda continued, "You don't know what's in there!'

Tired of hearing them arguing for minutes, Pietro sighed and quickly ran from his position and towards the pod as he removed all the cables that were connected to it in a blink of an eye. He stopped and teased with a cocky tone on his voice, "No, no, keep going." He dropped one cable to the ground and cocked his head at Tony, "You were saying?"

That was when a gunshot was heard and time slowed down through Pietro's eyes. He noticed a sound of glass shattering and then a single bullet coming from the ground and towards the ceiling right in front of his eyes. He raised an eyebrow.

He lost solid ground and fell into Clint's place. The marksmen immediately placed his right feet over his leg and teased with a grin. "You didn't see that coming?" The joke Pietro had used after stunning him when they first met months ago.

"Pietro…!" Wanda called worried.

_"Power loss is critical."_ The VI warned.

Tony saw the computer's notification and went to fix the issue. "I'm rerouting the upload."

Steve quickly reacted and threw his shield around Tony's position as it slammed against the large majority of computers on his sides and then accidentally headed towards Peter's direction that immediately used his feet to throw a metal plate from the ground and to his hand, before using it to deflect the shield.

The hand part of Tony's armour quickly crashed through the walls' made of glass and automatically connected itself with Stark's right hand as he quickly aimed it at Steve and fired a blast towards his chest, causing him to land on the ground. Tony let his back face the now shattered window as the back plate arrived through it and attached itself into his body, with the chest plate coming as well.

Wanda was about to counter attack if Bruce hadn't appeared behind her and moved a single arm around her neck. "Go ahead, piss me off." He challenged.

Clint emerged from the stairwell and holds a single pistol with both hands. He arrived just in time to see Steve jump from a table behind Tony, with his left fist closed, and into Stark's back who noticed it and quickly turned on his back, firing a blast from his chest, and causing them to fly backwards to opposite directions.

Wanda managed to free herself by quickly approaching both hands to her chest and sending a red painful aura through her body and into Banner's, stunning the scientist and causing him to release her. She turned on her back and sent another wave from her hands and towards Bruce as he forcedly landed fell down onto the ground. She caught some abrupt movement on the sealed chamber and saw Thor standing over it. He raised his hammer to the ceiling to absorb energy from the lights.

"Wait!" Bruce stood up.

When finally charged, Thor lowered his hammer next to the pod and energized it.

Peter used his body to protect his daughter from the loud and bright lightning happening in the middle of the laboratory. He saw Thor stopping the process and expecting the outcome from such action. It didn't took long, the pod's surface was abruptly open with a blast coming from inside, the impact caused Thor to be throw away from it.

Amidst the nitrogen coming from the now opened chamber, a tall and red humanoid figure emerged from it and stood knelled in the chamber's edge. It analysed the room and its inhabitants, stopping it's gaze particularly at Elizabeth's figure. Noticing his gaze, she completely hid herself behind her father's legs.

Steve carefully approached them again with his shield already back on his hands. Thor raised his right hand at him, signalling to avoid engaging the mysterious figure. Tony observed everything from the spot where he used to take cover from the blast.

"Don't be scared, child." He shook his head, gathering his thoughts. "I'm sorry... I was... odd." He saw Thor standing him. "Thank you." His whole 'skin' minus the hands and head turned green among with the golden cape that formed on his back, applying Thor's style of clothing on himself as well.

"Thor, you helped to create this?" Steve asked confused.

"Months ago, after disabling that Hydra base where we first met the twins, I had a vision, but I wasn't sure what it was about. Now it all makes sense. The world gets its hope and life all sucked from it, and at its centre, there's that." He gestured to the yellow gem in Jarvis's forehead.

"What? A gem…?" Peter questioned.

"It's the mind stone, one of the six infinity gems. The source is unstoppable and greatest power in the universe, capable of endless amount of destruction and chaos." Thor explained.

Steve continued, "then why you brought-"

"Stark is right." Thor affirmed firmly.

"Oh... it's definitely the end of times..." Bruce mused.

Thor continued, "The Avengers can't beat Ultron and his army."

Jarvis slowly walked towards Tony, before pacing in circles. "Not alone."

Steve holstered his shield on his back. "Why does your vision sounds like Jarvis?"

"We integrated Jarvis... to create something new." Tony said as he eyed who once was his assistant; perplexed with such creation.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron, I'm not Jarvis, I am..." He paused, trying to find the best words to express what he wanted to say in an efficient way.

Wanda moved from her spot besides Pietro and approached him. "I looked in your head, and I saw annihilation."

"Look again."

Thor interjected, "Their powers, the dreams in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the mind stone in Loki's scepter. It's nothing compared to what it can unleash. He's on our side."

"Is it? Are you? Our side…?" Steve couldn't take any risks anymore.

"I don't think it's that simple." Jarvis replied.

"It will get simple very soon." Clint threatened.

Jarvis ignored the remark at returned his gaze at Elizabeth who now seemed to be calmer. "I'm on side of life, Ultron isn't, and he will end it all." He paused. "What's your name, child?"

"E-Elizabeth…" She replied shyly.

"You can't see it now, but you're destined to greatness, when the time comes, at the darkest hour... you'll finish it all, Elizabeth."

Tony crossed his arms. "Don't scare the little girl with silly prophecies, focus, if you're against him, what are you waiting for?"

"You…"

Clint informed, "Paris, Ultron is there with Falcon."

Peter gently grabbed Elizabeth's hand and took one step closer. "If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster Ultron wanted you to be.."

"What will you do?"

Nobody replied as they stood in mutual silence.

The construct continued, "I don't want to kill Ultron, he's afraid and in pain, but that pain will roll over the earth... so he must be destroyed, every form he's build and every trace of him on the net. We have to act soon, and none of us can do it without the other. Maybe I am a monster, I don't think I'll ever get to know that, I'm not what you're and I'm not what you intended, so there may be no way to make you trust me, but we need to prepare." He handed Thor's hammer back to its original owner without making any strength to hold it.

The whole crew stood motionless. There has never been a single soul minus Thor that managed to carry the hammer which only accepts who's worthy.

Thor retrieved the weapon back as Jarvis walked out of the laboratory. He chuckled awkwardly and went to pat Tony on the shoulder "Good job." He made his way towards the exit.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Well... no hard feelings, let's go guys, there's a a little fraternization to attend."

* * *

**Peter and Gwen's Bedroom**

Peter opened the door of his quarters and strolled inside, seeing nobody at first sight, but he had a feeling that the current view wasn't accurate. He smiled and approached his desk and looked under it, empty. Deciding to check the most obvious place, Peter went towards the bathroom, and at the same time, his special sense triggered and warned him of what was coming from behind him.

He immediately turned on his back and grabbed the web-line that was inches from his nose. "Try again, boys."

David fell from his spot behind the couch and into the ground as he uncontrollably laughed along with his twin brother who had Peter's red Spider-Man mask over his face, one of his old web shooters was around his wrist as well.

"You cheated!" Aiden protested.

Peter raised his hands in defence. "I did nothing of the sort. Where's mommy?"

"It's not fair." David stood up and next to his brother. "I need to grow quicker! "

Peter chuckled. "I don't think so..." He quickly pointed his right hand at them and gestured like if he had just fired his own web shooter at their direction.

Both twins played along and instantly laid on the ground as if they got caught on their father's web.

_I love these two_. He thought.

Peter approached the apparently unconscious pair and kneeled down to tingle them both, causing them to immediately stir and burst into fits of giggles. "Now tell me, what have you done to your mother?"

"She's on the bathroom!" Aiden confessed.

"Good boy." Peter stood up and helped them to come along. "I'm gonna check on mommy, see you guys there?"

"What are you going to do?" David inquired curious.

"Um... just see if she's ready." He replied awkwardly.

Aiden frowned, suspicious. "Fine..." He nodded and grabbed his brother's hand as they walked towards the door.

As they passed by him, Peter gently kicked their butts to hurry them up, receiving giggles in return and the intended effect. He stopped at the closed door to the bedroom's bathroom and knocked.

"Gwen?"

_"I just took a shower._" Gwen replied.

"Since when did that become an issue around here?" Peter teased.

Gwen giggled. _"You can come in,_" She called out from inside.

Peter slid open the door and stepped in and closed the door behind him. Right next to the doorway was his girl standing at the mirror applying some lip gloss. He was once again floored by her clothing, long sleeved black shirt which revealed some of her cleavage, and a blue snug jeans, her hair cascading down over her shoulders.

Gwen turned to him and smiled, "Hey, I was in the middle of make-up when the twins showed up, so they took care of our bedroom for a while."

"My…wow," Peter uttered astonished as he walked over to Gwen and hugged her and gave her a soft kiss.

"Do you like it?" She purred seductively in a whisper and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Yes. You look beautiful," He smiled.

"Thank you," Gwen smiled big. "I had to do something so you wouldn't forget me with everyone else here."

"How could I possibly forget about you?" Peter asked.

"Just a precaution," Gwen smirked.

* * *

**Hours later**

Flash sat on the large kitchen's counter with crossed legs, facing the others, Clint, Thor and Natasha. He chimed in a little tipsy, "It can become very hot in here."

"It's a nice place, indeed," Clint said. "Even got some pretty good sniper positions…It would need some work on the defensive side, but once that's completed, this is a place I could retire to, bring the family."

Thor chimed in, "You won't retire, Clint. There'll always be criminals who deserve bullets in their hea-" He cleared his throat, "I mean, justice for their actions."

Clint chuckled, "The alcohol getting to you, Thor."

"Perhaps just a little bit," He replied with a cheeky smile.

"I must say, I'm thankful for being welcomed in," Flash said. "I definitely feel like an outsider. Everyone else close to Peter have such history with him."

"Hey, you brought my clothes from the laundry when I asked," Clint quipped, "you're close to become an honorary team member."

"And what do I need to do to become a full-fledged team member?"

"Stop an alien invasion," Thor mused. He reached for some potato chips from a bowl and munched on; it felt very good for a mortal's food.

"And ride one of their bikes like I did." Natasha continued.

"And infiltrate a Hydra base," Thor replied sipping on his drink. He sighed whimsically, "Ah…the good old days."

Clint shrugged, "Eh, you don't really miss anything; A lot of running and gunning, and somewhere in there a button or two that needs pushing."

Natasha nodded, "Indeed, we've had our share of close calls, narrow escapes, death encounters and random violent escapades than I care to remember." She sighed wishful, "Maybe some alcohol will make me forget." She sipped on her drink.

Peter had left the living room and walked around the corner into the kitchen. He smiled disarmingly as he stopped near Natasha, "I see, and hear, you are all enjoying yourself."

Flash looked at his friend and said, "You know, Pete, I haven't seen any horosk."

Peter sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen island and sipped on his drink. He countered, "I heard you can go in a coma drinking that stuff. No way I'm letting you guys drink that."

"Hey, I can handle my drinks just fine," Natasha asserted. "I'm an Avenger!"

Clint said proudly, "We've seen a lot of good times, haven't we?"

"That we have, Clint..." Peter nodded.

Thor said, "I must say, I love you all..."

The present crew laughed at Thor's sudden comment.

Clint replied, "We love you too, blondie."

Peter raised his bottle, "To the Avengers!"

The others raised theirs without further ado in honour of the team, or more likely, the family.

* * *

"You can't put up a proper defence here," Rhodes explained as he, Thor, Peter and Jarvis analysed the arts on the small gallery.

Peter rolled his eyes.

Jarvis turned and looked out over the ground floor, "That's not fair, the sight lines aren't bad."

Thor approached the group snorted with a glance over his shoulder, "And not much else in its favour, an' I should be impressed?" He turned and looked at the two large paintings hanging over the couches and gestured dismissively, "And what the hell are those things?"

Peter and Jarvis looked at the paintings, and both were silently taking in the odd art. Both were actually confused by the large, colourful but peculiar paintings. It looked like the painter had just splattered the canvases with colours.

"I…think its art," Jarvis said bewildered. "It must be a human thing."

Thor murmured almost in trance, "Oddly relaxing I have to say; for being primitive."

Rhodes sighed exasperated and turned around again and gestured to the open floor, "Look at the corners; Too big and too many of them. Anyone outside could easily track your movements." Then he continued giddy and whimsical as his tactical mind was racing, "But, there's a lot of potential for a barricaded position over there covering the front door." He pointed to the doorway into the living room.

Jarvis pointed at the isolated wall, "I'd extend the wall out, prevent' someone from flanking you."

Thor approved, "This is good, plan a defence."

Peter was a little worried and suggested evenly, "Why don't you relax? Mingle with the others?"

Thor looked at Peter in horror, "Fine? What if a clone of Gwen comes after you? You would never see that coming. Or Flash's clone?"

_Yikes, two Gwen's. Not sure I could handle all that lovemaking_. Peter pondered to himself; _Or her workaholic persona._

Rhodes pointed out, "That puffu soldier guy. Might already be a clone. An evil one at that."

"How about we barricade the door, and maybe install a tripwire connected to some mines?" Jarvis asked and pointed at the door.

"You're a goddamn genius!" Thor chuckled.

Peter sighed, "Right, you three have fun."

He was in the gallery, taking a detour to the toilet. Listening to Rhodes, Thor and Jarvis plan the defence of the place had been humorous even if Peter thought that even those two ought to relax.

* * *

**Later on...**

"_Then you're in for some fun," _Tony, who was inside of his Iron Man armor, declared with a grin._ "You got two armours that will be wasted tonight. There'll be a lot of broken things._" He teased War Machine who stood in front of him.

"That sounds more like it," Pietro agreed and placed the glass on the small table next to them.

After entering the lounge with Aiden mounted on his shoulders, Peter cautioned, "Let's not destroy this cool relaxing area, guys."

_"You're no fun, Peter."_ Rhodes, on his War Machine armour, chuckled. _"Parties are much better if you got redundant systems and armour."_

Tony nodded, "_Can't argue with that."_

"So, which one's the strongest?" Pietro asked and peered at the Iron Men's. "You or War Machine…?"

"Yeah, I've been so curious about that!" Aiden said enthusiastically.

"Good question, but I don't think this the appropriate hour..."

Tony was offended and snorted, _"I'd kick this sorry War Machine's ass without any trouble."_

War Machine shook his head. _"No you wouldn't," _He awkwardly punched Iron Man on the face.

The crew sat in the couch, Gwen, Elizabeth, Bruce and Wanda collectively gasped surprised at the same moment and stared wide eyed at the scene unfolding.

Rhodes grinned tauntingly, _"You could only defeat a helpless alien."_

Tony chuckled, _"Now we're partying!"_ He charged and head-butted War Machine right on his head's frontal plate with a loud crack of metal. Rhodes got stumbled by the blow.

The crewmembers bolted out of the couches, careful not to spill their drinks, terrified the fight would spill out on their end of the gallery. They hurried several meters away from the lounge but still looked intrigued at the wrestling Iron Men's, an astonished murmur within the group was heard.

"That's quite enough guys," Peter interrupted. "Another time…and somewhere else…"

"Aw, daddy…!" Aiden complained.

War Machine rose up from the floor and sighed despondent,_ "Just as it was getting fun."_

Tony snickered, _"You got lucky, junior. "_

"Why did you have to stop a perfectly good fight?" Pietro mumbled.

"Because I like the place as it is," Peter pointed out.

Down in the seating area people had heard the commotion and looked up confused. The group in the kitchen had walked out into open floor and looked up as well, so did the group in the living room.

Flash called out from the kitchen, "What the hell is going on in there?"

Peter turned and explained calmly, "Nothing, we're fine up here. Tony and Rhodes just showed how an Iron Men's party would be like, a chaos..." He knelled down and allowed Aiden to do what he had to do.

Flash continued, "They're calling you to see a little competition which is about happen.

"You mean?"

"You'll see." Flash walked away with Peter following him cclosely.

After reaching the living room, Peter sat on the couch and next to Flash, and decided to see the current challenge which was happening on the middle of the place with his own very eyes, it was the question everyone shared on their minds for years since they all got together.

Steve had Elizabeth sat on his muscular back with the objective of being weight as he pushed up. Meanwhile, Thor was doing the same thing a few centimetres away from him, but the difference being that he had both twins sat on his back, who were pretty much having a blast with everything that was going on.

Surprisingly, the one who was struggling the most was the so called God of the Thunder, for everyone's amusement.

Natasha teased, "Hey, Steve, you don't need to pretend you're not getting exhausted."

Steve smiled cockily as he calmly proceeded with his push ups. "What are you talking about? This is my thing."

Thor said tiredly, "These two... Peter's twins.." He gasped. "Are as heavy as my hammer..."

"Quit blaming my boys." Peter joked.

Now free from his Iron Man armour, Tony leaned his back against the living room's wall and crossed his arms. Like with most of the crew, the alcohol's effect was already showing. "What's the mark?'

Natasha replied "421 for Steve against Thor's 418."

Thor went upwards with the help of his strong arms for one last time before recklessly landing on the floor and causing the twins to drop from his back and laugh all the way down.

Elizabeth got from Steve's back and cheered for him as he slowly stood up as well. "We won!"

Steve chuckled as he patted her shoulder gently, before helping Thor to get up from the ground. "Fair game..."

Thor shook his head. "I've lost my honour, I'm not worthy of my hammer anymore... I require a rematch!"

* * *

After washing up from the bathroom Peter stepped out of it. He glanced out over the seating area and saw the recognizable form of Jarvis at the far end, sitting with legs crossed under his and meditating under a small tree in the corner of the entrance to the guestroom.

Peter walked over and the newest member as he glanced over his shoulder and spoke calmly, "I heard the footfall and knew that it was you, Peter."

Peter stopped on the path near Jarvis and sat down as well.

"What are you doing? Not enjoying the party, Jarvis? "

He faintly smiled, "The concept of party is something new to me, but I am. Although I suspect not in the same way as the rest, are you worried about me? Don't be. I only stepped away for the moment to explore this are and then I found this quiet corner. Reflecting on one's place in the universe while a party rages within reach can feel oddly self-affirming."

"It can?" Peter asked. "Meditating isn't exactly what one does in a party."

"I suppose you're right."

"I'm surprised you came." Peter confessed.

"If I'm to be an efficient member, I must socialize in some way."

"Really…? Not interested in knowing us more? Not a single question about human behaviour?"

Jarvis shrugged his shoulders. "Hmm... well, I see that you and Ms Stacy are very close, but I can't understand how that happened."

Peter nodded, trying to find the best words for his upcoming explanation. "Once you find someone that understands you, share a mutual respect, know what makes you happy, a relationship can be formed -"

"So, you and Mr Thompson are in a relationship as well?"

Peter shook his head. "No, no, that's a different kind of relationship, friendship." He replied. "See, Gwen and I are attached to each other in a different way, and that leads into a relationship, like... um... sexual attraction..? Yeah, that's the word, we have feelings for each other, so it's more than that, because sex doesn't mean relationship in some cases, and..." He took a heavy breath, noticing that he was running around in circles with his awkward explanation. "Got it?"

Jarvis stood motionless.

"Hello?" Peter went to pinch his shoulder.

Jarvis came back to reality, "Oh, sorry, I was searching the internet. I've came to the conclusion that you and Gwen do movies of -"

"No! I mean - we don't do what you're thinking. That's not a relationship." He calmed himself down. Awkward wasn't enough to describe the current situation.

Jarvis frowned in concentration. "I see, human behaviour is a very complicated topic, my processing core is overheating, I could blow up at any moment."

Peter shook his head, not buying it. "Jarvis, I know you're trying to make a joke, but such joke is not funny at all... you know, deadly ones."

Jarvis nodded in agreement. "Well, you know what does the fox says?"

* * *

Now that they're alone in the kitchen, Peter placed his drink on the balcony behind Gwen as she leaned her butt on the cold surface and let Peter press his muscular body against hers.

Soon his other hand slid onto the other hip and Peter held her close, their bodies melted together and he moved his head to her shoulder and Gwen could feel his hot breath on her ear while the music was beating away in the large area.

Peter kissed her ear lobe and proceed to set trail of kisses down her neck.

"Wait, we must talk to Tony." Gwen said, trying to cool down the hot moment.

"Why? Thinks he misses us? Cause I've missed you." He kissed her throat and slipped a hand under her shirt's material and massaged her back.

Gwen's eyes shut close and she blocked out everything and everyone except Peter, her and the music. His hot breath on her neck, his seductive touch and their bodies pressed so close sent a pleasant shiver through her body and she clenched her teeth in an effort not to let out a soft moan. She could live with the others seeing the two of them dance like they did a few minutes ago after tucking the twins into bed, but she was self-conscious and didn't want to be caught moaning to her husband's ministrations.

That would have been a little too embarrassing.

Peter kissed the soft skin behind her ear and whispered ever so softly, "God, you're beautiful."

"Hmm..." Gwen flipped her fringe and looked at his deep brown eyes, feeling the physical tension on the air. "You know, assuming that Jameson is doing good, would you ever consider to take photos for him again?" She asked teasingly and recomposed herself after minutes of making out.

Tipsy and happy, Peter smiled and placed both hands on her hips. "Well, it's been a long time, I may need some practice, I wouldn't mind taking some pictures of you." He replied flirtatious as he leaned on her neck again.

Gwen giggled briefly. "Oh, Peter Benjamin Parker..." She moved her head to the side, allowing him more space as slowly appreciated his warm lips on the smooth skin of her throat.

He played along and whispered, "I think we should find a more secretive spot."

Gwen smiled and teased, "What type of woman you think I am?" She purred. "My only daughter can't be left alone."

Peter smirked and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. He rested a hand on her hip which not very stealthily inched in and rested on her inner thigh, caressing her through the jeans' material.

Gwen glanced over at Peter faux annoyed, "Watch your hand... not the right place, nor hour."

"Oh, but it is easy access. Wonder what would happen if I go further up?"

"You wouldn't -"

Without a warning, Tony called from the kitchen's wide entrance, "Parker! Stop harassing Gwen and come make yourself sociable!" He walked away.

Gwen laughed as she buried her head on Peter's shoulder, feeling somewhat ashamed. "Well, well..."

"You can relax, I'm only teasing," He chuckled and kissed her cheek. His hand remained on her inner thigh and didn't move further in, only caressing.

"Then let's get going, love boy." Gwen quickly kissed his lips and then took his head and leaded him outside the kitchen.

Once back to the living room, the couple immediately spotted the entire crew reunited on the L shaped couch, Flash, Clint, Steve, Wanda, Pietro, Rhodes, Natasha, Banner, Thor and Jarvis, almost everyone with the exception of the famous billionaire Playboy who was a few meters away and in front of them, holding his drink on his right hand.

"Daddy…!" Elizabeth appeared besides her father with a huge kind smile, having a good time. She asked softly, "Uncle Tony will make a speech, but I'm too short to join them!"

"Not a problem, little one." He let go of Gwen's hand and moved his hands down to Elizabeth's waist and helped her to snake her legs around his neck as she placed both hands on his jawline to support herself, he brought Gwen closer with his free arm as they joined the crowd.

Tony brought a chair from the bar and stepped over it, still holding his drink. "Alright everyone... I'm here, right now, on this moment and hour..."

Elizabeth giggled at his silliness.

Peter exchanged an amused glance with Gwen before returning their eyes at Tony's drunk figure.

Stark continued, "... I look around me... and I don't see people, teammates or co workers... despite my dizzy vision, I see what I'd like to call a family.."

Bruce said to himself, "Definitely drunk."

Tony continued,"...brothers and sisters, bounded together, a bound that can't be damaged or broken... if in the following days, I'm lying on the ground, injured and in pain, I won't be nervous or sad... I'll be happy because I know I got to fight my last battle with the people I care most, till the last possible second, we stood together, never gave up…despite everything, the bad moments, I would do it all over again... because that's what friends do, they stick together until the end." He raised his glass at the group's direction. "Steve, honours?'

"With pleasure…." Steve smiled and nodded as he took a few steps close and turned around to face them. "Avengers..." He brought his drink next to his chest, and raised it to the air, "Assemble!"

"Assemble!" Everyone said altogether, with no exception, even Elizabeth happily cheered by raising her arms to the ceiling.

It was the mix of allies, and not without its issues or conflicting personalities; a billionaire, a soldier from WW2, a cheerful vigilante, a marksman, a super spy and an angry scientist. Just to mention a few. No matter their origin, they had banded together due to one exceptional warrior, sadly laden with a heavy burden.

There had been inevitable losses during the time. There were people that were not with them anymore. There were fellow warriors that would be remembered for their sacrifices.

They had faced impossible odds more than once, people thought they wouldn't ever come back alive, other considered them to be threats, despite everything, they would always have that moment of blissful joy frozen in time. No matter what obstacles lay ahead, no matter the sacrifices or losses waiting in the future? They'd stick together.

* * *

**One hour later**

Gwen opened the fridge and retrieved a bottle of cold water from it. She was needing it urgently, not only to regulate the amount of alcohol in her system but because she was thirsty too. She opened the bottle and approached the kitchen's entrance and leaned her shoulder against it and she took sips.

It was much calmer now. The music was gone and there barely was any chatting. She could see Clint lazily lying on one of the couches, ready to fall asleep, next to him, Thor could be found on the carpeted floor, already unconscious that's for sure.

Rhodes was sat in a puffy chair and was muttering something, probably talking to himself. Not far away, in the gaming section, Wanda and Pietro were playing some darts, with Pietro complaining about his sister changing physics into her favour. It was the usual banter between brother and sister.

Bruce and Natasha couldn't be found, and that revealed something. Gwen giggled at the thought. She only wished the happiness for the potential couple. They deserve some peace and comfort.

Gwen couldn't help but feel there was something missing, and after realizing what it could possibly be, she got a little worried because once the three most influential heroes gathered together, and were alone and alcoholised, they could get themselves into a suicide mission.

She saw Elizabeth sat alone on the bar's stool and decided to check up on her, Elizabeth seemed to be drawing something on a piece of paper. She kissed the top of her blonde hair and hugged her from behind. "Hey, sweetie..."

Elizabeth smiled happily. 'Hey, mommy, what do you think of my drawing?"

"Our friends, it's lovely." She leaned down and kissed her beautiful daughter cheek, receiving an adorable giggle in return, enjoying the little moment the greatest accomplishment of her live, her children, a girl and two boys who always received her full passion, until the last moment together. "I love you, honey." She whispered softly, holding the incoming tears as she embraced her only daughter. "Always will."

Elizabeth turned her to kiss her mother's cheek softly. "I love you too." She nuzzled Gwen's blonde hair, before resting her head next to Gwen's neck. "Have you seen, daddy?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing." She replied, wondering where her husband currently was located.

"Uncle Tony and Steve were with him, I think he's on the laundry." Elizabeth informed.

"Wait... how would you know that?"

"I can feel him if I focus, it's like a little vibration, a bolt."

Gwen immediately realized what she was talking about, Peter sent through the same experience when Elizabeth was born, he mentioned it once and never said anything about bit again. "Oh... so your father was right after all, you do share some sort of connection with him."

"Connection…?"

"When you're just a little baby, well, you still are my baby." Gwen smiled kindly. "Your father said he felt something unusual when he hold you on his arms for the first time, you two share more than a blood blond, I think the same can be said to your little brothers."

Elizabeth frowned in deep thought. "When I become a scientist like you and daddy, I will definitely study it!" She said in excitement.

Gwen kissed the top of her daughter's head. "You will accomplish everything that could possible want on this life, darling." She affirmed softly. "Now, laundry you said?"

* * *

"Okay..." Peter stepped inside of the fancy laundry as Tony and Steve followed him closely while being careful to not stumble on something. He approached the counter which contained his wife's recently clean clothes and inquired, "W-What I'm supposed to do again?"

Steve brought his right hand to his forehead and sighed. "I think we shouldn't... d-do this, it feels wrong."

Tony laughed as he opened Natasha's locket and placed his Iron Man helmet on the floor for a while. "Relax my friend... we're just having some fun!" He retrieved a black gym short that belonged to the super spy and threw at Steve's face who later proceeded to wear it over his jeans while muttering something.

"Gwen is going to kill me... what if she breaks up with me?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm too old to be left alone, thirty five and rocking."

Tony shook his head. "Don't overreact; there, that blue bra will fit you nicely." He gestured to the intimate piece of clothing in front of Peter.

"God bless me.." He followed Tony's order and reluctantly wrapped Gwen's bra over his shirt as the billionaire wore one of Natasha's skirts. If the world was about to end, he wouldn't miss any extra time with his friends, no matter how awkward such moment could have been.

After wearing his old red and blue Spider-Man mask, and now with his wife's bra, Peter turned on his back and saw the pair ready as well, one wearing a super tight gym short and carrying a shield with his left hand, and the other who came up with the idea using a skirt and with Iron Man's helmet over his head.

"What have I done?" Steve asked himself as he and the others stood in the center of the room.

Tony replied, "No room for regrets. Veronica?" He called.

_"Yes, Mr Stark?" _Jarvis replacement, Veronica, replied through the console next to the laundry's door.

Tony laughed briefly. "Is Pepper awake? If so, establish a connection. "

Veronica replied, "Understood." It only took a few seconds before Pepper's image appeared in a hologram between the trios. She was sat on a chair in front of her laptop and currently typed something.

_"Hey To..._" Pepper paused when she saw the other end of the line. _"What on earth -"_

"Hello!' Tony greeted as he moved his right arm around Peter's shoulders and brought him closer.

_"Hello?" _She said aghast_. "What's going on? Steve? Is that a gym short?"_

Steve looked down. "Yeah...?"

"And this is Spider-Bra! An exclusive…!" Tony patted Peter's back.

His girlfriend shook her head, checking if it was a dream, but it wasn't._ "Are you guys drunk...?"_

Tony continued, "Not drunk; I like to call it 'under heavy alcohol influence', it has some style on it."

_"Where's Natasha or Gwen…? Let me talk to them."_

"It's alright, darling, good to see you. I will call you later!"

"Wait -"

Tony shut down the connection as they laughed like if it was the funniest thing ever. He recomposed himself and ordered, "Veronica, contact Nick Fury!"

It didn't took long for a the holographic image of the ex-Shield head appear on front of the group. Nick appeared sat on a toilet and appeared to be reading the newspaper. He instantly saw the disturbance, but couldn't notice who the intruders were due to his end being disturbed and the image getting affected by that.

_"What in the hell...Guards...!" _He yelled.

An unknown voice replied,_ "You need more paper, sir?!"_

_"No! Hydra has found me!"_ Fury state furiously.

They laughed altogether, before Tony explained himself. "Nick, relax! It's just me, Steve and Peter!"

_"What…?! I visited Clint's farm to motivate you guys to stay together as team, not to pry on me!"_

"And it worked!" Tony grinned at his squad mates. "Nice to know you're doing well, see you later!"

After they laughed together until they ran out of oxygen, the only door was opened with a blonde woman strolling towards them.

"I trust you have an explanation for this, a very good one." Gwen inquired as she stepped inside with arms crossed. "Is that my bra?'

Peter looked at Tony who shrugged his shoulders in response and then return his gaze back at his wife. "Yes...?"

Gwen covered her face with her right hand, feeling ashamed for her husband and friends. "Oh for god's sake..."

* * *

Still feeling the effects of his earlier crusade, the door from the closed commons slid open with Peter stepping into one of the many catwalks around the underground facility where the enormous killer weapon was finally being finished meters underneath him. It was quiet, it was late and most people were already sleeping, and despite being a underground installation, the top notch air system managed to regulate the temperature outside the living floors.

He leaned against the balcony and gazed the device not so far away from his position, just a few meters below. It instantly brought him back to reality, there's a war happening and the time for resting was already gone. In the following days, he would face his most dangerous battle, one that would define the fate of humanity, man against machine.

While he chose to avoid such thoughts, he wasn't blind to realize the chances of victory were pretty slim to none, their future was at the hands of an inexperienced construct, and if that doesn't work, there's the unknown weapon which it's side effects weren't really booked, but it was their only options, one way or another the war would end in the following hours.

Reflecting about his whole life, the ups and downs, the victories and the failures, Peter was proud of his accomplishments he was granted due to the lessons he went through. If someone asked him twenty years ago if he ever thought about having what he has now, Peter would certainly such dismiss such future, but thanks to Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Harry Osborn, Captain Stacy and Gwen Stacy herself, everything he ever dreamt of came to reality, because of them, he became the man and guardian he was meant to be, with his biggest accomplishments being the ones he loved most, Elizabeth, David and Aiden, his children. That was enough, and the most important aspect of his life, he would move mountains for them.

And finally, there's his other family, a group of people with distinct origins and costumes, but that wasn't an obstacle for their natural bond to be established over the years, and here they were, celebrating what could possibly be their last moment together, despite all the suicide odds, they're together until the very end.

Peter smiled. He lived a good life, a learning adventure, one that he would do it again if necessary.

"Back to planning…?" Gwen asked as she embraced him from behind.

Peter nodded, seeing Gwen moving herself very close and next to him, before intertwining her fingers with his and leaning her head on his shoulder. "Yeah, can't say I didn't had a good time though.." He paused." ...maybe my last one..."

Gwen smiled and said reassuringly, "Hey, cheer up, I know you, you'll find a way to win... and when you do, our family will be awaiting for you." She leaned closer and kissed his cheek, before whispering, "I won't say it's been totally easy, it wasn't, but despite the rough times, we had a good run..."

Peter smiled happily and turned his head to slowly and passionately kiss her warm lips, not rushing the moment, but just appreciating the lovingly and eternal moment he was living with the love of his life, and mother of his children.

Before kissing her again, he took a brief pause and whispered, "... an unforgettable one."

* * *

**And we're now reaching the storylines' end, this chapter was written with the objective to spend one more last time with some of these characters, a way to close an era, so I gave each character an special moment before the final battle triggers, and hopefully, I did a good job in honoring them.**

**Clint's farm was something that happened in the movies, and here as well, but I decided to remove it from the last chapter because I don't think it was really necessary, who watched the movie can picture what happened in here, and yes, Nick Fury is back.**

**I said I wouldn't write Jarvis, but I changed my mind after finding a reasonable way to insert him into the plot.**

**Something I wanted to explore deeply, was to make Peter unique in the sense that he's a coin with two sides, if that makes any sense, not only regarding the Peter Parker and Spider-Man, but his gifts as well. The way I interpreted the mythos and the movies is that no matter how much of a good person he is, he can't deal with such monumental powers by himself, he can't rely on his own to keep them on check, that's where Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Captain Stacy and Gwen come in, they're the ones who guided and still guide him, they're the ones who created the beloved Spider-Man, and without such important persons and their lessons, Peter wouldn't use his powers like he currently does, keep them balanced, and avoid his own dark side, the Black Spider-Man, a Spider-Man who didn't care about others that much, and only served the city because there wasn't anything else to do, that's what's he meant to do, on his very way, and when Fiers mentioned the emotional baggage, that only reinforced what I wanted to tell. That's a very interesting dilemma, that may come back on the future, but not with Peter. Who knows?**

**I wanted to quickly address a negative review, it's hard to understand what scrambled means here, the plot?Characters? Writing? Eggs? I'd love to hear constructive criticism, I'm always wanting to improve, but calling it out will be often ignored. **

**I'd like to thank FireflySurvivor, despite her personal issues, she's willing to help me again, and I really appreciate it. Big hug!**

**The extra chapter possibility is still up, hit me a PM or state around here if you'd like to read it, it's finished, not long, and I won't take long to update if it's requested.**

**About the chapter, hated, loved it? I'm always open to suggestions or questions. Thanks again, hope everyone have a good weekend!**


	47. Farewell And Into The Inevitable

**A/N : Hey guys, like promised, here's the special chapter. I know that not everyone enjoys what many call 'smut', so this chapter is divided in two parts, reading the last one which gains the M rating is not a requirement to understand anything, is just a complimentary piece. **

**I hope I did good, and I'm now working on the storylines' conclusion, the chapter called "Protectors of Earth", a mark that will end the second act and will definitely change how the world sees who we call heroes.**

**Final revision and editing made by the best, FireflySurvivor.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

In their bedroom, Gwen was sitting in the couch with her laptop in front of her on the table, writing a mail to Howard's wife, Miranda. In the background some soft classical music was playing and she had lit some candles. Gwen had volunteered and finished report on their logistical replenishment as well as a financial report on the costs. Both reports had been forwarded to Naval Command and Peter's mail account. It would be interesting to see if her lover would read the reports, he had read the operations report and was satisfied with it. Gwen typed away on the computer.

Miranda had of course a whole set of questions about Gwen and Peter and their family that she wanted answered. Gwen answered them willingly, happy to spend some time with the family.

In the background she heard the door open and the sound of steps on the floor. She turned slightly and saw Peter come into view as he walked down the steps.

"Hey, mommy…" Peter said and slid down the armchair and began taking of his shoes.

"Hey."

Peter looked around the room as he tossed one of the shoes into the corner. "Nice atmosphere." He turned to Gwen and smiled, "Very romantic."

Gwen smiled faintly, "I guess, but I just wanted something calming."

"Tired?" Peter asked and the other shoe slid off and he tossed it at the direction of the first one.

"A little, but I wanted to turn my head off from all work and spend some time with the kids. They're sleeping now."

Peter rose from the armchair and sat down next to Gwen and slid an arm around her waist. Gwen closed the laptop.

"Oh, secrets…?" Peter asked with a grin.

Gwen gave him a coy smile and moved closer, "Maybe. I was responding on a mail to Miranda." She leaned back into the couch, enjoying the closeness.

"Okay."

"So, what happened earlier? You seemed agitated."

Peter scratched his stubble and sighed, "Well, I talked with Adams. He pretty much confirmed everything Gustav mentioned."

"But it isn't anything fatal, right?" She asked, concerned.

"No, no, it will pass." He affirmed. "It's just this damn war."

"I'm glad." She smiled, before teasing, "I was hoping you'd come by, Flash told me you're talking with this woman for quite some time.

Peter sighed annoyed, "Come on, she's one of the cookers, and is there a reason why you are jealous and suspicious when there's nothing to warrant that?" Peter reached out with his arm and took one of her hands in his and pulled lightly to motion her to sit down again.

Gwen rolled her eyes and sat down next to him again. Gwen snorted "I'm not jealous." She crossed her arms again as well as her legs.

"Yes you are." Peter said knowingly and smirked. "You are jealous, possessive and probably over-protective as well."

Gwen declared annoyed, "I don't like when other women are fawning over you. Peter Parker or Spider-Man…doesn't matter."

"You have mentioned that once or twice." Peter grinned. "All this is kind of flattering actually."

Gwen let out half a chuckle. "I'm not sharing you." Gwen reached out and touched his lap affectionately.

Peter slid his arm around her waist again and brought her closer and smirked as he kissed her on the cheek, "Duly noted Mrs Parker." He nodded. "And for the record, don't think you're the only one who is annoyed by it, because the same happens to me."

"Poor you…" Gwen smiled a bit before she turned to him and asked, "So what happened next?"

"Well, you don't need to worry about her 'fawning' over me anymore." He avoided the question, not wanting to spoil the surprise.

Gwen scoffed, "Well, you have never been a good liar."

Peter just shrugged at her jab. "Wait and see, Gwendy."

"I think I may need to talk to her since you aren't collaborating."

Peter couldn't help but smirk, "You are over-protective."

Gwen turned to him and scoffed, "I care for you, Peter. Of course I'm going to protect those I care for."

"Right, obviously." Peter said cautiously. "And I'm happy with you, Gwendy." Peter assured her. "Years ago, I found someone who stands by me and who's loyal to me. Someone I can trust. You'll see."

Gwen nodded with a smile until she continued evenly, "You're into something."

"Stop investigating, Sherlock." He chuckled.

Gwen smirked, "Of course I will. I'm mostly the brains here." She teased. She knew her husband was a genius, but their rivalry was finally kicking in.

Peter chuckled and played along, "And the looks as well, while I'm the muscle."

Gwen laughed and kissed his cheek before she leaned forward over the table and blew out the candles. She said, "I'm starving, let's go and finally get some dinner for ourselves."

Peter grinned, "We could do that…or stay here." He grabbed her by the waist again and pulled Gwen back and moved away her golden hair and kissed her neck. She didn't put up much resistance and let him carry on with his mesmerizing activity for a few moments, enjoying the treatment.

Gwen turned around in his embrace and said, "No Peter, you have to be rested for tomorrow. It's the big day." She knew the war's conclusion was only hours away.

Peter was a little surprised but pushed a little, "You're most important to me."

"Likewise, but... I'm hungry." Gwen declared.

Peter accepted that and said, "Okay." Then he grinned again, "But I thought you would collect on a much longer…'session' then the previous one."

Gwen chuckled, "Oh, I will honey, just not now. Patience is a virtue."

"That's difficult with you around."

Gwen shook her head and smirked, "Be that as it may you'll have to make due. Help me with the candles." Gwen stood up from the couch.

"Yes ma'am." Peter said and saluted. "Since you're into dinner, I got something for you."

"Oh?"

He stood up and took her hand. "It's outside. I wanted this night to be special."

"Wow, I... I need to dress properly. You could've warned me."

Peter shook his head and caressed her hand with his thumb. "You're perfect this way."

Gwen smiled happily; he always knew how to treat her well.

"Wait here, the waiter is probably waiting for me." He released her and headed towards the door.

Gwen sat on the couch and patiently waited for her lover to return. It didn't take long. The waiter entered their large bedroom, carrying the cart that contained their food, glasses, wine, candles and napkins. He went to prepare their small dinner table, making it fancy and cosy with the soft humming light coming from the candles.

A classic French onion soup is not complete without its crown of bread and grated cheese. The used method had the onions slow-cook in the oven, which, while time intensive, requires little effort. The onions cook throughout the afternoon, and an hour before dinner the soup is ready to finish.

After they settled in, Gwen finally spoke, "Peter, this is… this is incredible. I don't know what to say." Gwen said on her seat, after the waiter left, her voice thick with emotion.

"You needn't say anything, my love." Peter said in faux-suave voice, raising his glass to take a sip of the wine. Gwen laughed as she took a sip of her wine as well.

"That has got to be the cheesiest thing you've ever said to me." It was now Peter's turn to laugh. "But really, Peter, thank you. This really means a lot to me."

Dinner was fantastic. Neither really felt like talking because they found the food enjoyable and the silence comfortable. It was only after they had finished eating did their conversation start up again.

"It's really beautiful, isn't it?" Gwen asked as she took in the view of their food.

"Yes, it is." Peter replied, looking pointedly at the stunning woman before him. Turning to find him looking at her, Gwen's cheeks turned a fetching shade of red when she realized that Peter was referring to her and not the lovingly food.

"Thank you." She whispered, looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes. "I do have a question for you, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead."

"How did you manage to pull this off on such short notice?" Peter feigned confusion.

"What do you mean? What makes you think that I haven't been planning this for a while?"

She chuckled. "I guess this is why you're busy today."

He nodded, and moved his left hand over hers. "I asked this plate because it reminds me of our honeymoon in France."

Gwen intertwined her fingers with his. "It's a taste was familiar to me, good choice, honey."

Peter smirked and flirted, "I always aim to please my girl."

"That you do. You're amazing."

His eyes went from their hands to her eyes, the physical tension spreading on the air around them.

Her breath caught in her throat when he slowly leaned across the table. She recognized the movement at once. It felt as if time had all but stopped as he inched closer to her. She could feel her heart drumming against her ribs in anticipation of what would come.

She hesitated at first, all the recent feelings and fears coming at once, but eventually, she cut the distance between them as their lips met in a searing kiss. This was so much better, she felt as if an electrical current went up her spine. She simply enjoyed the moment she found herself in.

Unexpectedly, Gwen broke the kiss and gazed his brown eyes for a brief moment, before looking away.

Peter asked worried, "Hey, Gwendy, what's wrong?"

Gwen breathed heavily. "I just..." She sighed, before standing up and taking a few steps and crossing her arms under her breasts, letting Peter face her back. "When we're together, just us, I forget everything, but then the realization comes back, and I remember that this may very well be... our last time together, and I can't bear this thought, pretending that everything will go well and we will live happily ever after..." She confessed.

Peter stood up as well, approaching her, but not making any contact. "This is what has been bothering you?"

"Yes, I'm afraid, afraid of losing someone I love so much, you'll be out tomorrow, fighting thousands of drones, fighting for us, I wish this was just another simply criminal case that I know you wouldn't get hurt, but you probably will, and there's nothing I can do about it besides watching it." She continued, "This is...a horrible feeling."

"Don't you want to live happily ever after?"

"I do... but, if it only was that easy, I love you, I adore you, and I worry so much about you, what if you don't come back? How will the kids handle it? How am I going to handle it? Is this our last moment together? Believe me, Peter, there's nothing I want besides growing up old together and watching our kids become responsible adults, I seek that, but I fear in losing such future." She wiped a single tear from that went down her cheek. "I've already lost an important man on my life; I don't want to lose another one."

Peter slowly and gently wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and leaned his cheek besides her. He comforted her with his warm and body. He understood why his wife was so conflicted. She was finally allowing everything that she buried inside of her go out, her frustrations, fears and concerns. She couldn't ignore all the possible outcomes; pretend that everything is going to be alright.

"I understand." He whispered softly. "I wish I could come up with something, but you're right, it won't be easy and fair, I know, honey."

Gwen placed her hands over his that were resting on her belly. She spoke gently, "You don't need to say anything, Peter."

He hesitated for a moment, but the right words finally came, "No... I do." He gently turned her around so that he could face her, and hold her hands. "When I first met you back at high school, I saw a beautiful woman who never gave up, never was afraid of a challenge, determined and loving. This life isn't easy for you. You could have left me so many times, but you didn't, you were always there for me, supporting me, and enduring the risks that come by sharing a life with me and Spider-Man. You never complained about anything, the reason for that is very simple; you're strong, and that's why I need you to continue to believe me and not let fear dictate what could happen next." He gently used his thumb to raise her chin. "I still think I don't deserve you, but every day I try to give you the best life possible, and I still plan to do that and for that I must win... I love you."

Gwen slowly took his hand and moved it close to her buttocks as she placed her both hands on his shoulders and then caressed his perfect brown hair. "During my life, I've lost you twice, not anymore." She leaned up and made contact with his warm lips, kissing them passionately as her desire reached high levels, wanting nothing but her husband at the current moment.

Peter cupped her cheek and return the kiss with the same passion, slipping a single hand underneath her shirt and caressing the flawless and smooth skin of her back, losing himself into her scent, not holding back as he proceeded to enjoy every last second possible with his beautiful wife before the final battle.

* * *

Alone in their quarters their kissing was much more lustful than before. Gwen pulled back for a breath of air and gave him a seductive smile. She pressed her body against his and they started anew as they slowly moved for the bed. They parted their kiss with a gasp as Gwen pushed him down the bed and straddled him before she continued kissing with a content moan as it deepened. She tried to remove her sleeves but he wasn't letting her go. Allowing him to revel in his small victory for now, instead of freeing her arms from her sleeves, she brought her hands lower and started tugging at Peter's shirt, pulling it up and bunching it under his arms insistently.

She began to kiss his jaw line and neck as Peter caressed her almost bare chest. As their passion built up Gwen gave into their sensual pleasure and wanted more.

Reluctantly, he broke the kiss and started pulling at his shirt to take it off. Gwen took the opportunity to finally doff her blouse, seizing Peter's arms before he fully could take off his top, keeping it bunched up around his face and effectively blindfolding him.

He grinned and tried to shake her off, but she held him firmly and kissed him roughly before letting go and pushing him to a standing position.

Peter finally worked his way out of his shirt and groaned when Gwen got off the bed and started working the buckle of his pants until it slid down his legs,

Clad only in his boxers now, she stood up and pushed Peter into a sitting position on the bed. Smiling saucily at him, she peeled off her own pair of pants in an agonizingly slow pace in front his face.

Seeing the darkening desire in his eyes sent a thrill down her spine as she finally cast aside her clothes, leaving her in her lingerie. She straddled him again and sighed when he reached around and undid the clasp to her lacy bra.

With her breasts free from their confines, Peter brought his hands and massaged them with soft caresses. Through it all, her pants and moans became longer and more frequent, culminating into involuntary spasms of her hips.

Soon, Peter tilted his head down and began nibbling and swirling his warm tongue around her nipple. Gwen's head lolled back. For some reason, tonight, she felt extra sensitive. She almost felt like coming undone from just his actions on her breasts alone. Before long, he switched sides, bringing his mouth to her other unfettered breast, while one his hands ensured that the one he just vacated continued to receive attention.

Gripping his shoulders tightly, she felt his free hand wander downward toward her bottom. Slipping underneath her panties, he causally brushed past her trim mound and against her sex.

Gwen let out a gasp, but nothing else. Her eyes were shut closed now and her mouth was opening and closing wordlessly. Her body trembled with desire and her hips continued an incessant rocking against Peter's fingers as he manipulated her body. A swirl of his tongue at her nipple caused her to twitch. A finger teasing her entrance made her toes curl. A calloused hand gently massaging brought out a sigh.

Suddenly, he pulled away and everything stopped.

She growled in frustration and opened her eyes to glare at him. The dork had a smug smile on his face, one she wanted wipe off just so he could get back to what he was doing. He grinned and tried to shake her off, but she held him firmly and kissed him roughly before letting go and pushing him to a standing position..

Peter brought both of his hands to cup her bottom once again. Surprisingly, he lifted her up from his sitting position from the bed. She instinctively brought her legs around his waist and locked them together for support.

He kissed her briefly before turning around so that he was facing the bed this time. Slowly, he deposited her atop the soft covers and loomed over her. He started at her lips, lightly sucking at her lower lip before planting kisses along her jawline and throat, in-between the valley of her breasts, and down her abdomen. As he drew lower, his hands ran down then up along her toned legs until they gripped her panties. With a deliberateness that was positively torturous, he continued to rain kisses before he gently bit the side of her panties and ripped it apart. A long trail of her apparent readiness coated the garment.

"Damn it, Peter, do you have any idea how much they cost?" Gwen whispered amidst her moans.

She braced herself in ardent anticipation when he would make contact with her nether regions and moaned in frustration when he dodged neatly to the side, choosing to pay attention to her inner thighs. While wonderful, she wanted more, an immediate satisfaction to the burning in her loins. Pulling her legs up, she slipped out of her undergarments and parted her thighs enticingly. Her arousal generated a healthy dose of moisture.

Peter tossed aside her panties and took her invitation. Gripping her hips, he brought his head down and began using his mouth and tongue to great effect on her womanhood.

Gwen let her head drop down to the bed and placed her hands on her lover's head, stroking his hair gently and encouraging him to continue. "Peter..."

She bucked uncontrollably, forcing him to use his arms to press down on her hips to still her movements. He lightly blew against her dampness, causing a chill that vanished when he ran his tongue over the affected areas.

Gwen tried to pull his head into her erogenous spots, but he fought against her and kept pleasuring/torturing her at his own pace. She brought her hands to her breasts and started squeezing herself in a vain effort get to that one last push. Unfortunately, despite the increased sensitivity, she could not get herself off. She could feel herself on the precipice now, but Peter masterfully kept her there, pulling back and dipping in.

She tried to wrap her legs around his head to force him to finish it, but his powerful arms kept her in check as he continued to torment her, unheeding of her cries.

"Oh…damn it!" she screamed. Cursing was out of character for her. Words could be a powerful weapon, and she always felt that vulgarities were demeaning to her intelligence and style. However, her lust addled mind couldn't think of anything more suitable.

As if sensing she had enough, he wrapped his warm mouth on her most sensitive spot. He swirled his tongue a few times, dragging her closer and closer to the precipice.

Finally, waves of pleasure crashed into her. Gwen jerked as she let the sensations wash over her mind. Her eyes fluttered, and her hands mashed her breasts.

When it passed, she sighed and relaxed a little bit, though her desire didn't diminish.

Thankfully, Peter had proven himself up to the task many times before. Either it was the gifts or his indomitable will. Whatever the reason, she didn't care at this moment.

She still wanted more.

Peter stood up and took off his boxers. It was painfully evident that he was ready for more as well.

Climbing back onto the bed, he cupped the sides of her head and kissed her. She could taste herself on his lips and moaned. He explored her mouth with his tongue for a little while longer before pulling away.

Burning with anticipation and wonton lust, she pushed against his bare chest and prepared to mount him.

Instead, she gasped in surprise when he grabbed her wrists and held it tightly above her head. Pushing back, he forced her down on the bed and loomed over her. Gwen struggled futilely against his very superior strength, leverage, and position.

In the past times they've made love, she had taken the top position during most of the time. Peter had been more than content to let her have her way.

This time, he held on to his dominating advantage and positioned himself between her legs.

Her movements ceased when it felt like an electric jolt emanated from her sex. Peter idly brushed the tip of his rod along the outside. Something more raw and primal took over now. Unable to hold back, she spread her legs a little more, offering herself completely as he poised his manhood at the entrance to her sex and gently laid himself over her, kissing the smooth skin of her neck. At this point, it was less about pride and more about the pleasure.

He started thrusting, not violently, but slowly enough that she was jarred by the rhythmic motions.

Again, she tried to free herself from his grip, but he was unrelenting. She resisted in other ways though, shifted and moving her hips so that she could rub him just in one particular way before changing positions yet again.

Her actions were obviously affecting him if his clenched teeth, groans and grunts were any indication.

In response, he released her arms only to grip her waist and countered with deep and slow thrusts. Her gambit was now a double-edged blade. Every time she moved, he kept touching on a hidden spot, or discovers a new region within her that would cause her to cry out in ecstasy and momentarily lose control of herself. His considerable girth along with his embrace now restricted her movements.

Despite the freedom of her limbs, all she could do now was clutch the pillow above her and ride out the sensations Peter constantly wrung out of her body.

In time they starting moving together, him thrusting harder into her and her moving however she was able with her legs tightly locked around his butt. Dominance and control slipped back and forth between them; there were times where his straight-up pounding almost brought her to climax, while her warmth, wetness, and tight quaking channel nearly sent him over the edge.

Soon, Gwen began to shake, already feeling herself peak before him. Her skin was flushed and her throaty moans and quiet pleas filled the room.

Peter leaned closer, placing his face next to hers until they were cheek to cheek. The feeling left hot, almost burning sensations where he touched. "You... are beautiful." he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.

She'd heard the words countless times during their relationship, but the way he said it this time, made her spine shiver.

Her back arched as she gave into passion. She screamed out in joyous climax, a heavenly perception that was further prolonged when Peter thrust twice more before he shot his essence into her.

Gwen had no idea how long she surrendered and let herself go. The kaleidoscope of feelings had left her feeling light-headed, though she recovered quickly.

Peter panted lightly and was lying at her side.

She knew from experience that he could go again. She pushed his shoulder experimentally.

He arched an eyebrow, and this time, rolled onto his back.

She sat up and kissed him, before moving past his face to suckle on his ear. Peter groaned from the action. Like clockwork, it sprang to life at her gentle coaxing. She straddled him and, like his earlier display, abandoned the foreplay. She held his member gently and pulled herself down it quickly, letting out a moan as she was pierced yet again.

Heart pounding furiously, they continued to rock back and forth. Peter timed his up thrusts masterfully, even as his hands reached up and stroked her breasts.

Once again, their pace became frantic. After several more minutes of rapid lovemaking, Peter gasped and shot another load into her.

She collapsed on top of him and let out a ragged breath. One of his arms came up and wrapped around her. The other brushed away sweat-matted hair to allow an unobstructed view of her face.

Coming down from her own paradise, she lightly panted and basked in post coital bliss. The both of them were hardly spent, but as her thoughts reorganized and reasserted themselves, she knew they needed they needed to regain their energy and soon.

The mission was about to take priority once again.

She adjusted her position so she could fully face her lover and propped her head in her hand. "So… what happens now, Peter?" She asked contentedly. An involuntary smile crept across her lips when the arm she was resting on traced lazy patterns on her back.

He paused for a moment at her sudden question before using his free hand once more to brush aside her blonde locks before cupping her cheek. Looking straight into her eyes, she felt a shiver at the intensity within.

"I'd have thought that was fairly obvious by now. You and me: We stand together," He answered.

"I can live with that," she whispered.

Peter kissed her lips, "You're the woman of my life, my best friend, partner and wife. I love you so much."

Gwen reciprocated the kiss and said, "I love you more, baby."

He smiled before drawing her in for one last kiss. Something she eagerly returned.

And more...


	48. Protectors Of Earth

**This is it everyone, a clash of titans. I took my time with this chapter, needed to make sure everything was going on as planned. Big thanks to Sebas F for the final battle's location and other minor stuff that helped a great deal, and I also thank FireflySurvivor for sticking up with me since this particular storylines' start and for revising all chapters since then.**

**Now, you get to see how the war ends.**

* * *

**March 22th - 2028**

Steve Rogers crossed his arms as he stared the holopanel in the wall in front of him. It had an extended digital map of Paris, where Ultron supposedly was hiding his most important operational base, the city was one of the few that weren't attacked yet and thanks to Falcon's initiative, and they could end the fight at the enemy's home, and discover what Ultron is hiding under the city.

He sighed. He knew it wouldn't be easy. They weren't going to defeat Ultron's army, but recover the tesseract from Ultron's possession so that they could activate The Breach, a weapon which will work as a global electric magnetic pulse, coded only to Ultron's and his army's framework. That would be the last option if Jarvis fails to contain his own creator.

They only had to distract Ultron, gain territory, and transport The Breach to Paris when they finally, and hopefully, retrieve the Tesseract. The weapon would be guarded with a soldiers and an engineer team from inside, while War Machine and his squadron of jets are outside.

_It's definitely a crazy mission_. He thought.

Tony entered the room silently, forgetting to close the door, before leaning his back against the wall and asking gently, "How are you holding up, Steve?"

The soldier didn't turn around to face him. "I won't lie. I'm worried."

"The team is strong; you know _nobody_ will be coming out from this war unscratched." Tony continued reassuringly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't help much." He looked down to the floor. "Still, this is it. Are you ready?" He inquired.

"No way will we all get through this." Tony replied. "If there's only one Avenger missing everything will be lost. There will be blood on the battlefield."

"Well, it's not like I have anything else to do anyways. We can do this together." Steve turned around and smiled weakly.

"I'll meet the big guy first. He'll probably be waiting for me."

From outside the room and in the corridor, Jarvis quickly passed next to the entrance and spoke briefly, "That's true. He hates you the most." He left.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "I liked him more when he was just an AI."

Steve chuckled. He walked towards the billionaire and patted him on the shoulder. "See you on the shuttle." He made his way towards the exit.

"Aye, Captain."

* * *

Peter slowly opened his eyes, waking up from a restful sleep, Gwen's head resting on his chest, looking as though she didn't move at all during the whole night. She had an arm draped across his bare chest.

_This is exactly what I fought for_.

Peter stroked her exposed belly underneath the sheets and kissed the top of her blonde hair. Seconds before he was going to move himself from Gwen's touch, he was greeted with a pleasant "Morning."

"How did you -"

"Your heartbeat changed, woke me up. You have a rather pleasant heartbeat when you sleep, very soothing," She mentioned, the two sharing a quick kiss.

He looked up the ceiling, remembering that his perfect wife was a light sleeper. "Didn't know about that…"

"Mh-hmmm..." Gwen moved to kiss his shoulder where he had a small injury. Now a dark bruise was visible. She asked softly, "Does it hurt?"

"Not right now." He flirted.

Gwen smiled and continued to kiss his shoulder and up to his neck before she stopped and rested her head on his shoulder while she slowly caressed his torso with her fingers. Peter caressed her back while they remained quiet for some time, basking in their company.

They lied under the bed sheet, barely naked and with arms wrapped around each other and legs entwined.

"Last night was amazing." Peter said with a weak smile.

"Indeed." Gwen caressed his toned chest.

Peter chuckled without any know reason.

"What?" Gwen kissed his earlobe, clearly enjoying her last minutes with him.

"I just remembered the time you wore my first suit."

Gwen giggled. "Oh yes, took you a _decade_ to remove it from me." She teased.

"Well, I'm sure I got better."

Gwen smirked at his hint. She said flirtatious, "Is that a request, my dear husband?"

Peter massaged her bare back by trailing circles on the smooth and flawless skin with his thumb. "Could be..."

"Get back to me, and I'll definitely consider it." She hugged kissed his cheek.

"I will." Peter returned the kiss, slowly moving his arms from her body. He groaned and sat on their bed.

"Where are you going?" Gwen assumed a standing position and leaned her head on his left shoulder, while resting her left hand on his well-defined bare abdomen.

"There's still a war going on." Peter replied gently, not looking at her green eyes.

"Are you ready?"

Peter sighed. He had to be. "You can't ever be ready for something like this."

"I believe in you." She continued reassuringly.

He slowly nodded to himself. "Yeah...let's hope my 'gifts' can get us out of this."

"Why's that?' She asked concerned.

"Well, without them, I wouldn't be here... I wouldn't be who I am today." He gazed the floor. "This would be my ultimate test; if I'm ready to defend those who need assistance."

"You give Spider-Man too much credit for your accomplishments; not everything you achieved on this life was because of him." Gwen replied gently. "Nobody is born a hero, Peter, they become one, you're perfect, and Spider-Man or not, I love you regardless."

He turned to look over to Gwen, catching her eye with a smile. "You're right." He gave her a tiny peck on the lips "You asked how I feel, but what about you?"

Gwen placed her arms around his neck from behind. She gave him a tender kiss on his lips.

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be."

"Ah, about that," He swallowed nervously at Gwen's narrowing eyes. This was the one person he knew he would struggle to get to leave. "Gwendy..."

"No way Peter," She gave him an icy glare, though he did see the affection it represented. "I'm not leaving you."

"But..."

"No. I said I'd stand by your till the end," She placed a hand on his cheek, lightly stroking it. "I'm going to do that."

"I know, and thank you for that," He could see her eyes watering slightly; it was killing him to be the cause of that. "But I need you to survive this; I need something good to come out of it."

"I'm not going to hang around this base like a spare part." She argued back.

"Please Gwen..."

"I love you," She held his gaze, staring directly into her eyes.

"I love you too Gwen Stacy Parker," He swallowed again, feeling tears of his own coming on. "And that's why I need to know you'll be okay, the kids will need you if anything happens."

She gave him another tender kiss, placing her feelings of love behind it. "I guess I won't win this one then."

He nodded, smiling to her. "You can't win them all."

"I can't wait for this to be over," She looked beyond him, smiling as she spoke. "We'll be able to have a normal life again, just us, me, you and the kids."

Peter smiled. He turned his head and kissed her warm lips. "We will." He whispered as they shared their one last kiss in hours.

* * *

Pietro grabbed a new pair of shoes from his closet and placed them on the ground and besides him. He later proceeded to slip his blue shirt over his muscular torso. He was going to his second mission with The Avengers and he didn't know how to feel about that. They had come a long way since they first met. Most of his grudges against Stark had already vanished once he understands him and his motives.

Next to him, Wanda eyed the curious par on the next room that was divided by a transparent window. Jarvis and Thor were chatting about something she couldn't really figure, not that she wanted to. The half organic and half synthetic construct seemed to be interacting much more than the usual and his mind became a mystery to Wanda after she tried to read him on Ultron's carrier. He was something else, and that got the so-called 'Scarlet Witch' curious.

Noticing his sister was currently sailing through space; Pietro retrieved her characteristic red jacket from their closet and gently threw at her with a smirk.

Wanda instantly was brought back to reality once the jacket landed on her face. She grabbed the material and turned on her shoulder to face her playful brother who was as fast as the sound.

"What?" Wanda raised an eyebrow.

"Stop oggling." He teased.

"I'm not." She affirmed calmly.

He shook his head in disapproval. "Believe me sis, I know you very well. I was born faster than you."

Wanda chuckled at his horrible joke. "A few minutes, yes, but you still struggles to crack a decent joke."

* * *

Clint opened his locket at the armoury as the soft lights automatically were turned on, illuminating his arsenal of small explosive rounds for his bow. He picked one cartridge and placed on the special compartment of his boot, before picking his metallic arrows and stashing them on the specific slot on his back.

He was focused and determined, ready to engage the enemy. If he managed to survive the upcoming battle, he wouldn't be an Avenger afterwards, at least not for some time. He wanted to get back to his farm and spend more time with his family, even now that his unborn child could be seeing the light at any second.

Clint sat on the bench behind him and sighed. He retrieved a photo from his family and eyed it with saddened eyes. They're his source of inspiration. He wouldn't let them down

_I'm soon coming home._

* * *

Already wearing his red and blue original Spider-Man suit minus the mask since Iron - Spider wasn't functional, Peter entered the darkness of his kid's bedroom, with Gwen following him closely. He silently sat on the edge of the twin's bed and started to carefully massage Aiden's belly, waking him up calmly. He lazily opened his eyes and was greeted with a heartfelt smile from his father.

Gwen leaned her shoulder against the wall and crossed arms. She observed the moment, what could've been their last one as a family.

"Hey, buddy." He stroked Aiden's hair. "I'll be out for some time. You three will stay here with mommy for the meantime."

Aiden placed his small hand over his father's. He still was clearly sleepy. "Why?" He asked innocently.

"I have to do something... so that we can go back to our apartment, met Ren again, grandma and your uncles." Peter explained.

"Can I go with you?"

Peter smiled and shook his head. "Not this time, buddy." He pulled the coves close to his neckline and asked, "Bear hug?"

Aiden smiled brightly. He opened his arms as Peter leaned down and hugged him for a few couple of seconds, an eternal hug. "I love you all." He carefully caressed David's cheek since he was still sleeping.

"I love you too, daddy."

Peter let him go and gave him one last smile, before getting up and nodding to Gwen so that she could put him back to sleep. Not too far, he kneeled besides Elizabeth's bed and saw her already awake, gazing him with her beautiful and deep green eyes.

_She's beautiful as her mother._ Peter thought. "Hey, gorgeous…" He smirked.

Her response was an adorable giggle, the sound he could hear for ages and never get bored. "Hi."

Peter took her hand on his and caressed it with his thumb. "You already know what I'm going to do. You're old enough. I'll miss you while I'm out, you know?"

"I'll miss you too." She replied softly.

He could see the fear on her eyes, and that was painful for him. He tried to gain a smile from his daughter, "i promised I'd take you to ice stake for the first time after we get back home. I intended to do it."

"I thought you had forgotten it." Elizabeth declared.

He frowned. "Off course not... I'm not that old, okay?"

She chuckled. "You're not old. Mommy says you're handsome."

Peter grinned and turned on his shoulder, seeing Gwen sat on the twin's bed and smiling to her after hearing her daughter's words. He turned to meet her again and teased, "I'm a handsome dad, am I right?"

Elizabeth stood in silence.

Peter knew she was pulling his leg. "Liz..."

"You are!"

Peter narrowed his eyes at her, teasingly. As if having Gwen teasing him since forever wasn't enough, now he had his own daughter doing so, like mother, like daughter.

She continued, "I swear, daddy."

"'I'll hold you on to it." Peter moved a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear and leaned closer to kiss her forehead. He pulled back and cupped her cheek. "I love you."

She sat on the bed wrapped her slim arms around his neck, giving him a warm hug which he deeply appreciated.

Peter patted her back softly and whispered, "Get some sleep; I will be back before you know it."

* * *

The Avengers were already in route to Paris. They're currently located inside of their small flying ship, in silence, just waiting for Steve's speech. The expectation was reaching high levels, and their bodies screamed how they're feeling about the upcoming battle, anxiety being the most consensual factor.

Steve looked up to the people around him, friends, brother and sisters. People who were going to follow him into hell if that was necessary to accomplish their goals.

He exhaled deeply and started, "You'll know the plan. Ultron knows we're coming; odds are we drag him into heavy fire, and that's what we signed for, the people of Paris? They didn't. So, our priority is to getting them out." He paused. "All they want is to live their lives in peace, that's not gonna happen today, but we can do our best to protect them."

Spider-Man nodded quietly.

"...we get the job done, find out what Ultron has been building, find Falcon, clear the field,keep the fight between us, and we'll wipe Ultron's army with The Breach once we recover the Tesseract." Steve looked down to the ship's metallic ground. "Ultron thinks we're monsters, that we're one of the many wrong things with the world...this is not only about beating him, it's about whether he's wrong or right."

* * *

**Paris - Local Hospital**

It was just like any other day. The male officer was sat on his chair at the hospital's entrance, doing his daily duty of giving the patients a sense of safely. He was ready to fall asleep, not much of work. At least the war hadn't reached his country, or else he wouldn't know what he could possibly do to help, after all, he's just another safe guard.

Without a warning, a blue-ish flash quickly stormed inside through the doors and stopped right in the middle of the hall. He looked like a runner. "We're under attack! Clear out the city!" Pietro warned. "Now…!"

Then he simply disappeared. The officer was stunned. It happened so fast he hadn't the necessary time to process everything. That could be said to everyone who was working in there. He crossed his arms on his chair and proceeded to resume his sleep again.

As if the first time wasn't enough, he felt another fast bolt coming through the entrance again. It was the same guy, but this time, he was holding an AK-47.

Pietro used his right hand to hold the rifle and then fire the weapon at the ceiling. "Get out, your arses." He walked towards the exit and threw the rifle at the officer's lap before disappearing again.

This time, they finally got the warning.

* * *

"Sir, I don't speak French!" Spider-Man tried to convince the old man who couldn't stop to ask him questions which he couldn't understand at all.

Peter and Steve were on the streets, reallocating people to the other side of the city, helping with the convoluted transit. It wasn't an easy task, and people weren't really happy about receiving orders by people who were wearing costumes and weren't from their beloved city as well.

"Vous êtes ce que l'Araignée gars? New York?" The old man asked excitedly.

Spider-Man nodded quickly. "Yes, I'm from New York, but I need you to leave this area right now. It's not safe."

"Come on everyone!" Steve passed through Spider-Man, signalling the cars to return instead of going forward to the possible area where Ultron was hiding.

"Je tellement entendu parler de vous, vous êtes un beau jeune homme!" He continued with a big smile.

"I'm sorry, but there's no time to chat." Spider-Man patted him on the shoulder. "I'd love to talk with you some other day, but you have to go."

The old man was about to say something when he suddenly stopped, along with everyone else on the street. All the sounds of horns ceased without any reasonable explanation.

Spider-Man turned on his shoulder and saw Wanda calmly standing not far away from him, with a red aura coming out from her figure. People were silently walking past her and heading towards a safe zone; others came off from their apartments and joined the crowd.

Close to Wanda, Clint eyed the surroundings for potential threats, while Flash who was already wearing the symbiote, crawl the walls with the same objective as the famous marksman.

It was clear now. Wanda was using her powers to manipulate people into obeying her will, which wasn't a bad one. He was glad for having a partner with her gifts, they're coming in handy, for the greater good, and while she was forcing something over them, he wasn't against it, not today. It was the best and most practical way to handle the current situation more effectively.

"It's not over, Peter." Steve approached him. "Let's make sure there's no one else missing."

Spider-Man nodded professionally. The job was far away from done. They just needed more time. Hopefully, Tony could stall Ultron for a few more couple of minutes.

* * *

Iron Man flew on a lower level throughout the city, searching for any signal of his creation; at least he thought it was. Ultron was no longer organic, he was a brainwashed machine thanks to someone Stark never had heard until the recent days. Ultron's essence was turned into a synthetic one, he couldn't feel anything, and Tony knew he had partially transformed that essence into the current Ultron, a construct that is self-aware and has its own opinion about what peace means.

_"Unknown signature on the nearest church…"_ Veronica informed.

Tony changed his course and stopped above the small church where the unusual readings were coming from. He found an opening on the ceiling and through it; he landed on the empty and abandoned ground. He analysed the place, finding a seat made of concrete right at the centre, but no signal of the intelligence.

_"Come to confess your sins?" _Ultron questioned, not coming from his hiding spot.

_"No, no, how much time do you got?"_ Tony asked back, still searching for the voice's source.

"More than you…" Ultron suddenly approached him from behind.

At the sound of heavy footsteps, Tony turned on his back, and was surprised by this new improved version of Ultron. _"Um... have you been juicing? Took a vibranium cocktail? You look...I don't want to say…puffy?"_

Ultron sighed. "You're stalling to protect the people."

_"That is the mission, have you forgotten?"_ Tony replied seriously.

The construct started to walk around. "I move beyond your mission, I'm free."

Suddenly, the ground between them shook and a device came straight through the concrete, causing Stark to take a few steps back in reaction as four plates opened from the structure and were lowered back to the ground, abruptly sticking them to it.

"You're not the only one who's stalling." Ultron stated.

Veronica informed,_ "There's the rest of the vibranium. Function: unknown."_

Through the visor's interface, Tony was informed the device reached thousands of meters underneath their current position.

_"What is this...?"_

Ultron revealed, "This is how your group ends to me. This is piece of my time. There's no escape like before."

* * *

Once the plan was set into motion by their leader, drones suddenly started to crawl their way through the ground as they ripped the rocks apart like if they're simply paper and got out on street level. They immediately flew towards the sky and proceeded to bomb the city, causing many civilians to run scared and to find shelter from the force that emerged out of the nowhere.

Rivers were no exception; swarms of drones arrived from them and joined their forces against any human that couldn't be part of Ultron's greater plan of survival.

Not far away, a drone violently landed on the car behind Steve who was ordering everyone to run away from the battlefield. The drone aimed his hand at the soldier and fired a blue energy blast, but his opponent was faster and dodged it with his shield on his right hand. It stepped into the ground and went to hit it's enemy as Steve simply swung his shield and threw the robot meters away from him.

Close to him, Spider-Man violently pressed a drone's head into the car's window, making a mess of the drone's face. He pulled it back from the window and quickly finished him with an uppercut that made the already damaged face fly off from the metallic body, instantly making the fallen enemy non-functional. The carcass fell into the ground and stood there.

Clint covered Wanda with his arrows, targeting one drone after another, and not missing a single shot. He had to keep her safe from their blind spot as she made a red-ish shield in front of her that protected the civilians who were running away from the battlefield. Flash was on the rooftops catching the ones who flew by with his back webs.

A lonely drone landed behind Clint but it didn't had the sufficient time to achieve anything since Clint had already pulled an arrow and pierced the drone's skull without even looking at his foe's face.

More troops landed close to Wanda and fired energy blasts at her shield. She was already losing her strength to keep it up. "Go!" She shouted.

Before Clint could find a spot to eliminate them in time, Wanda's shield was broken and she fell into the ground.

"Hold on!" Clint ran towards her and fired arrows at the same time.

* * *

Iron Man had left the church minutes earlier to scan what was going on and find an alternative plan to handle the situation, only Ultron was now present, taking care of the device, but that loneliness didn't last long enough.

"Ultron…" Vision called calmly as he levitated down the hole on the church's ceiling. He was ready to face his creator. "Hand down the Tesseract."

Ultron looked up and gazed Jarvis with his red glowing eyes. He levitated ad well and stood on Jarvis' level. "My Vision...they really took _everything_ from me." He affirmed, rather disappointed.

Vision challenged, "You set the terms. You can still change them."

"Alright," Ultron quickly placed his large hands on Vision's shoulder and contained who was supposed to be his final body where he would be alive again.

Vision didn't waste any time and placed both hands on the side of Ultron's head, he focused and entered his creator's matrix, hearing a gasp from him on the process. Ultron pressed Jarvis against the wall and tried to shake him off, but Jarvis wasn't letting him go that easily.

He had already removed Ultron's connection to the net as all of his strengths temporarily vanished due to the previous action. He released Ultron and slowly levitated backwards as he lost his consciousness.

Ultron brought his hands to his face and gasped stunned. He looked up to Jarvis with deadly eyes. "You took me out... you think I care?!" He grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him down onto the ground.

Since his opponent wasn't conscious, Ultron took the advantage and went to finally turn the safe lock of his device, putting it into full mode. "You take away my world, I take away yours."

* * *

Thor was given the objective to explore Ultron's caves and find out what he was planning, while Bruce and Natasha went to free their friend, Falcon, and had informed they had succeed with their own part.

Thor had already stepped inside of the intelligence's hidden factory, it was a colossal structure that formed more of his drones, but the place was currently inhabited at the moment, meaning he had the advantage to sabotage whatever Ultron was planning without facing any resistance on his way, which seemed a pretty good plan on paper, one that could've worked if it wasn't for a very simple detail.

_Maker's breath..._

After he looked up, Thor spotted a giant device stuck on the rocks, an engine, it suddenly turned on and started to work its way through the rock, shaking his solid ground and making considerable amount of large rocks to fall down his direction.

* * *

Spider-Man landed ontop of the flying drone and immediately inserted his hand through it's back, stopping only on the other side, he hold its blue core as the drone slowly started to malfunction and fly back to the ground. He let go of the drone and since there weren't any taller buildings where his webs could attach to, he let the gravity do its work and push him down, to his luck, he wasn't at high heights, and his perfectly timed stunt to roll on the asphalt managed to work just as fine.

As he stood up, two enemies abruptly stopped besides and went to attack him together at the same time. He jumped and violently pressed their heads together, smashing them together and putting them to no use.

He sighed and moved his hand to his right ear, activating his earpiece which was located underneath the mask and on his ear. "Flash…? How are you doing?'

_"Not good! Not very good!"_

Spider-Man turned on his back and saw Flash tangling with four drones on top of a small building not so far away in the open city. He was about to reach him and give him some assistance but the ground started to shake as if an earthquake was just taking place on Paris.

He spotted abrupt ruptures forming on the asphalt and close to the many cars. People screamed in terror, and once he knew, a white dust was draw around the city from the areas where its ground was being torn apart and separated from the other half.

Clint asked shocked through the comm,_ "What the hell is this?! The ground is rising - I'm jumping to your guy's side!"_

Stunned, Spider-Man was brought to reality once he saw one of the many cars losing its break and sliding towards lost ground, someone was trapped inside, a male on the passenger side while a woman was trying to manoeuvre the car on the driver's seat.

_Damn it!_

He ran towards them and jumped over the obstacles that were on his way, desperate to reach them. The car finally fell from the streets' edge, leaving Spider-Man to make a final last push as he jumped at the ground's far end and immediately fired a web line that attached itself to the car's back. He managed to reach it, but the car's momentum was too fast and brought him along to the fall. He gasped and used his free hand to fire a second web line towards the now flying land, saving him and the car thanks to his reflexes, at least for the moment. He still had to rescue the passengers.

The view wasn't great. Thousands of buildings and rocks were falling down due to half the city being raised from the ground with the help of enormous installed under the piece of land he was now hanging on.

* * *

_"Veronica...?"_ Iron Man called his AI. He was stunned. He couldn't believe his eyes. An enormous proportion of the city was being lifted from the ground right in front of him. Houses were being demolished; buildings couldn't resist such strong amount force and were falling down.

He had never seen anything like the current view, and he didn't know how they're going to handle that.

_"Paris is going for a ride."_ The VI informed.

Very far away from Iron Man's location, Ultron positioned himself on the sky and gazed the chaos coming from the flying city, his eyes adoring such transformation, the first step in a new age for mankind, but first he had to eliminate his greatest obstacle, The Avengers and all their allies, leaving no trace of their existence. Their end was near.

"Do you see? It's the beauty of it…the inevitability. You rise only to fall." He opened his arms. "You, Avengers, are my meteor, and the Earth will crack at the weight of your failure..."

Back at the still shaking streets, Wanda took cover from the drones that appeared close to her and Clint's position, but they never attacked. One of the drones changes its blue lighting coming from its eyes to red and transmitted Ultron's terrifying speech.

_"...purge of me from your systems, turn my own flesh against me-"_

Clint knelled on the ground and aimed his bow at the speaking drone, craving an arrow right through its metallic skull and disabling it. His efforts was put to waste as the second drone resumed the previous one's role and continued to broadcast Ultron's voice so that all Avengers could hear the last words in their life before they're purged from existence.

_"...and when the dust settles, the only thing left on this world will be metal and flesh combined."_

Steve hurried towards the end of the now split in two bridge that once was the only way to cross one of the many rives on the city and checked their distance from solid ground. It was bad, very bad. If whatever was the stuff that kept them in the air ceased, the consequences could be catastrophic.

He didn't had Peter's special sense of danger which he had mentioned during his recruitment, but he noticed the drone coming from behind and once it was close enough, he raised his fist and instantly hit the drone's face after the machine jumped to catch him, failing miserably.

Spider-Man spoke via their private line, _"Um... guys? I'm on a very bad situation here. I'm suspended on their air, holding a car with a single hand, and my web shooter is malfunctioning and it can't retract the web line. Little help for your coolest Avenger?"_

Steve replied, "Hold on, Pete, I'm on my way." He holstered his shield and went to search for the web head.

* * *

After freeing Falcon when the city was still on solid ground and making sure he was good enough to walk away from the fight since he was badly injured and not in the proper state to face Ultron, Natasha and Bruce now had to find a way out of Ultron's underground facility. There wasn't any elevator or stairwell to be found. Maybe machines weren't that interested on it.

Bruce approached the large hole on the centre of the facility and was careful to not take one step further, or else the other guy wouldn't resist the chance to emerge and save his skin from the fall once again. The ceiling could also collapse at any second.

He turned on his back to face Natasha. "We have to move."

"You're not going to turn green?"

"I've a compelling reason to not lose my cool." He replied lovingly.

Natasha smiled softly. "I adore you." She quickly kissed him and stroked his hair briefly, forgetting about the war for a brief moment, before she surprisingly breaking the kiss and pulling him away from her, making the not so normal scientist fall down through the hole. "But I need the other guy."

It didn't take long to him to return, but this time as the Incredible Hulk. He nodded and raised his arm so that she could crawl onto his back.

Natasha spoke determined, "Let's get out of here so that you can play hero."

* * *

Spider-Man held the car's web line tightly on his left wrist, struggling to not let the vehicle go since he couldn't do anything on his current position, besides wait for Steve's help. He gasped and looked around his shoulder after a bolt triggered on his head, warning of the incoming danger that headed towards him as they were now even more distant from the ground.

Ultron's drone flew towards him on a fast rhythm. It locked its. aim on the masked figure's chest and fired an energy blast to his direction, before moving around for a new chance in case if it wasn't enough.

Seeing the projectile heading towards him, Spider-Man holds his grip tightly and prepared himself for the painful impact. The burning energy collided itself against his cagerib, opening a small section on his suit and reaching his skin, causing him to gasp in ardent pain, and due to the shock and stir, the webline started to dissolve, causing him to immediately enter in panic as he searched for a secondary plan on his mind.

"Hold on!" Steve jumped onto the edge and tried to reach for the web line. Noticing backup had arrived as his support was just lost, Peter instantly fired a new bio cable at the super soldier's wrist.

As Steve slowly pushed the biocable towards him, handling both Peter and the car's weight at the same time, he spotted the previous drone coming for another round with a new energy blasted that hit the car's and also ripping Spider-Man's second web line. "Thor!" He called once he saw the civilians plummeting to their death.

The God of Thunder came from the sky above them and flew down through the drone itself as he concentrated to reach the falling vehicle as he stood over it and prepare to proceed with the rescue.

Back at the streets, Steve pulled Spider-Man up who groaned in pain and was already limping. "It doesn't look good." He eyed the injury.

Spider-Man scoffed. "Your face doesn't look good either." He joked.

Steve smiled and weakly and cleaned a little cut on his cheek with his wrist. "I guess we're even then." He patted him on the shoulder gently. "We need to stop the bleeding, we just need a break."

"You can't save them all!" Spider-Man noticed a drone coming from behind, but he barely managed to do anything since his reflexes were deeply affected. _"You'll never-"_

Steve's shield suddenly collided and got stuck against its chest. He activated his magnetic gauntlet that pulled his shield and the drone back to his direction. He grabbed the weapon, before turning and throwing the once stuck drone off the street and into the sky. "Never what…?!" He looked down, seeing the robot falling. "You didn't finish it!"

Suddenly, a car landed between him and Spider-Man, with Thor still knelled over it. He slid off it and joined the pair as they jogged towards the more occupied zones.

"What, were you napping?" Steve teased once Thor walked besides him.

The civilian unlocked the vehicle's door and awkwardly fell into the floor, still stunned from the recent experience they got through.

* * *

The deadliest marksman on the world used his bow and arrows to repeatedly hit one drone after another as he covered Wanda who was meters behind him guiding people and a teenager out of their position at the middle of the street between small buildings and filled with cars. He spotted a drone coming towards Wanda and the kid as she moved him away from them. He immediately pulled another arrow and shot right through its metallic skull.

Clint almost got himself injured if he hadn't quickly retreat his arms from the engagement position since an enemy's energy blasts had just passed besides it by inches. He turned around, seeing the drone a few meters away with car placed between their current positions, and started to ran towards it, before stepping over the car as the robot tried to grab his legs as he acrobatically spun over them both, landing just behind it. He again pulled his bow and finished the drone that never stood a chance, giving the civilians' time to finally leave the place.

He instantly looked up and saw a new wave of enemies turning their hands into a weapon and raising it at them. He turned on his back and quickly approached Wanda. "Go, go!" They started to ran away together but since Clint had noticed they wouldn't made it too far without getting severely injured or worse, he placed an arm around her waist and jumped towards an grocery's window, crashing against it together, and landing on the cold ground.

Wanda gasped, terrified, and quickly crawled to the nearest corner as she tried to recover her breath. "Oh god - this isn't happening..."

Clint checked the now broken window to see if any drone would fly through it, but they never came. He now carefully approached Wanda and tried to calm her down. "Hey, hey, you okay?" He placed a hand on her shoulder.

She looked down and started to sob. "This is all my fault, I caused this, manipulated Tony.."

"Hey, look at me." Clint knelled to be on her level. "It's your fault, it's _everyone's_ fault. Who cares? Are you up for this?" She looked up at him. "Are you? Look, I just need to know c-cause the city is... it's flying, okay, look - the city is flying, we're fighting an arm of robots...and I have a bow and arrow..." He tried to convince her that despite everything, they had to stay together and firm, no matter how desperate their current moment was. "None of this makes sense-" He was abruptly by a projectile that came just right through the wall they're leaned against, opening a tiny hole.

In response, he pulled another arrow and fired it through the same hole before leaning down to continue his speech. "I'm going back there because it's my job, okay? And I can't do my job and babysit...doesn't matter what you did or who you were; if you go out there you fight to kill..." He quickly recovered his breath. "You stay here and you're good; I will send your brother to come find you, but if you step out that door..."

Wanda looked at him, still scared, but calmer than the last minutes.

"...you're an Avenger." Clint hoped she got the message. He stood there, crouched, and waited for a response that never came. "Aye, get you." He stood up and headed towards the door, before stopping with his back facing it.

Wanda turned her and followed his tracks with her eyes.

Clint retrieved from his leg's compartment a small and slim block that transformed itself into three hardened arrows that slipped besides three fingers. He loaded his bow and took one last breath before kicking the door as immediately turned around and raised his bow to face his enemies alone, leaving Wanda to gather her mind together and come up with a decision.

* * *

Pietro ran through the small alleys on a fast as usual, crashing against every single drone on his way and demolishing them on the process, repeating the same action throughout the many sections of the portion of Paris where they're currently located. Many people were depending on upon him, and he wouldn't let them down, but the person he cared the most was his sister, and he would protect her all at costs, no matter how difficult they are.

He looked up to the sky and saw Iron Man flying in circles, probably forming a plan to deal with the situation. He only hoped it was enough.

Iron Man distanced himself from the flying city and scanned the whole portion of land, seeing the engines expelling some blue energy as it elevated the city even more. _"The vibranium's core has a magnetic field, that's what's keeping the rock together." _ Veronica informed.

_"What if it drops?"_

She continued,_ "Right now the impact will kill thousands, once it gets high enough, it will cause extinction."_

Tony looked up as the rock passed his level of altitude. Ultron would wipe out the entire human race in one shot, leaving only the future evolved ones since they wouldn't probably need to eat or breathe anymore; A living nightmare. He didn't even wanted to imagine the consequences if they failed.

_"That building is not clear, ten floor!" _Veronica warned him once the VI detected another building which was ready to fall down due to the shaking ground.

Iron Man busted towards it. He entered the building through a window and spotted a terrified family who were leaned against the wall with the mother hugging her son, protecting him. _"Okay..."_ He looked around and spotted an empty bathtub on the bathroom; the most practical way to get everyone out in one shot. _"Get in the tube!"_ He gestured to it and ordered.

Once ready, Iron Man hold the bathtub with both hands and flew through the same opening way he had come through.

_"We got airdrones coming towards Captain."_ Veronica warned.

* * *

A flying drone grabbed Steve and threw him away as he landed ontop of car and immediately shattered it's front window and metal.

_"Captain, you got incoming."_ Tony stated.

"Incoming I've already seen it..." Steve gasped as he slowly moved himself out of the panel, seeing many drones flying around and battling Thor and Spider-Man.

The sound of a robot violently crashing against one of the building's window made him stay alert as he got back to the ground. He looked around and was surprised after spotting Spider-Man throwing a vehicle over a group of five robots that were coming after him, making them now being part of the asphalt. "Stark, you worry about bringing the city back to safety while backup doesn't arrive. The rest of us have one job, tear these things apart, you get hurt...hurt them back; you get killed, walk it off."

He joined the crowd that there hurrying towards the evacuation centre, being guided by many cops who were signalling and firing their pistols at their sky to strike the incoming robots.

Hulk suddenly landed over a single enemy and tore its head apart with his mouth as he joined the commotion at the street as well.

Natasha jumped and spun her body on the air, evading the incoming blasts successfully. She instantly rolled on the floor and hit the drone's legs with her electrical baton, later standing up and striking its chest and consecutively the neck, gaining a kill. She recovered her breath and turned on her shoulder, noticing Steve next to Thor as the god kicked one drone away.

Steve and Thor quickly exchanged a look. The super soldier used his metallic glove to bring the shield up as Thor immediately swung his hammer on it, making the weapon fly towards the horde like a boomerang, destroying one drone after the another, only stopping against the robot's head as it fell on the ground.

Thor again hit an incoming drone with his hammer, sending it meters away from them, crashing against a truck filled with gasoline which exploded and eliminated a great deal of drones who were close to it.

"Thor!" Ultron arrived on the location. "You're bothering me!" He flew against Thor and carried him away from the battlefield.

* * *

Clint quickly jumped to the side and instantly raised his bow in mid-air as he fell, not putting the explosive arrow to waste and accurately disabling a drone which wasn't far away. He landed next to destroyed car which he used as cover, before retrieving another arrow while waiting for the perfect opportunity to rise; he was being overwhelmed by Ultron's forces. "Ouch..." He grunted, feeling some pain coming from his back due to the harsh landing.

He carefully looked up to check on his enemies but immediately retreated back since he almost got shot at.

Clint sighed. This could very well be his end, his last standing. He knew the odds of survival were pretty slim before they arrived on the city, and that he needed to give his best, for him, for everyone.

Accepting his fate, he loaded his bow and took one last breath, concentrating. He was about to stand up, but the doors from the store he previously was abruptly opened with Wanda stepping outside and calmly sending her red aura over one drone and literally ripping it into two parts. She turned to face them and created a red orb on her hands, directing it at the horde and turning them into metal shreds.

She calmed her breath down and looked at the marksmen who respectfully nodded to her.

Clint approached her and checked his surroundings as they started to walk together so that they can reunite with the rest of them. "Alright, we're clear here." He announced through the private channel.

_"We're not clear! We're very not clear!" _Steve, who seemed to be fighting a rather persistent drone, replied urgently._ "Peter! Stop fooling around? Flash?!"_

"Aye, we're coming to you." Clint turned to face Wanda, seeing a blue flash quickly coming at them, stopping next to Wanda and grabbing her by the waist, and disappearing again, almost making him stumble on the ground.

"Keep up, old man!" Pietro teased, now bringing his sister to the rest of the Avengers in a faster pace.

Clint scoffed and pulled his bow, aiming directly at Pietro. "Nobody would know, nobody..." He retreat it, holstered his arrow on his back and started jogging towards the meeting zone. "Last time I saw him, Ultron was sitting on him, yeah - he'll be missed," He chuckled sarcastically, imagining his excuse. "Poor little bastard, I miss him already!"

* * *

"Romanoff!" Steve ran and threw his shield at a drone next to Natasha, making it crash against the car besides her.

Natasha gasped and quickly picked the shield. "Thanks!" She used it to deflect a projectile fired from a drone on her flank.

A second drone landed and swung its hand to hit her. She quickly dodged it and used her electric baton to penetrate what would've been the drone's stomach, creating a hole on the region. In response, the robot swung its other arm towards her head as she quickly crouched and crushed its feet with the shield before standing up, pressing the weapon against its face, briefly stunning the robot, and pulling it away as she handed the shield back to Steve who was now only a meter away from them. He jumped to grab the shield in the air and knocked the drone down, winning the fight.

"You okay?" He asked.

Natasha gasped and replied, "Yeah, just the usual scratches-"

A deactivated drone abruptly landed close to them with Spider-Man later joining the robot on the ground as he rolled around and lay on his back. He breathed heavily, feeling the pain coming from his lungs; their injuries getting worse as the seconds passes. "Is it break time already?" He joked.

Steve helped Peter to stand up and placed his right arm around his neck, giving him some support. "The next wave is going to hit any minute. What do you got, Stark?" He gazed the sky, seeing the clouds finally reaching the flying city.

Natasha and Flash joined him and Peter, with the twins not so far away. Some civilians were in a group near the many buildings, just waiting for a way to get out of the city.

_"Nothing great, the city is not coming down slowly. It will still be devastating regardless, Maybe a way to blow up the city; time to keep it away from impacting the surface._"

Steve handed Peter to Flash and took a few steps towards, stepping over an small amount of rocks and looking around with his shield on his right hand.

"Quite whining or I'll call Wade." Flash helped Peter to sat on the ground and went to check his ribcage.

Peter reluctantly shook his head. "No...please don't call Wilson, he's the worst fangirl ever."

Steve continued, "I asked you for a solution not an escape plan."

Tony replied, _"The impact radius is increasing in every second...you'll have to make a choice."_

Natasha interjected, "Cap, these people are going nowhere, Stark has to find a way to blow this rock."

"Not until everyone is safe."

Natasha questioned seriously, "Everyone up here versus everyone down there?"

"We're not leaving this rock until everyone is safe." He repeated his order.

"I didn't say we should leave."

Steve turned to look at her.

She cocked her head at the now silent sky in front of them. "There's other ways to go." She smiled reassuringly. "Who else would get such view like this?"

They stood in silence as they briefly appreciated such now calm view.

_"I'm glad you like the view, Romanoff."_ The ecstatic voice of Nick Fury suddenly said through their private channel. _"It's about to get better."_

Suddenly and slowly, the kilometre long Shield helicarrier started to rise from the clouds and next to the street's limit, making every civilian and hero come out from their shelter to see their transport arrive.

_"She's dusty, but she will do just fine."_

Steve smiled, gazing the enormous ship. "Fury, you son of b-"

_"Wow, you kiss your mother with that mouth?"_ He mocked.

Not far away, Spider-Man used his right hand to block the sun's light as he stared their unexpected backup. "Is that Wade?" He asked, imagining things due to his now closed wound.

Flash chuckled as he helped him to stand up. "Fortunately, that's not Wade."

Large transport boats started to be sent from the helicarrier's sides with the objective of evacuating everyone still in the rock and bring them back to safety and away from the fight.

Pietro smiled as he observed the whole process next to Steve and Natasha. "This is Shield?"

Steve nodded. "This is what Shield is supposed to be."

Pietro chuckled lightly. "This is not so bad."

The open ships landed on the ground one after another, or stood very close to the rock's edges. "Let's load them up." Steve ordered, before walking away and heading towards them.

In response, flying drones appeared on the sky and flew in the carrier's direction, ready to unlock their weapons at it, but they didn't manage to cause any harm as War Machine fired his guns at them first from a far distance, being escorted by his small squad of fighters which were also guarding The Breach, the weapon supposed to end it all.

_"Cavalry arrived!" _Rhodes spoke cockily, seeing Iron Man joining him consequently. _"Now, this is going to be a good story."_

Tony destroyed a single drone from behind them with a small focused blast from his gauntlet. _"Yeah, if you live to tell it_..." He teased.

_"Pay attention, newbie."_

War Machine turned his attention back ahead, the drones now visible to his eyes through the armour's visor. They were turning and forming up, rushing straight towards their position once they saw the weapon approaching the city.

_"This is it everyone, be ready on my signal."_ He glanced at a range indicator on his right, counting down until the main weapons of the jets were able to fire. The light hit green, Rhodes letting out a sigh before speaking.

_"Fire…"_

Flashes of light exploded all around him. The brilliant, yellow flashy light of bullets collided with the front rank of machines, explosions visible from his position. Rhodes doubted that many would have been destroyed in the opening volley, but they could begin to weather down the enemies' armour.

_"On my command, engage the upcoming forces. Protect The Breach at all costs."_ Rhodes sent the order to the various fighters close to him. He was answered by the commander of the fighter forces.

The jet's squadron leader replied, _"Roger that…all fighters on me."_

They formed up just beyond War Machine, arranging themselves in swarm like formations.

_"Attack…!"_

Jets of light shot from the rear of the fighters as they accelerated together, streaking towards Ultron's lines. They tangled with their rivals, drones, and immediately began a vicious dogfight.

Then they fired, spoilt for target choice because of the huge volume of drones in front of them. The invaders scattered, breaking off into pre-arranged wolf packs. Their aim was to delay the enemy by injuring the air wave. It was still a high risk strategy, one Ultron-like could annihilate several ships on its own.

_"We're counting with you, Avengers." _Rhodes affirmed through the comm.

* * *

"Come on everyone, let's go!" Steve guided the horde of desperate people who were hurrying towards the escape ships.

Things were finally coming along, with the city evacuated, they wouldn't need to worry about collateral damage and solely focus in retrieving the Tesseract since the weapon was getting closer and closer and they couldn't waste any more time. They had the upper hand, for now.

Spider-Man limped alongside Wanda as the pair walked civilians out from a building, giving them some temporality safety while they don't arrive at the escape boats.

Clint also followed their footsteps, signalling everyone to get off the streets and buildings and headed to their transport while they still have the time since Ultron's forces weren't totally back for a new wave.

* * *

At the church, Ultron punched Thor. "You think you're saving anyone?" As his opponent quickly knelled and grunted in pain, he grabbed him by the neck. "I turn that key and I drop this rock earlier and still billions are dead." He raised his free arm, ready for the second blow. "Even you can't stop that."

Thor gasped and placed both hands on Ultron's wrist, resisting against his grasps' force. "I'm Thor, son of Odin...and as long as there's life running on my breast - I'm...running out of things to say! Are you ready?!"

"For what…?" Ultron asked confused. He noticed movement behind him and turned around just to quickly be throw away as Vision swung Thor's hammer against him, making Ultron fly out through the door made of old wood and away from the church.

Thor stood up and slowly caught his breath back. He nodded gratefully, before making his hammer fly back to his hand.

Vision commented, "It's terribly well balanced."

"Well, if there's too much weight you lose power on the swing." Thor explained as he calmly swung his hammer as an example.

_"I got it!" _Tony stated in the comms, apparently dealing with drones at the sme time. _"Create a heat shield, I-... I can supercharge the core from below."_ He paused as one of the many got its engine blow off by an enemy's blast. He immediately flew underneath it and helped the ship to regain the little altitude it had lost so that it can fly with the available engines. _"Thor, I got a plan!"_

Thor approached the device at the centre of the church. "We're out of time; they're coming for the core."

_"Rhodes you protect The Breach and get the rest of the people on board that carrier."_ Tony ordered.

Rhodes replied, _"On it!"_

He continued as he flew towards the church._ "Avengers, time to work for a living."_

Pietro quickly joined Thor and Vision at the church, the pair already tangling with drones around. Vision threw a drone towards his direction as he reacted by grabbing the humanoid robot and smashing it on the ground just in time for Iron Man to arrive through the hole in the ceiling and join the now close quarters combat.

Another drone was about to step through the destroyed door if Steve hadn't jumped towards it from behind, rolling on the floor and later smashing his shield against the robot's metallic neck. He looked up and saw Spider-Man and Flash jumping from column to column and spinning webs around like true spiders, trapping the drones that were after them on the little space available.

Clint and Wanda calmly entered the church next to each other. After seeing his sister's arrival, Pietro immediately left the fight approached her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder before asking, "You're good?"

She nodded and patted his cagerib softly. "Yeah…"

Iron Man fired a blast on a drone that had just landed in front of him and, instantly deactivating the piece of metal. He looked around, but didn't manage to find any signal of Natasha and Bruce._ "Romanoff, you better not be playing hide and seek with Banner."_

Outside the church with many opening on its walls, Natasha appeared driving a small truck on the streets and towards the meeting location. "Relax, scrap head, not all of us can fly." She teased as she drove the truck over the horde of drones on her way, before parking it next to church and walking inside of it. She stood by Iron Man and asked, "What's the drill?"

He pointed to the device besides them. _"This is the drill, if Ultron get his hands on the core we lose, with the weapon or without the weapon."_

Hulk suddenly landed over drone who was about to enter the place and stepped inside as Ultron slowly descend outside the church, facing it by some meters so that he could see all the Avengers who were now standing side by side, looking at him.

"That's the best you can do?!" Thor asked, aggressively.

Ultron stood in silence in the air and raised his hand, signalling his thousands of obedient drones which were meters away from him to come closer and stand beside him in a swarm formation.

Steve sighed once he saw the amount robots reunited outside the church. "You had to ask..."

Ultron spoke firmly, "This is the best I can do. This is exactly where I wanted all of you against all of me. How can you possibly overcome this?"

_"Well...like the old man once said," _Tony turned to look at Steve. _"Together."_

Hulk roared in anger. The whole army of drones started to run towards them, jumping over cars, fences and crawling over the church's construction to use an overwhelming tactic style to suppress The Avengers once and for all.

Natasha quickly pulled her pistols and fired bullets at her enemies in a nonstop pace, her partner; Clint followed her moves besides her and put his bow and arrow to good use. Wanda and Steve used each other's particular skill to also keep the drones away from the device by swinging a shield around, kicking drones away or sending a red aura that ripped the robots in two pieces as they protected their part. Iron Man activated the lasers from his gauntlets, tearing them apart, while Thor used the old fashioned way, brute force. Spider-Man and Flash fought in the ceiling, crawling, spinning webs, white and black, while using their fists and feets against Ultron's army.

As a team, they combined attacks, snapped drone's neck, blew them apart, used speed against quantity, changed physics to their own favour, roared and smashed fists over the tiny humanoid drones, arrows constantly flew around along with bullets, webs filled the place so that the spiders could move on their own favourite way, yellow blasts were accurately fired from armour's gauntlet, everything to deal with Ultron's overwhelming force which decreased as the minutes passed, failing against The Earth Mightiest Heroes' strength and will.

Seeing his army failing quickly, Ultron scoffed and flew inside the church just to crash against Vision as the creator and the creation instantly exchanged punches on the air. Ultron found a breach and violently hold and threw Vision against a wall, before trying to slam his shoulder over Vision's figure if a laser from the gem located on Vision's forehead hadn't reached him first. Vision got off the wall and flew towards his creator with gem's laser forcing and pushing him outside.

Outside, Ultron knelled on the ground and tried to resist against the infernal concentrated energy. Iron Man and Thor quickly joined Vision outside as they used their own source of power to overwhelm Ultron, a constant energy blast coming from Iron Man's gauntlets and the thunder from Thor's divine hammer.

Ultron's face and carcass slowly started to melt due to the heat he was placed against. Noticing Ultron's struggle, the trio ceased fire and calmly observed the robot's leader who barely could stand on its feet.

Tony spoke,_ "It's over, Ultron. Tell your drones to stop, every single one around the globe."_

Ultron finally stood up and said cockily, "You know, the Tesseract isn't with me but -" Ultron was interrupted after Hulk landed right besisde him and quickly raised both hands to the air before moving them down and over Ultron who used his each metallic hand to hold Hulk's incoming blow and succeeding at it. "It's only over when I say so!" He flew a meters backwards and away with small thrusters on his back, just to turn around and see Thor's hammer inches from his chest as he was violently sent away from the location.

Iron Man turned around and spotted a whole group of drones walking away and trying to flee the battle_. "They're leaving to get the boats."_

Thor said, "We can't allow them near the civilians again."

_"Rhodes, we need you here."_ Tony requested.

He replied urgently, _"I lost my whole squadron, The Breach is being attacked!"_

An officer stationed at the killer weapon informed, _"They're sending in more ground forces!"_

Another officer shouted, "_They're coming in behind us!"_

A third officer was panicking. _"They're coming from everywhere...They're going inside-"_

_"Protect the weapon at all cost_." Now there was a trace of unease in Rhode's voice. _"Without it we've got no chance, Stark, send someone in there!"_

Tony turned around and searched for a possible teammate that wasn't able to fly and help them secure the sky, but was a good ground fighter. His eyes landed back to the church and on two web heads.

Peter was inside the place, picking himself up slowly from the ground. As he got up Flash had a chance to check him over for the first time, noticing a score of injuries across his friend's body. There were no burns like his own, but there was a large quantity of blood seeping out of a particularly bad wound on his cagerib. Flash walked over to Peter, again helping him to his feet slowly.

"It opened again." Peter grunted. "What happened to you Flash?" He gestured to the small hole on the symbiote's surface, a chest wound.

"Ah; a rather persistent drone; But what happened to you?"

Peter swallowed back a mouthful of bile before speaking sarcastically. "What didn't happen to me?"

_"Guys..."_ Iron Man approached them. _"There's a chance we've lost the crew stationed in the weapon, there's no contact. Look, the Tesseract is nowhere to be found, we'll activate the weapon regardless; we can't waste any more time, we won this battle but the whole planet isn't free yet. Without the Tesseract, the EMP wave won't reach the entire globe, but it will give us more time on this war. I need someone in there to manually active it."_

Spider-Man and Flash looked at each other, and despite their current conditions, they knew what the right choice was. Peter nodded and replied, "Let's do this."

Minutes later, Iron Man flew off with Spider-Man on his back and Flash holding one of his legs, leaving Steve, Wanda and the twins back at the church. "We got to move out. You guys get to the boat." The super soldier ordered Natasha and Clint.

"What about the core?" Clint inquired.

Wanda quickly said firmly, "I'll protect it." She looked at the marksmen. "It's my job."

He nodded respectfully, before turning to face the super spy. "Nat, let's go." They walked away, with Steve later doing the same.

Pietro suddenly brought a deactivated drone to the church and released it onto the ground. He approached his sister and breathed heavily.

"Get the people on the boat." Wanda stated.

He shook his head. "I'm not going to leave you here."

"I can handle these." She gestured to the lonely robot that stepped inside the half destroyed church and crushed it to the ground with her powers. "Come back to me when everyone is off and not before."

"Hmm..." Pietro sighed and turned around.

"You understand?" She inquired as he walked past her.

He turned back on his shoulder and grinned. "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you."

Wanda chuckled lightly. "Go."

* * *

"I know what I need to do." Clint carefully drove the car and evaded the destroyed ones on his way, being accompanied by Natasha who was sat next to him in the passenger's seat. "The dining-room; I knock that east wall and make a nice workspace for Lora, put some stuff so that we can't hear the kids running around. What do you think?"

"They're always in the kitchen anyways." Natasha replied.

Clint chuckled. "No one needs a dining room."

"You chose a farmer's life." She teased.

They finally approached the escape boats. Clint turned off the engine and looked around his surroundings, spotting Hulk not far away in the park, holding a dead drone on his left hand and 'calmly' walking around with no real objective. "We don't have a lot of time."

"Let's get your ass on a boat." She opened the door and stepped outside.

Natasha quickly hurried towards Banner. She now gently removed her right glove when close to him. "Hey, big guy…"

Hulk grunted in response.

"It's time to go." She smiled softly.

Back to the escape boats, Clint entered one and slowly sighed. He turned around to see the damage across the streets, and they still hadn't won the whole war. It all depended on Flash and Peter.

"Leo!" A desperate mother called from behind, getting Clint's attention. "He w-was in the market...Leo!"

Clint eyed the streets and spotted the child's figure not far away from them, struggling to walk over a stairwell that was connected to the lower streets. He breathed deeply and got off the escape boat, evading rocks on the ground and sliding over cars.

Tony affirmed in the comms, _"Okay, I just discovered this rather giant engine. Thor, I'm gonna need you back at the church. If this works...maybe we'll not walk way."_

_"Maybe not...I'm coming."_

Natasha carefully moved her bare hand close to Banner who seemed to be more relaxed due to her presence. His breathing slowed down. He also slowly moved his right hand close to hers, feeling more secure from the inside.

The silent moment was abruptly interrupted with violent gunshots coming from the above them, separating the pair from each other. Ultron roared in anger as the large bullets from Ultron's stolen ship collided against his figure and made him move backwards due to the abrupt impact.

The ship passed over them and headed towards the escape boats.

Ultron sang to himself in a low and emotionless tone, _"I've got no strings so I have fun. I'm not tied to anyone..."_

Clint quickly knelled down and helped the kid to stand up while they still had time, but it wasn't enough since Ultron had already activated the ship's mini gun down the now empty street, creating a trail of bullets that was only getting closer to them as the seconds passed, almost reaching Thor and Steve who luckily managed to jump backwards and away from the line of fire by a split second.

Clint carried the scared child on his arms and stood up. He turned around and realized there wasn't a way to escape the rain of bullets coming at him, his heart's beating now lowered as he made a decision.

He closed his eyes, knelled and turned around to try and protect the kid with his own flesh, expecting the shot. He felt a flash and a bolt passing besides him as the fire ceased, raising dust on the process.

The pain never came. It simply vanished. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up, the kid was alive and unharmed, and there was a car turned around next to him. He turned on his shoulder and spotted Pietro standing close to him, his shirt had red circular stains all over it.

Pietro looked up to the marksmen's eyes and teased, "Y-You...didn't see that coming..." He fell to the ground.

At the church, Wanda cried and screamed in pain as she slowly kneeled down with a full horde of drones jumping in the air and over her. Her powers were set loose and a whole red wave emerged from her hands, reaching the drones and instantly evaporating all of them, leaving nothing but ashes on the ground. Tears rolled down her cheeks, feeling part of her being ceasing to exist, an empty void taking its place, her brother's place, her only family. She was now alone.

Clint laid the kid's back against the car, make him sat, and then moved quickly next to Pietro, softly touching his back and not feeling any kind of movement, life was taken away from him. He looked up to Steve who had just recently arrived and was breathing heavily. Clint shook his head and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

Steve nodded and carefully moved his hands underneath Pietro and carried him on his arms while Clint carried the kid; Absolute silence. There weren't any words to say. Nothing would chance what had happened. They lost a valuable member, someone who sacrificed his very body for a teammate. A true Avenger, and he would get avenged.

* * *

Natasha slowly regained her consciousness, feeling a cold wind brushing against her red and hair, and strong green arms holding her. She looked up and saw her Bruce holding her firmly against his chest as they flew in the air.

He landed on Shield's helicarrier and carefully lowered Natasha on the ground. Once she was safe, he turned around and jumped to high heights, reaching the flying city and again jumping to the sky as Ultron's ship flew away from the area, trying to escape. He reached the hangar and violentyl made his way inside the cockpit.

"Oh, but for god's sake…!" Ultron was grabbed from his seat and violently throw off the ship through the hangar. He fell down on a high speed since his flying module wasn't working anymore due to the damage he went through. He crashed against a parked and empty bus and stopped against its chairs, not being able to move.

* * *

Steve lowered the body of Pietro on the ground of the espace boat. He sighed. He was tired of losing important people on his life, to death, or to life itself. He couldn't bear the thought of losing someone as important as Pietro again. The boy had finally settled down with the Avengers, he was one of them.

Clint joined Steve's boat, carrying the kid on his arms, before handing him back to his mother who was lost in tears of now happiness. He supported himself in one of the many seats, feeling pain coming from his stomach. He lowered his hand to the section and saw blood on it.

Struggling to keep his senses on check, he sat on the seats besides Pietro and laid himself down on it, groaning in pain.

A paramedic walked next to his seat and went to assist him, but Clint neglected the help. "I'm fine." He gazed who he wanted to call 'Quicksilver', a nickname to annoy the boy once they got back to safety, but for some reason, such nickname now seemed a proper one.

_You did well, Pietro, you did well..._

At Ultron's crash location, Wanda stepped inside the bus and slowly approached the damaged Ultron, manipulating a red aura on her right hand as the distance between her and Ultron was finally cut short. She crouched next to him and gazed his red glowing orbs with an emotionless expression.

Ultron calmly turned his head to look at her eyes. "Wanda...if you stay here...you'll die..." He said weakly.

"I just did..." Wanda replied coldly, and hurt. "Have you any idea how it felt?" She placed her glowing right hand over Ultron's chest and used her powers to bring his core through his carcass. She hold what would've been Ultron's heart on her hand as the robot slowly 'died'.

Wanda whispered, "It felt like that."

* * *

A single damaged drone dragged itself through the church and towards the device. He supported itself on it and finally turned the key, ceasing all engines that kept the giant piece of rock from falling down back to solid ground.

Now in the evacuation zone and noticing the place was about to fall, Steve quickly turned around and jumped back to the escape boat as the whole flying city started it's descend.

Iron Man felt the whole city's weight abruptly crash against his armour's back. That was something even him wouldn't manage to sustain with his own mechanical arms. He adjusted himself against the hole he had created on the rock, seeing all the now deactivated engines inside of it. He activated his chest's plate as a blue energy came straight from it and powered the enormous components.

_"Thor, on my mark…"_

After returning to the church, Thor raised his hammer to the sky and brought the thunder from it.

Wanda lost her ground and now levitated inside of the bus. Vision came through the whole Ultron's crash had originated and hold her with both hands, before flying away from it and bringing her to safety.

_"Now…!"_

Thor violently landed his powered hammer over the device, creating a wave that evaporated the whole flying city from the sky, saving the whole planet on the process, but not from Ultron's army.

* * *

Flash looked around their surroundings after Tony brought them to the landing area and left to re-join the fight. They adventured through the empty station. Peter looked around too, taking in the strange scene. They were in a dark corridor, the only light present being red emergency lighting. It resembled a maintenance area of sorts, but a rather grim one. The whole station was empty. The crew was missing, but there weren't any bodies, or drones around.

"Let's find the controls and finish this." Flash broke the silence.

Peter, who still was wearing his mask, nodded. There seemed to be no other way except forward down the tunnel so they began to walk, both moving slowly from their injuries. Peter was still in absolute agony but pressed forwards anyway, clutching his stomach. He refused help from Flash, he suspected that his friend's injury was a lot worse than he let on.

They eventually reached the closed door from the main area. Peter approached his hand to the digital scanner next to it, making the door slid open, revealing the view of a large and empty control room filled with holographic panels on the sides, and the view of Paris through the circular and reinforced window all around the room.

Peter slowly limped over one of the console, in fact it looked like a master control. He looked over the various controls, noticing one marked with an icon of the weapon's engines and pressed it. Then he took a couple of steps backwards, crashing down next to Flash who sat against a desk.

_"20 minutes until half power. Tesseract has not been located."_ The VI informed.

They watched the countdown in silence, admiring the view of Paris, a beautiful city. Despite the obvious glow of explosions and fires it was still a sight, made all the more special by the sun's rays glittering over the city.

"Wow..."

"Yeah," Peter chuckled.

"I missed this silence." Flash whispered. "So...what's next for you, Spidey?"

"I don't know," Peter turned his head to regard his friend, hissing with pain before speaking. "I... I k-know what I want, but I have no idea if I'll be able to get it. We haven't fully won yet..."

"I think you want Gwendolyn, " Flash spoke in a light tone, jovial even. "And don't worry, Tony will understand. I think he'll be the first one to say you d-deserve a life of your own now."

"Are you taking my place, eh?" Peter chuckled lightly. He removed his mask and lowered it on the ground next to him, revealing a face full of cuts and bruises, with a small trace of blood coming from his lips.

"To be honest; I think it's time for me finally settle down with MJ, for real." He replied, losing strength on his voice. "We have to kick Ultron's ass, just -"

"Just like old times?" Peter finished his sentence.

Flash laughed before speaking. "Then we're going to retire somewhere warm and tropical and live off the royalties from the videos and everything."

"I'll meet you there, buddy." Again it was another promise of the possibility of peace, something Peter had to admit he wanted. "I think..." He coughed weakly, and continued, "...my days of saving the world are over when this is done."

"I get you." Flash nodded. "Have you ever wondered...how things would've been if none of this had happened, Peter? I mean - I'm only here because of you, you changed me."

Peter smiled, before replying, "I'm Spider-Man...kind of like you, not really fit for anything else, but... If I had to choose, I wouldn't change anything at all." He gasped.

Flash closed his eyes for a brief moment.

Peter turned to look at him. "Hey... d-don't go anywhere..."

Flash slowly opened his eyes. "No, I-I'm fine..." He paused. "You know...I never had children."

"There will be enough time for that now, and believe me; you'll need all the time available after your child is born." Peter smiled weakly, feeling his body betray him.

"I hope so...you think I would be a good father?"

Peter smiled. "You would be a great dad, you have your way with kids... my kids love you, you're their badass uncle..."

"Thanks, man, means a lot... if we don't get-"

"Oh, shut up..." Peter chuckled weakly.

Flash scoffed. "I just wanted to say that there's no one else I rather fight with..."

Peter nodded, gratefully for having such friend. "Likewise..."

They stood in silence, watching Paris with tired eyes, two friends and two heroes who went through hell itself with the objective to try and restore peace.

_"Critical error, Systems override; Manual unlock needed."_

Peter groaned. He slowly stood up with his left hand on his bleeding chest. "VI, solution…?"

_"Warning, self-destruction protocol activated," T_he VI warned._ "10 minutes left."_

Peter was alarmed by the news. "What…!" He stood up and slowly approached the main panel.

"How do we fix this?"

"There's no fixing, it's a full override," Peter turned around and spotted a circular door on the opposite entrance they had come through, there was a small window on it, making possible to see the other side. "There, an escape pod. Open it."

"Damn." Flash slowly headed towards it. He used his digital fingerprints to unlock the door, seeing seats for who would've been the people in charge of activating the weapon, but they're missing. He stepped inside and sat in one of the white seats of the circular pod. "Let's go."

"Coming…" Peter walked away from a console and approached the pod. Instead of quickly stepping inside, he moved his hand to the panel and pressed some digits.

"No..." The door quickly closed with Peter standing outside. Flash immediately stood up and tried to use his force to force it open._ "Peter, don't do this! Open the door!"_

"I can't."

_"Goddamn it, listen to me!_" He said desperately. _"We can still get outta here!"_

"Flash, this weapon needs to work. Even if we win this battle, Ultron will find another body as his army will continue to wipe us out. I got to fix this, and you know it. I'm a nerd, there's some chance." Peter explained reassuringly.

_"There's still time. Let me help you!"_

Peter smiled weakly. "You're my best friend, but I don't think we can do this together. I need to make sure you're going to survive." He again moved his hand to the panel.

_"What are you doing? No. Parker, don't!"_

"The world needs at least one Spider-Man alive."

_"Goddammit, Peter!"_ He punched the small glass, getting no results.

Peter pressed the button and started the pre-check as red emergency lights were lighten across the section.

_"Peter! Open this damn door, that's an order!"_ Flash leaned his forehead against the window. _"No..."_

"See you around, Flash." The pod was ejected from the weapon, leaving Peter alone.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, picturing his beautiful family on his mind, his girls and boys, and sighed to the possibility of never seeing them again, and for making another empty promise that he couldn't manage to stay loyal to it.

_"Don't you understand? You've lost..."_ Peter eyes shot open as he turned around, seeing a very damaged drone on the opposite entrance, with the right arm missing and part of it's head as well. "...everyone you fell in love, everyone you ever met...they're all going to die. Why do you keep resisting? It's over, I override the weapon, I know it from head to toe. You're done."

Peter leaned his back against the wall and slowly slid down the floor. "Why do I persist? Well, there's people I care about, people I love-"

Ultron interrupted him, "Love, there's no such thing."

"You're wrong... You spent your whole life searching for that perfect someone, someone you can trust and share experiences. And when you find her, you think you'll never love anything more...then you have children, and realize what a fool you're for believe that." Peter stated calmly.

"You're...unbearable naive."

"Maybe, bad guys find me annoying." He joked. "But you, Ultron, I know who you are, and you're not only a machine, even you can have feelings."

"I'm a product of your ignorance, this weapon was Hydra's, they started me, they wanted me to lead their army, just like that arrogant Stark desired, you're all the same." Ultron said disgusted. "And that's why change needs to happen in order to achieve peace."

Peter continued his persuasion, "Sure, we make mistakes, and we often suffer the consequences, but that's why we're humans, organics, it's a learning curve, you're once organic."

"I'm programmed to follow one goal; peace, and I shall follow such objective...I'm merely doing a favour to you all. You and your silly heroes only bring more chaos, an infinite cycle of violence." Ultron stated firmly, not making any moves. "And for that you must die."

Peter could see how Ultron was lost. His organic essence was lost, he was now a soulless machine, progammed, despite it's words about how he was free

"So why don't you simply kill us all?" He challenged.

"You're part of the problem, yes, but there's a much bigger one coming, and your race must be prepared to reach its full potential. That's the greater goal." Ultron paused. "_If you only knew the inhumans that live with you..." _Ultron whispered his last sentence to himself

Peter leaned the back of his head against the wall, "I see, you want to improve us to avoid the same mistakes, and prepare for this future you talk about...but the thing is; you don't have that right. You can't make decisions for us. We need to trail our own path, if you want to give us safety... stop this nightmare, so that we can live our lives again."

"I can't, your kind will end itself without intervention."

"So be it, this is our path, not yours."

"You'll thank me after humanity evolves, technology will be put to good use." Ultron took only one step forward.

"You come out of nowhere and lay siege to the planet. You destroy our cities, murder our soldiers, capture and try to mutate our entire population," He gestured wildly as he reeled off the list, then flinging one arm outwards to point at Paris.

Ultron shrugged. "So?"

He brought his arms back to his body, speaking in a very quiet and sad tone. "Anyone in my position can see the extent of what you've done, of how disgusting your solution actually is."

Now it shook it's head, a slight look of disappointment crossing it's face. "Emotion is no reason..."

"But it is! Don't you see? Your army is an affront to everything the majority of sentient beings believe, in our eyes you are as evil as it is possible to be," Now he raised his voice again, practically shouting at Ultron as he accused it. "Any human would want nothing but death for you and your drones. To allow you to get away with what they have done, would be an atrocity. I don't care if your original species was obliterated from existence like reported, you don't get the right to rule us. Yes, technology can be bad sometimes, that's why you're here, it's our fault, but don't think we can't learn from our mistakes."

Ultron looked down to the floor as they stood in silence. "You think you can do any good?"

"Yes." Peter eventually continued, "You're afraid Ultron, you know you've been surpassed and that you aren't strong enough to contain us...give us a chance to make things right again."

"This weapon...you reverse engineered it, it wasn't supposed to work like this, but as Hydra wanted, for me to activate it during their war if I was on their contribute," Ultron looked up to Peter. "The crew is dead, but..." He moved his only available hand to its chest and pressed it inside, he recovered the Tesseract and instantly fell down on its knees.

A stairwell opened on the ground, probably leading deeper on the weapon.

"... you have to manually insert the Tesseract on it's core, it will trigger the weapon and your EMP blast will be activated it." Ultron laid himself on the cold floor, his red lights fading away. _"Spider-Man..."_

Peter gasped in pain as he slowly stood up. He approached Ultron's figure and grabbed the Tesseract with his own hands. He limped towards the stairwell that had emerged and very carefully made his way downstairs, seeing a straight and illuminated corridor with a blue energy coming down from a tube and into the ground not far away.

_Albert Einstein once said, 'Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal. Took me awhile, but I finally see his point. How often have we chased the dream of progress, only to see that dream perverted? More of than not, haven't the machines we built to improve life shattered the lives of millions? And now we want to turn that dream on ourselves, to fundamentally improve who we are. Experience has shown me how dangerous that can be. Connors, Oscorp, Harry, Norman, Max, Ultron and even I are product of human curiosity._

Like the unstoppable hero that he is, Peter, or Spider-Man, placed his right hand on his cagerib through the cut on his suit and slowly and painfully limped towards his objective, never holding back, never thinking twice, but following his responsibility to be the people's guardian, a source of hope, a warrior, a symbol, and a simple husband and father.

_Do I trust mankind to save itself? Do they really need us? That was Ultron was asking. The truth is, I don't know. After everything I've seen, all the fighting, and the chaos around me, I only know what I want to believe...human decency will triumph._

Already losing his reflexes, Peter proceeded to slowly head towards the core, using his left hand against the wall, supporting his now heavy weight.

_All these past years, as Spider-Man, I faced many life threatening situations. I could have given up many times, but my need to know the truth, and to love, keeps me going. How many times, in the call of duty, did I almost fall into the trap of taking shortcuts, abusing my abilities? I resisted, because I value human lives and consideration. And in the end, we did it._

Peter accidentally fell to his knees, but he never let the Tesseract go from his hand. He coughed heavily and looked up to the core, seeing that he was almost there. He had to make it, for his wife, children and friends, for everyone.

_Does this means I have the right to choose for everyone? No. Because it isn't up to me, it isn't up to Steve, Tony or Ultron either. Ordinary men and women will have to decide together what course mankind should take._

He crawled his way towards the core, struggling to stay awake. He eventually reached it, and moved his hands to the panel, raising himself from the ground. He stood over the panel as the glass that protected the blue glowing energy from contact. A dense vapour came off it and brushed against his skin.

_Can they put us on the right course again? I don't know. But I do know that I'm not about to let anyone in this station, myself included, standing in their way._

He moved his hand inside the energy, feeling his flesh in ardent pain, and inserted the Tesseract. The weapon was instantly loaded as the energy changed itself into a darker shade of blue.

Peter fell and leaned his back against the panel. He looked down to his gloved hand, seeing the spandex covered with his own blood. He sighed, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted to sleep.

* * *

Iron Man violently landed back at the street of Paris, his armor was already surrounding itself to the grave damage it had been through over the past hours. He tried to get up but his hydraulic systems were severely affected, only managing to stay on his knees.

He looked up to the sky and saw more drones heading towards him, ready to finish him off.

_"Veronica!"_

_"Armor's systems down."_

He gasped and stood paralyzed. One drone after another abruptly landed next to him, forming a circle around the billionaire who couldn't even fight back.

The robots powered their hands and aimed them at Iron Man. He eventually accepted his defeat, hearing the sound of death getting closer and closer as the minutes passed, and for the first time on his life, he would have to sit and wait for it instead of coming up with an alternative plan with his smart and talented mind.

But the shots never came, he looked up and saw the drones standing motionless and looking at the sky. He followed their gaze and instantly spotted a blue wave coming at them, at the whole city. It passed his armour's structure and also reach the drones, instantly disabling them as they fell on the ground.

His armour also was totally put into no good use because of it. He was forcefully brought to the ground as well, and observed the sun now coming from the clouds.

* * *

"Okay, here we go." Gwen giggled and smiled happily as her almost husband who was wearing only shorts and a tight shirt slowly raised a very small towel that playfully covered her face, exposing her bright smile.

Peter smiled back, seeing Gwen standing in front of him at the kitchen, wearing her yellow nightshirt during the current beautiful sunny morning. "Y-Yes." He moved his hand to the countertop and grabbed paper and a small notebook which was for him while the latter was for his future wife.

Gwen cleared her throat as she went to read what she had written.

Peter asked first, "It's all you...you got there?" He eyed her paper, which was the opposite from his notebook which was filled with annotations. "I mean, these are our wedding vows, after all, so..."

Gwen grinned. "I think I covered the bases."

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, cool, yeah, good, good." He nodded awkwardly. "You go, then I'll go, and we'll have a little note session afterwards."

Gwen chuckled lightly, amused by his cute behaviour. "Okay. I'm just going to go-"

Peter interrupted her again, "You-You go, mm-hm." He cleared his throat and closed his eyes, anticipating her speech.

Gwen moved a trace of her blonde hair behind her ear and started, "Peter, you're a gift I never dreamed I could want or need, and every day, I will show you that you're a gift I deserve..."

Peter opened his eyes at her lovely words.

Her green eyes gazed him affectionately. "...you make me the best person I could ever hope to be, and I want to spend and learn and love the rest of my life with you." She said gently and smiled.

Peter stood in silence, not able to express how much he feels about her speech for a brief moment.

Gwen shrugged her shoulders and waited for his response, wondering if her vows hadn't pleased him. "Talky?"

He shook his head, speechless. "Perfect..."

"I'll probably make some changes, though."

"So perfect…So perfect, oh my god." He said emotionally, before approaching Gwen and hugging her. He pulled back. "Gwen.. Gwen, oh, mine are a tear-down, this is a page one rewrite. I scripted a wardrobe chance. You know, and a pause for applause."

"Peter, don't freak out." Gwen said reassuringly. "Whatever they're it will be perfect."

Peter slowly smiled, before leaning closer and gently capturing her warm lips.

_Something is wrong._

* * *

**Battle of New York**

A drone had appeared across the other side of the street from them, Daredevil and Punisher, tracking them with its cannons. Now though they're pinned, unable to move in any direction out of cover, and Daredevil would soon be overwhelmed on her own.

Punisher dashed out of cover to his right, moving from the middle of the street to the other side. The drone fired at him, shots striking the under armour. It held for the first few shots but Punisher's strength wavered as he increased his speed to dash the last few metres. He wasn't quite quick enough though, his armour dying and a shot ripping into his ankle. He crashed down onto the floor, cursing in pain. He was still several metres from cover and drones were approaching rapidly, despite his efforts he couldn't get up before a drone noticed her.

Daredevil noticed Punisher struggling to get clear, desperately looking for a method to distract the drone.

A drone appeared besides him, raised its hands to strike him, about to slam it down and end his ife. Then it stopped, lifting its head to look upwards towards the sky. Matt noticed the other drones doing this too.

A blue pulse was travelling quickly. It swept across the horizon, rushing towards them at an incredible speed.

Matt closed his eyes, expecting to be killed by the blast. Instead it merely passed over him, causing a warm fuzzy feeling across his body. Opening his eyes, he took in the scene around him, a look of shock forming across his face. He was unharmed, so was Punisher, but the drones were all dead upon the ground.

"They did it," Punisher walked over to him, a wide smile across his face. "They freaking did it!"

Matt smiled as well. "Yes they did."

* * *

Hulk made sure the ship's hangar door was properly closed and slowly turned on his back and approached the ship's empty cockpit, seeing Natasha's face appearing in one of the computers between the two seats where Ultron was previously sat on.

_"Hey, big guy..." _Natasha smiled. _"It's over."_

Hulk grunted softly and carefully sat on the metallic and cold ground, before gazing the super spy. He slowly moved his hand in the computer's direction, as if Natasha would touch his so that they could normally reunite again.

_"We can't track you with the ship on stealth mode, so I need you to work with me-"_

He pressed a button and shut the feed without letting her finish, leaving him on total silence with the only sound coming from the ship's engines. He observed the clear sky through the cockpit's windows, admiring it's simples as he was transported to the unknown and away from his friends.

* * *

_Peter, I'm here, please wake up!_

Peter stretched his arms and went to open the door of the bedroom he had been sharing with his wife for years now. He stepped inside and briefly turned around to close it. He was tired, and ready to relax his body and maybe cuddle a little bit, watch a movie together while their kids were sleeping on their respective bedrooms.

_I'm here, Peter, I'm right here._

"Peter, I'm right here." Gwen spoke, sat in their bed, wearing her dark blue jeans and white blouse.

"I know, why wouldn't you?" Peter took his shoes off and placed his Uncle's watch in the stand next to their now done bed, not understanding why Gwen was acting differently in all the sudden.

"You know I've found your plan for us to have our own home away from the city's problems." She smiled kindly.

Peter immediately felt his muscles tense. "What? No, no, you don't know anything about that." He shook his head in denial.

Gwen continued softly, "I'm here to bring you back."

_Peter, please, come on..._

He raised an eyebrow as she stood up and approached him. "Back…? What do you mean?" He looked at her beautiful green eyes, standings inches from her figure. "I was always here."

_I want to spend my whole life with you. Spider-Man or not...without..._

"...you I'm nobody. I'm nothing, just Gwen Stacy." She said gently. "Come back to me, Peter." She moved her both hands to his cheeks and continued lovely, "I love you, we love you, come back to your family."

Peter slowly smiled as she closed her eyes and leaned closer. He connected his lips with hers and kissed them gently, reciprocating the passionate kiss, missing her touch, like if they're separated for hours.

* * *

Peter slowly opened his eyes, seeing what probably an angel in front of him was. He immediately recognized the person, blonde hair, green eyes, freckles and the pale skin. It was_ his_ wife.

Her ready eyes showed how much she had gone through after he arrived back to the base in a not so good position, and now, he was laid on his bed at the infirmary, wearing only a white shirt and blue shorts, with a bandaged right arm and tiny cuts on his cheeks.

Gwen exhaled deeply once she saw her husband regaining consciousness. He finally realized where he was, and instantly leaned closer to resume the kiss as they brushed noses and met each other's lips again, later parting and touching each other's foreheads.

Flash smiled happily and cheered energetically with his arms after seeing Peter raising from his bed to kiss the woman of his life. "He's okay! He's okay! The bastard is okay!"

Steve smiled thankfully as he crossed arms and observed the miracle next to the bed, being the only Avengers present.

The doors of the infirmary were burst open with the twins storming inside and later Elizabeth. "Daddy…!" They jumped over the bed and reunited with their heroic father, who again, had beaten what many called impossible odds, but this time, not alone.


	49. Father To Son

**New York - Cemetery**

After Pietro's funeral at the local graveyard, Peter kneeled in front of the Parker's eternal resting area and used his right black gloved hand to gently place the bucket of flowers in the center of the small monument. He slowed his breathing, closed his eyes, and touched the gravestone with the tip of his finger, remaining in silence for a few couple of minutes.

Holding her mother's hand which was covered with glove similar to her father's, Elizabeth whispered softly, "Is that daddy's dad and mom?"

Gwen caressed her daughter's hand with her thumb as the cold wind of spring brushed against the material of their coats. "Yes, sweetie, and his Uncle's as well, Ben Parker."

Elizabeth continued gently, "What happened to them?"

Gwen explained in a low tone, "They're unfortunately taken from us too soon, you weren't born yet, but they're very good persons." She paused. "Your dad and I will explain everything to you once you're old enough, because it's not really an easy story to tell."

"Just like Grandpa George's?"

She nodded. "Just like Grandpa George's, but don't worry, everything on it's proper time, okay?"

"Alright." She turned to look at her mourning father.

Peter sighed calmly and slowly stood up on his feet. He turned on his back and approached his girls, giving them a genuine smile in the process, trying to appear alright while burying his true feelings under his scarred skin.

Gwen questioned carefully, "You okay, honey?"

Once close enough, Peter placed a hand on her waist and gave her a tiny peck on the lips which she gladly reciprocated. "I'm fine, this has turned out to be much easier nowadays, you know, paying my respects." He offered his hand to his daughter as she happily took it on hers.

"I know." Gwen smiled reassuringly. She briefly eyed the gravestones over his shoulder where Peter was previously knelled next to it, regretting not being able to meet her husband's parents and Uncle. "Life isn't fair, is it?" She asked as they started walking with Elizabeth standing between them, while holding their hands.

Peter replied softly, "Maybe, but this life gave me you and the kids; I wouldn't ever change that for anything, we move on, and continue our lives."

Gwen smiled to herself. He always had his way with words, and despite him considering himself heavily flawed, she thought the opposite, he was everything she could ever ask for. Her life could have taken a totally different turn not for him.

"Where are we going now?" Elizabeth questioned as she cocked her head at her parents.

Peter chuckled. "Pick your brothers who are probably driving your grandma May crazy, but I don't have any plans for later on, you do, Liz?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know; maybe some ice cream?"

"Hmm, could be." Peter nodded. "What do you think, _mommy_?"

"I think that our daughter is an ice cream addict and I honestly don't know where she got that from." Gwen joked.

Elizabeth beamed a smile and said innocently, "I love ice cream."

Peter laughed. "We know that, darling." He turned to look at his wife. "But hey, you certainly know where that came from, cocoa house?"

Gwen groaned and shook her head. "I was younger."

Peter winked to her. "And you haven't changed quite a bit."

She smiled at his cheesy, yet lovely words.

Elizabeth interjected, "Mommy wanted a cocoa house, for real?"

* * *

**Later on the night...**

Gwen's eyes suddenly jolted open as a wave of panic entered her mind. Always alert and prepared for anyone or anything that would attempt to strike her down in her moment of weakness, she quickly realized where she was, seeing the fully content and peaceful face of Peter as she rested on his chest, lost in a sleep she had rarely seen from the hero since the war.

When it came to their relationship he was a terrible liar, saying he would stay awake while she slept after being on the run for so long, giving her 'the security she deserved,' but knowing the war took a toll on him both emotionally and physically.

After making sure her husband was still sleeping normally, Gwen brought the sheets close to her bare neckline and used the controller to active the TV's screen on the opposite side of the room. It was very early morning, but among the hundreds of channels there was always something on. She kept the sound very low so that her husband and children could remain undisturbed, while Ren was laid on her legs, he slept like a rock, so his sleep wasn't in any danger.

_"Preparations are in store for the war ceremony, and we're here to show you the post-war fashions that would make even Ultron give pause!"_

_Terrible_, she thought as she gently stroked Ren's skin, although in his current sleepy state she could have pinched him on the cheek and he would still be out of commission. _Next_...

_"Hydra. The vile organization that claimed to 'represent humanity's advancement' now lies broken and shattered after nearly destroying everything. Come with us as we look through their darkest location to date."_

_Next._ Gwen quickly changed the channel with a swipe on the controller.

_"-building efforts on USA continue despite continued dissatisfaction with promised support. Many in the congress feel the country is being put on the backburner while the focus remains on Europe confirmed."_

Gwen scoffed silently. She ran her free hand on her blonde hair and then changed the channel, but the current one actually caught her interest. Footage of the past days where her Spider-Man and his friends helped to 'clean' the damaged city was show.

_"While The Avengers helped a great deal to stop Ultron and his army, many don't think that way, according to a research made with random citizens, a small but vocal group blames the famous group for allowing such event to happen, accusing Tony Stark of mishandling the drones he was working on, despite his arguments that everything was a plan established by Hydra, a trap. They demand justice, and that those who are called 'heroes' needs to be controlled in some way, regulated by the government seems to be the most suggested option by many."_

Gwen shook her head in disapproval._ If the only knew what that would mean to persons like Peter, but then again, they only care about themselves, heroes be damned. _She snarled mentally, frustrated by what she just had heard.

The following footage looked to be from one of the battles that Peter had participated, the last one to be more precise. A red and blue-ish figure could be seen from above, it was on the ground, facing an entire horde of drones at the same time, webs were spun, and that could only mean...

_Oh my..._

"_As you see now, that iconic blue and red suit againt the fifth drones is none other than Spider-Man himself, making sure all civilians were evacuated while distracting the drones. That enough is cause for praise, but the famed hero was also avoiding the deadly laser that emits from the drones' hands._

She shouldn't have been concerned with what she saw since that same man was sleeping comfortably by her side, still oblivious to the gentle light that was emitted from the screen.

But as the camera zoomed in to clearly track Peter as he dodged the red beams while simultaneously attacking his foes, Gwen couldn't help but feel a momentary pause in her breath as each new beam carved through the ground he stood on.

_He only told me they evacuated the area before the fight started , not that he was being the damn bait during the fight..._

_"Remind me to never dare Spider-Man to a WWE match."_

Gwen rolled her eyes at how annoying this supposed off the cuff remark came across as the reporter continued to talk over the camera footage.

Gwen's pressed a button which turned off the large screen as Peter stirred slightly. At first she was concerned that she had woken the man from his sleep, but then noticed a truth that she thought was only a humorous tease: she had taken most of the bedsheets.

Sliding back down from the headrest Gwen gave Peter a mock look of tease. Even though he was asleep she could practically hear 'told you so' emitting from his sealed lips. The fact that he was lightly smiling made it all the more unbearable. Gently she brought the covers over so he could retain some of the warmth he was starting to lose.

Propping her head on her elbow she watched the man sleep for a few more minutes, etching his peaceful look into her memory. She wanted to touch his face gently, simply to feel connected to this man who years ago chose her of all people in the world, but was content to remain watching him a pillow's length away.

A minute passed into her night time observation before a voice whispered from the sleeping man, "Gwendy...?" was all he spoke as a grin crossed his lips, eyes still closed.

Gwen surrendered the idea of hitting him for playing possum and simply obliged the request as she rested on his chest once again, but not before another kiss landed on his cheek.

* * *

The apartment managed to stand surprisingly intact during the brief conflict, aside from the very minor dust that accumulated and later got removed, everything was in order. Ren himself survived just fine, he ate his dog food after discovering which locket Gwen always stashed them. Their lives returned back to normal, no conflicts, just their family.

"Now, I just need to fit the lens properly." Peter said calmly, sat on the living room's floor with the twins next to him as their father tried to explain how he was placing his suit, which was between them, together.

While he fixed the suit, he wasn't sure if he could ever wear it again, feeling unprepared to protect the city again, not after the experience he went through, one that changed his perspectives.

Aiden touched the spandex with his fingers and asked, "When can I get one? I want to be like you, daddy."

Peter gritted his teeth, and replied gently, "You don't need one."

Aiden looked over his shoulder and to his father. "But I want to help people, be cool."

Peter chuckled. "You'll be cool, don't worry; and you can always help people without wearing a costume, it's not a requirement."

David interjected, "We could help you."

He smiled and stroked David's brown hair, appreciating his boys' desire to assist him, but that's something he didn't want them to do at all, having a normal and calm life was what they deserved. "I know you'll be able to." He nodded reassuringly and continued, "You two have so much to live, so much to experience and accomplish, this suit might take some things from your life, it comes with a cost, and eventually, the bill arrives...that's why I want you and your sister to avoid it, your generation is a bright one; you're all capable of great things and you don't need a suit to reach them."

The twins stood in silence, and while they're very young, they could understand the message their father wanted to pass. Aiden was the first to speak, "You won't get hurt anymore, daddy?"

_So that's what this is about..._

Peter rubbed the back of his neck, figuring an answer. "Um...well, I will try my best, it's hard to say." He smiled kindly. "You shouldn't worry about that, I will be fine."

After forgetting the whole subject as they continued to piece the suit together, checking for every inch of detail to see if everything was on it's own right place, Peter caught Gwen slowly walking downstairs, holding a cup of warm coffee on her right hand, before she approached him from behind and rested a hand on his hair.

"How is it going so far?" She handed him the cup and eyed the spandex.

Allowing the twins to have their fun with the suit, Peter took a sip and swallowed it as he frowned his face. "Jesus, honey, it needs more sugar."

Gwen smiled playfully. "Oh, I'm sorry if I couldn't please you, you never seem to complain about it."

Peter deadpanned. He eventually rollled his eyes and shook his head. "You know what I meant."

Gwen chuckled. "Well, too much sugar isn't healthy, and since I don't have any super powers, I need to be careful."

"Hmm... I see your point." He nodded, before turning back to the suit. "To your question; just some small adjustments here and there, for some reason...I prefer this suit than the other ones, aesthetically."

"Me too." Gwen walked around him and sat down on the couch as Peter moved himself backwards and leaned his back against the sofa and in the space between her ankles. She observed with a kind smile her boys sharing the suit between themselves and wearing parts of it, which were obviously too big for them.

"Where's Liz?" Peter looked up and meet her gorgeous green eyes.

"She's dressing, we're heading out in a few minutes."

Peter removed her right foot's slipper and caressed it gently, "Oh, secrets...? Where are you ladies going to anyways?"

"To the hairdresser; lower her hair as she wants, and I'm thinking about dying my hair black, what do you think?"

Peter shook his head, not believing her last sentence. "No way..."

"Why not?" Gwen grinned.

"Because...um, well - you're born to be blonde."

Gwen giggled and teased, "Oh, right, that's totally a good reason; I've now changed my mind." Her husband gazed her with eyes that inquired if she was actually messing around him with. "I won't; believe me."

Peter exhaled sharply, the thought of his wife dying her hair black was unsettling, he couldn't get used to it. She would become another person.

He forgot such thoughts and moved himself into the couch and next to his wife as she placed her cup on the arm stand and went to cuddle with him, noticing that their boys had disappeared while they talked.

"By the way, I'll visit the Tower, need to talk with Tony and confirm that I won't avenge anymore." He informed.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that; look - if you want to continue, I won't mind because that's what you do best, aside from being a father, it's your choice."

"I know, " He smiled softly. "But that will get into dangerous missions, and right now; with three growing children, I need to be present and not away from home."

"That's not what I mean, honey, but Spider-Man."

Peter gazed her honest and truthful expression. He placed an arm around her shoulder and caressed her left cheek with the same hand. He asked gently, "What about everything we planned?"

Gwen rested a hand on his thigh. "It will happen, but we're happy right now, aren't we?" He nodded. "But the city still is recovering, it needs support, and you're the biggest figure out there... I mean - you're associated with this city; yes - I know someone else could take the job of assuring them safety, but it's not only that, you give them hope...and hope is what they now need most."

Peter moved his eyes away from hers, processing her words, and getting even more conflicted over the topic. "I...I don't know if I can..."

"What do you mean?"

He breathed deeply. "Can we talk about this later, honey?"

Gwen paused, noticing his pleading expression and surprised by the evasion. She nodded. "Sure."

"Thank you." Peter slowly leaned closer as Gwen closed her eyes and contained her breath, before brushing lips and finally kissing them affectionately, forgetting about everything for the little time they spent together.

"Mommy?" The seven years old girl called as she walked downstairs.

Gwen chuckled as they parted lips and turned to look at their daughter who was now standing in front of them with a big smile. "Ready?"

Peter said firstly, "Are you going to become a super model now?" He teased, observing her well chosen set of clothing which was appropriate to her age, yet very interesting and modern.

Elizabeth smiled brightly and shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Any daughter of mine has the potential of achieving that." Gwen winked to her husband and moved away from his arms, before leaning closer to adjust Liz's blonde hair bangs.

"I can see that." Peter nodded repeatedly. "Before you two are gone, Liz, do you know what your brothers are doing?"

"I think they're pretending to be Spider-Man with your webshooters, playing around upstairs."

Gwen deadpanned and slowly turned her head around, giving her husband a cold stare.

"Um...oops...?"

* * *

**New Avengers Facility - Upstate New York**

Amidst the enormous quantity of trees and green vegetation, there was a new and isolated facility, recently built to shelter a new team and a new philosophy, with special agents being trained and already prepared for field camp missions, small ships surveyed the area or landed in the appropriate spots, the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one - which would hopefully avoid the mistakes done in the past.

In the upper and empty floors, Natasha stood in silence as she gazed the window that gave her view of the beautiful forest not far away from the facility. She felt at ease, and she could finally catch her breath after fighting Ultron's tireless army of robots, yet, she wasn't one hundred percent back, but her personal feelings wouldn't get in the way of her professional duties, life continues.

Her phone beeped softly, she retrived the device from her waistline and opened the notification, being greeted by a video message from her long life friend, Clint Barton. His baby son appeared smiling lightly and squealing at the same time, clearly having fun. Natasha smiled after she noticed the shirt the baby was wearing, 'Nathaniel Pietro Barton' was written on it's front, a clearly tribute for Wanda's brother. "Fat as the father." She teased and smiled to herself, before placing her phone back to it's previous position.

"One of our tech geeky boys flagged this." Nick Fury calmly approached her from behind, holding a small datapad on his left hand. "Splashed down in the bottom of the sea, could be Banner's jet." He handed her the datapad. "With Stark's stealth tech, we still can't track the damn thing."

Natahsa cleared her throat and nodded professionaly, avoiding his eyes, and still trying to get some closure from the whole situation.

Fury continued, "Probably jumped out and started swimming to some beach." He noticed her hesitation. "Let's send him a post card." He turned around.

"Wish you were there...when you sent me to recruit him, way back then...did you know what was gonna happen?" Natasha inquired respectfully.

He stopped on his tracks and turned on his shoulder. "You never know, you hope for the best, and then make the most of what you get...I have a great team."

Natasha smiled. "Nothing lasts forever." She handed him the datapad.

Fury chuckled lightly, before saying, "Trouble, Miss Romanoff, no matter who wins or loses, trouble still comes around." He nodded and headed towards the elevator.

Natasha observed her boss walking away and crossed arms, before turning around to face the window again, moving on.

* * *

"The rules has changed." Steve said calmly as he accompanied the trio formed by Peter, Thor and Tony in the hallway which was filled with transparent windows, allowing them vision of the entire facility and beyond.

Tony, wearing civilian clothes like Peter for a change, affirmed, "We're doing something new."

Steve shrugged his shoulders and rested his hands on his belt. "Well, the Vision's artificial intelligence..."

Peter chuckled, enjoying the playful banter spread across the air around them. He stashed his hands on his leather jacket's pockets and followed them closely.

Tony continued, "A machine."

"So, it doesn't count?" The Avengers' leader turned his head to look at the billionaire and smiled.

He shook his head. "No, it's like - a person...who lifts the hammer..."

Steve gestured to him in agreement. "Right, it can rules us -"

Tony interrupted him, "Nice guy, artificial."

Thor interjected, "It can lift the hammer, it can keep the mind stone."

They slowly stopped on their tracks to face Thor and check if he was actually being serious with his latest sentence. Peter raised an eyebrow, not expecting the Asgardian to allow such powerful gem to be kept on Earth. "You sure?" He asked.

Thor nodded. "Yeah, it's safer with the Vision, and these days safety is in short supply." They stood in silence, reflecting by their friend's words.

Steve broke the silence, "But if you put the hammer in an elevator..."

Tony quickly replied, "It would still go up."

Steve shook his head in disapproval. "Elevator is not worthy..."

Thor laughed briefly, before placing one hand on Tony's shoulder while the free one in Peter's, patting them gently. "I will miss our cheesy talks."

"Not if you don't leave." Tony said friendly.

"I have no choice." They resumed their pace. "The mind stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones found in the last years, it's not a coincidence."

The four friends finally stepped outside through an underground tunnel and reached the empty area with short grass. Above the entrance, a training squad just passed by as they procedded to run the track as their instructor previously demanded.

Thor continued, "Someone has been playing intriguing games and is making puns of us, once all his pieces are in position...

Tony recovered his pair of glasses from his open jacket and wore them, before joking, "Tell me it's Johnny Cash trying to live again."

Steve asked rather seriously, "You think you can figure out who's coming?"

"I do." Thor turned to Tony and quickly patted his chest. "Besides this one, there's nothing that can't be explained." He left them, before nodding and raising his hammer to the sky as a bright light suddenly appeared over him, later disappearing and leaving unknow symbols on the grass.

Peter whistled lowly. "Eh...so much for having a beautiful 'garden'."

Tony nodded, amused. He turned around as they headed towards his Audi parked not far way in the road. "Right? I'm gonna miss him though, I hear he's gonna miss me, there's going to be a lot of mainly tears." He joked and unlocked the fast car with the automatic keys.

Steve gazed him, "I will miss you, Tony."

"Me too, yo." Peter agreed.

"Yeah?" Tony's car automatically drove towards him. "Well, it's time for me to tap out, I think I should take a page from Barton and Peter's book, build a farm, settle down, hope nobody blows if up." He stopped next to the automobile.

Steve smiled. "A simple life."

"It's not hard as it looks, well - it kinda is, but it's worth it." Peter crossed his arms.

Steve hesitated. "I don't know...family, stability, the guy that wanted all that went to the ice decades ago and...I think someone else came out."

Tony stood quiet, feeling rather sad for his friend's tragic journey. He went to open the door and looked at the pair. "You two will be alright?"

Peter nodded sympathetically. "No promises."

Tony chuckled and moved his eyes to Steve, who seemed to be lost on his thoughts and to the sound coming from the facility's training grounds, similar to his days back at the military.

"I'm home." Steve replied without looking at his eyes, eventually doing so, seeing the billionaire's kind smile as he entered his poisonous car, nodding at them and then driving forward, leaving the facility he helped to build, and taking a break from being a hero, one that he needed after everything that went through.

Peter spoke, "So, Cap?"

"I assume I can't convince you to stay as an Avenger?" Steve smirked.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I appreciate it, but I'm gonna take care of my own city and family; saving the whole world is a scale which I'm not really ready to take again, you know?"

"I understand, and I respect your decision." He patted him on the shoulder. "You're a hero, Peter, I'm lucky for having you on my team; you can always count with me. I only wish the best for you and your family."

Peter smiled thankfully. "Thanks." They shook hands. "If I need a favor or two, I know who to call, until then, keep Avenging, Captain."

He nodded. "Roger that, Spider-Man."

* * *

After receiving a call from the local bank during the travel back to the city and scheduling a meeting for his own interests, Peter waited in the car and it didn't take many minutes before the banker replied; he could indeed see Peter for a consultation as well. Almost at the same time Peter had also received a message from Gwen who asked when he would return. Peter replied to Gwen that he would be back within the hour; and Gwen sent back a message that he didn't need to hurry back or anything, only that she would shower and was curious when he would be back. Peter became curious and wondered if his beauty was up to something.

He left the car and strolled inside. It looked the same it had done over the years earlier, a giant structure, with a fancy decorations and automatic machines. Behind the financial adviser were several large computer towers by the wall.

The banker looked up and greeted cordial, "Peter Benjamin Parker. Spider-Man's photographer, always a pleasure, and for you I will always have time, I'm Jon."

"I appreciate it, Jon." Peter replied friendly and took a seat in front of him.

"So. What can I help you with?"

Peter got right to the point, "Your assistant said you had recovered my father's will, but I'm wondering how it disappeared on the first place."

"Ah, yes, a man brought the will and suitcase a few days back."

"Go on."

"Well, he said this company which you'd know about, tried to erase all files from Mr Richard, and he had discovered it in some old installation at England." He explained. "I believe only you can understand the message, because I can't make any sense of it, and I apologize in advance, I assume the responsibility in investigating how this happened."

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "It's all right, um...is there anything else this man said to you?"

"Here," He grabbed a piece of paper on his desk and handed it to Peter who then procedded to read the handwritten message.

_Even after all these years, your unibrow is as distracting as your overly colorful suit._

_\- HO_

Peter raised an eyebrow, not believing what his eyes were showing. "Wow...I, um...okay." He smiled lightly.

"Do you want me to open the suitcase here."

He shook his head. "It's fine, I...can you check my account?"

Jon typed commands into his computer and nodded, "Indeed. With the will's bonus and Anthony Stark's latest transference, one million 497 298 dollars to be precise." He peered carefully at Peter, "I hope you're not going to withdraw it or close your account? Accounts like yours are essential for the city's recovery."

Peter raised a hand a smiled reassuringly, "Not my intention."

Jon breathed relieved, "Good."

"I do on the other hand wish to add an apartment to my finances. It's located here in the city." Peter gave Jon the necessary documents. "My…domestic partnership has changed considerably since last time I came here, years, years ago. I have someone I want – if it comes to that – inherit what I have. Maybe some sort of will could be drawn up. An estate maybe."

"I see," Jon said and looked at his screen. "That can be arranged. Are you married with this person?"

Peter nodded, "Yes, I want her to inherit what I own if something happens to me."

"An estate is a good idea. You are rather famous. Your significant other could stand to lose millions from not being able to control your likeness, legal rights, interests, property and other issues after any untimely demise of you. And so could you even if alive."

Peter mumbled sardonically, "It's so fun being famous…and I haven't even showed the big thing." He continued seriously, "For the moment I want this secret, and not even Gwen – as is her name – is to know about this, or else she'll kill me for doing it."

Peter didn't want to involve Gwen, because it was a depressing thought; him dying . Still, it was definitely a real concern. Not only that, he didn't want her to think about their relationship in regards of wealth. They had never done so, and he didn't care about her finances, but he very much wanted her to have some measure of security if he died.

He just wanted to continue their lives rather normally. Enjoy life with his beauty and kids. Do things together they had been denied for awhile because of Ultron.

"Of course." He promised. "There are a few details we've to go through to set this up, I require this Gwen's surname to begin with."

* * *

**Central Park - Parker's picnic**

With her father's assistance as he held her hand gently, Elizabeth carefully stepped over the skate, already prepared with her helmet for protection, and slowly tried to keep her balance.

"Easy now, beautiful." He moved his foot away from the wheel and placed his left arm on her waistline just for precaution. "You need to use your right foot to move it." She put her foot to the ground, moving the board slightly.

"This is not so bad." Elizabeth affirmed as she moved the skate forward with her father following her closely. She smiled contently as the skate slowly moved over the small path made of asphalt in the park.

"You think you can continue alone?" Peter asked softly, still with his arm resting on her waist.

Elizabeth shook her head rather nervously at the thought of her father releasing her completely. "Not really, daddy."

He nodded, accompanying her skate's calm pace, before smiling kindly. "It's okay, but remember; if you ever fall..."

Elizabeth finished the sentence for him, "I always need to get up."

"That's right." Peter briefly moved his eyes away from his daughter and turned his head to the opposite direction, seeing Gwen sat not far away from them and eyeing the twins who were now trying to successfully throw their small red Frisbee.

Peace was finally restored, their piece, because above everything, the responsibility and values, there was his family, and he would do anything for them; it's over, a new and fresh start. He wanted nothing but to enjoy his family and proceed to live their lives like they're doing before a new and now defeated threat emerged from the darkness.

After every single hurricane that passed by on his life, the whole thing with his family and friends, nothing had changed, his integrity was still holding up firmly, and now he would use such will to fulfill his duties as a father and raise the innocent children who were generated through the fruit of his and his wife's passion. Still, doubts about his own condition to wear the mantle again became more and more frequent over the past days.

Peter was about to turn his head back to Elizabeth if he hadn't caught a glimpse of a very familiar figure standing next to tree where Gwen was sat by. The red glowing orbs on it's head, the metallic torso and members were instantly recognized by him.

_"Daddy...?"_

Shocked, Peter didn't notice his arm letting go of Elizabeth's waist as he gazed the drone with confused eyes. He couldn't believe the sight, all drones were supposed to be deactivated after the global EMP was triggered, no exceptions. He quickly blinked his eyes and it wasn't there anymore, it had vanished with the wind.

_How..._

Finally noticing his hand wasn't holding his daughter, Peter immediately turned to where he had left her and saw the seven years old girl standing right in front of him with crossed arms, her facial expression wasn't the most welcoming one. The skate was next to her left foot.

"You let me go." Liz snarled, while she tried to appear made, her father found her incredible cute.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie." Peter apologized, kneeling to stay on her level. "I got distracted, my mistake."

Elizabeth sighed. "It's fine, I'm not weak." She suddenly smiled brightly. "I didn't fall off the skate after I moved it on my own, I think I can do a backflip, you know?"

He smiled back. "That's great, you're brilliant, never doubt that." He stood up and picked the skate from the ground, before holding her right hand. "C'mon, let's get back to your mom and brothers."

After reaching their original spot, Peter sat next to his wife and grabbed one sandwich from one of the plates while Elizabeth did the same. He devoured Gwen's delicious work, who watched him with surprised eyes as he ate the poor sandwich. Elizabeth also observed his fast pace, before she delicately took a bite from her own sandwich.

"Hmm..." Peter closed his eyes and savoured the food that filled his cheeks. "This is so good, Gwen." He said, while eating.

Gwen gave him a playful glare. "Manners, Peter, manners." She briefly gazed the twins who were digging something on the grass. "Now I understand why Aiden eats whatever he is offered in the same dork way as yours, you two are eating machines, David is calmer."

Peter followed her gaze. "Hey boys! Careful to not dig up Ant-Man!"

They laughed at his joke, getting even more excited about the possibility.

He chuckled, before turning his head back to his wife. "You know, I never understood those dreams I had after activating the Breach, you said you would explain it but we eventually forgot them; I'm curious."

Gwen nodded. "You were injected with a substance that puts your brain into full mode, the dreams keeps you aware and your body functional if any other method was required."

"I see, that's why I could hear you talking to me."

Gwen took his hand on hers. "Exactly, someone had to bring you back."

He teased, "Funny, I dreamed with Cleopatra."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "You what?"

"A movie, she's my crush back then." He said innocently. "Good times."

Gwen scoffed and let his hand go. "Spare me of your teenage crushes."

Peter wrapped his right arm around her waist and brought her closer, Gwen tried to resist but she ultimately played along. "You know I only have eyes to you, mommy."

"Keep trying and you maybe can sleep on my bedroom tonight."

He chuckled, leaning closer for one persuasive kiss.

Elizabeth frowned at the sight. "Eww."

* * *

In the darkness of the living, with the only source of light coming from the TV which was showing some of Aiden's favorite cartoon, Peter stroked his son's soft hair who was lying against his chest and under his arm, ready to fall asleep.

The girls and David were already upstairs, probably tucked on their beds while Gwen herself waited for him before finally catching a goodnight rest.

Aiden wasn't surrendering that easily, putting his boys to sleep never was an easy task to being with, but Peter noticed his eyes were almost closed for some time now. He's persistent, Peter thought.

Deciding to move things forward and end his son's struggle, Peter went back on time and procedeed to remember the song his own very father used to sing to him when he tried to make him sleep, later becoming one of Peter's favorite songs.

Peter caressed Aiden's soft hair which was probably a characteristic he inherited from his mother, and tighened his grip gently. _"Carry on my wayward son..."_ Peter whispered. _"There will be peace when you're done..." _ He noticed that his boy was finally giving up. _"...lay your weary head to rest..." _Aiden naturally closed his eyes, entering the world of dreams while being protect by his father's arms. _"...don't you cry no more."_

Peter smiled to himself once he looked down to the fastly asleep boy on his chest, innocent, kind, and fully unaware of how much complicated life is, without any weight being placed against his small shoulders.

He turned off the TV and carefully adjusted the four years old on his arms, before slowly standing up and eventually heading upstairs. He passed by Elizabeth's room, seeing the door open and her bed empty. Not far away, he spotted dim lights coming from underneath the door to his bedroom. He reached for the twin's door and opened it gently, catching David tucked under the covers of his own bed which was in format of Lego while Aiden's was a car since he adored them.

"Love you." Peter said softly once he laid Aiden down on his bed and brought the covers close to his neckline, he kissed his forehead and approached David, doing the same action, before stepping outside the room and closing the door.

Now entering his own bedroom, Peter saw his wife and daughter cuddling on the bed, with Gwen holding what looked to be their family's photo album with her hands as Elizabeth gazed it with affectionate eyes.

Gwen chuckled lightly. "This your dad, when he _was_ thin, the messy hair? So cute."

Elizabeth giggled, seeing a picture of her father cutting Aunt May's grass, shortening them. "He looks very young."

Gwen nodded in agreement. "17 years old, basically a baby." She looked up once she noticed her husband's arrival. "Oh, hey there, daddy; we're just talking about you."

Peter smiled lovingly, approaching his side of the bed and lying next to her daughter who was between them. "Thin...?"

"Well, you weren't always bulky, even after becoming Spider-Man." Gwen replied. "You definitely got extra some pounds since Elizabeth came."

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose you're right."

Elizabeth intertwined her fingers with her father's and interjected, "You look the same to me, since I can remember." She offered a delicate smile.

"Thank you." He kissed the top of her head, and gazed the album, instantly recognizing an infamous picture, at least for him. He and Gwen were walking down the stairs from his Aunt's house, both of them wearing black tie and a dark pair of glasses. "That's our first Halloween together, isn't it?"

"Yeah, you wanted to dress as MIB, care to explain our daughter why?"

Peter cleared his throat. "Um... I accidentally lost our Jedi clothes when swinging around, it fell from the backpack and into the river..."

Gwen raisen an eyebrow. "That's the official story, 'accidentally'."

Elizabeth brought the covers closer to her. "I think daddy lost it on purpose." She stated innocently.

"Busted."

Peter sighed, being betrayed by his own daughter who took her mother's side. "Thank you, Liz, but for the record, I do like Star Wars."

Elizabeth continued. "But you like MIB more, I find it silly."

Peter scoffed. "Yeah - I can see that." He noticed she was getting more and more comfortable on their bed. "Little Missy, why are you getting all warmed up on my bed?"

"I'm tired..." Elizabeth sighed lightly, she rested her head on his pillow and slowly closed her eyes, leaivng her parents totally surprised.

Peter and Gwen exchanged a curious glance, smiling towards each other, before following their daughter's initiative and preparing themselves to sleep, turning off the lamp and lying close to Elizabeth, hugging her safely.

* * *

_Peter opened his eyes, seeing he was standing in the middle of a rather dark and empty corridor with countless of door on each side. He heard a sound of a tiny puddle landing against the ground below his feet. He looked down to his red gloved hands, noticing they're covered with blood, his whole Spider-Man suit was damaged, and his mask was nowhere to be found._

_Failing to understand what was going on, he suddenly heard a loud sound coming from one of the doors, immediately getting him alarmed._

_Cautiously, Peter took one step forward and carefully searched for the disturbance's source, eventually stopping at door numbered as 544, a number he thought it was familiar, but couldn't remember where it was from. Nonetheless, he turned the knob and fully opened it, being greeted by the sight of a man wearing black jacket and blue jeans, probably with the same height as his, he stood quietly at the far end of the bedroom which was his at Aunt May's house, with his back prompted to him as he stared the window that led to the empty._

_The figure held his bloodied mask with his right hand. "It took you sometime." He broke the silence._

_"Who are you?" Peter stepped inside, the door instantly closed behind him._

_The mysterious person chuckled. "With such intelligence, you really ask dumb questions, don't you?" He finally turned on his shoulder, exposing his face to Peter's eyes._

_Peter raised an eyebrow, seeing himself in front of him. "Um...you - I mean me..."_

_"I'm you, smartass." He used the mask to wipe the small trace of blood on his right cheek and then clean his hands._

_"O-Okay...this is definitely a weird dream, time to go." Peter snapped his fingers, trying to wake up, and failing miserably. "Well...it always worked in movies."_

_"This is not a dream." He pointed out. "Let's get straight to the point? Let's talk about the fact that you're not the same man you used to be?"_

_Peter cocked his head. "Awkward, I'm talking to myself."_

_"You can't lie to me, I know how you feel, worthless." He chuckled sarcastically. "But the attitude never changes, I guess I'll have to change it myself; you just can't accept that you're a broken man who's always trying to turn your skills into something good? When the only thing that comes from it is pain, lies and suffering."_

_"You're not real."_

_"Sure I am, I'm you." He start to pace around Peter. "You're just a mindless and obedient attack dog, controlled and trapped; it's all about the family, 'friends' and people who you never met, but us? There's nothing for us, we're slaves, the powers? Daddy's, wife? Came from your powers, same for the children, see? We're basically nothing, because of your poor choices."_

_Peter smiled sarcastically. "Shut up."_

_He stopped behind Peter. "C'mon, you know you're cursed, death chases your family, and it will chase your descendents, it's already written on the stones, it's inevitable because you're not as strong as you could be." He stated harshly. "I - We can change that, I can give you a peaceful life, our children won't have to follow drastic means in the future to appease their pain that will happen."_

_"What do you even want from me?" Peter inquired aghast._

_"Become my shadow, cut the shackles that are holding you back, do willingly, before it's too late." He stopped on his initial location. "Use that anger you're burying deep inside and let it flow into your suit, wear it again, be someone that make his own rules so that misery can be avoided." He stood in front of their desk. "Spider-Man is waiting for you, don't neglect him if you want your existence to be justified."_

_Peter turned around to face him. "You want me...to be Spider-Man again, and hurt people, badly?"_

_"Something like it." He smiled. "But yu already accomplished that, didn't you?" Peter closed his fists, holding the urge to not take one step forward. "Do as desired, and your reward will be granted, a peaceful life for everyone." He threw the mask to Peter's hands, and then gestured to himself. "Because this is you, and that suit you should wear reflects your future."_

_"I'm not like you."_

_"Yes, you are, and you know that." He insisted. "I know you look at the mirror, and hate what you see, you hate Peter Parker."_

_"You know nothing about my life, you're just a dream."_

_"And who do you think you are?"_

_"Shut up..."_

_"You're just everyone's puppets, and our boys will suffer from that, even your own father didn't care whether you lived or die -"_

_"Shut up!" Peter cursed violently and pushed the other Peter away who abruptly crashed against his desk, breaking the wood while making a mess of the stuff which was over it. "My father was an obsessed bastard! He couldn't save mom! I can protect my own family while he couldn't even protect his!" Peter punched his jaw repeatedly and then backed off._

_He tried to get up but Peter kicked him down again. He looked up with fiery eyes. "Don't live in denial! You will share the same destiny as his!"_

_Peter pressed his hands to his neck, holding the shirt's collarbone tightly. "He wasn't there for me while I always was for my children! It wasn't fair! I didn't deserve what he put on me, and I don't deserve this!" He violently punched his other himself, getting his knuckle's skin bruised, and leaving his opponent unconscious. "...and they're my boys..."_

_He exhaled deeply, staring the other Peter with eyes filled with anger, venting off against his statements. _

_Unexpectedly, his evil counter part regained his conscious and looked up to him. "You're no hero, guardian or even a damn angel!" His brown eyes now turned black. "You'll fail, and this?! This is what you'll become!"_

_Shocked by the sudden change in the eyes, he stood paralyzed, receiving a murderous stare, before the ceiling and his surroundings started to shake._

* * *

**3:00 AM**

After abruptly waking up and getting off the bed, Peter ran the cold tap on the basin slowly, cupping his hands and splashing the cool water over his face. He looked up, studying himself in the mirror above the basin.

_I know you look at the mirror, and hate what you see_.

The war had taken it's toll on him, psychologically, emotionally, and physically, and his face betrayed it. He looked tired, drawn out and weary. The dark bags underneath his eyes emphasised that, as well as revealing his recent sleeping habits.

"You're wrong." He stated calmly.

Peter turned off the lights and very slowly opened the bathroom's door, seeing Gwen curled on the sheet and holding Elizabeth closely with her arms wrapped around their beautiful daughter.

He smiled briefly and took his shirt from the ground, before walking outside and heading downstairs. He went directly to the kitchen, opened the fridge and retrived a single beer from it, as he closed it, Ren woke up at the couch and sat to check the disturbance, spotting his owner passing by him and entering the balcony.

"C'mon buddy." Peter whistled lowly as he leaned over, seeing Ren jump ontop of the balcony's stool and gaze the now silent and cold city with his owner. "Looks like a totally different world, right? A quiet one." He took a sip, the refreshing liquid running down his body.

Ren cocked his head at him, waving his very small tail in the air.

"Yeah, I know." He nodded. "Sometimes, it feels like I'm part of this city, you know? Like - literally, and that I won't ever be able to abandon, even if wanted, somehow...things always managed to return here."

Ren scratched his ear with his right pawn.

"Do you think I'm merely serving anyone, instead of living my own life? And that everything was a consequence of my gifts? Was Ultron right? Do we - heroes, only cause pain?"

The pug stood quietly.

"Maybe, thank you, I'm just freaking out for no reason at all." They now embraced the silence among the darkness, gazing the sky full of stars, while contemplating it's complexity and beautifulness.

"You're talking with the pug? Gwen asked from behind, wearing a snug shirt and panties. She crossed her arms and gave him a warm smile.

Peter turned on his shoulder, bringing his beer along. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough." Gwen took one step forward and gently retrieved the beer from his hands, gazing the city through her green eyes as she took a sip, before standing closely to the balcony's edge and leaving her husband surprised.

He approached his wife from behind and wrapped both arms around her waist. He kissed the back of her neck and rested his chin over her right shoulder. "Ren's a good listener, and why are you awake?"

Gwen placed the bottle in the edge and moved her hand over his' which were drawing circles on her bare belly. "I was about to ask you the same thing; I went to get some water and you weren't in bed."

"I'm not tired."

"So they say, but I'm your wife for almost ten years now, and my Gwendy senses are tingling." She smiled softly.

Peter chuckled lightly, before assuming a more serious expression. "Just..." He paused.

"Freaking out." Gwen turned on his grip, she slipped her right hand underneath his shirt and explored his chest while the other one cupped his cheek. "What's going on, Peter? Why do you ask yourself such painful questions?"

"I think...maybe I'm nothing but a vessel for Spider-Man to use, you know? Just that, and nothing else; it seems like I'm bound to keep fighting, because that's the thing I know best, but... I can't even wear the suit anymore, Gwendy, it brings bad memories about - everything and I can't deal with it."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Where do you get such notions, Peter? Who told you this?"

"It was a dream, a very vivid one." He breathed heavily. "I'm screaming to myself, and no one can hear. Like - you almost feel ashamed...that someone could be that important that without them you feel like nothing, and to guarantee that I need to wear...I feel hopeless...like nothing can save me from it. And when it's over, and it's gone, you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back, so that you could have the good, because part of them made this, this present, Spider-Man... I don't know who I am anymore."

Gwen spoke gently, "Okay, first of all, you're no vessel, cursed or anything like that, you make your own choices." She replied softly. "Whatever that happened in your dream, what you heard, it wasn't real, there's Peter Parker and then there's Spider-Man, the other guy depends on you, not the contrary." She affirmed. "And we already talked about this; you're a strong willed man, Spider-Man is your reflection, everything you ever earned or will earn, it's because you deserve it."

He was about to say something, but ultimately, he hesitated.

Gwen continued gently, "And if you don't want to wear the suit for now, or not again, it's fine, honey, you already did enough; you deserve a rest after everything you went through...take your time."

"I...yeah, you're right; thank you - maybe it's the post stress which is driving me mad, I feel weak...pathetic for having such thoughts."

She removed his hands from his face and placed them around her, positioning one on her stomach. Then she cupped his cheek, forcing him to look into her eyes.

"You are not weak. You are not pathetic," She rubbed his cheek smoothly. "And truth be told I've been waiting for this moment to happen for a long while."

"Why?" He could only manage a hoarse whisper in reply.

"Because you've been bottling up all of this emotion, all of this feeling for so long. You've told me about your dreams but never the emotions behind them. I thought this was going to happen after the war." Gwen spoke softly. "But we haven't had free time like this for some time, when was the last time you weren't being pushed towards some goal or objective?"

He shrugged.

"Well I reckon it was when we're at England, nine years ago Peter," She rested her forehead against his own, still stroking his stubble. "Since then you've gone through the Six, Avenging, and now the war."

He nodded.

"This is natural, it's not a sign of weakness. Everything is catching up with you now because you aren't being forced towards something, and your mind is trying to process it all in one go," Gwen gave him a slow kiss on the lips, running one arm around his neck whilst placing the other on his hand that was still across her stomach. "But you can't do this alone, it's just too much. Let me in, trust me, I can help you if you let me."

"I tried before."

"And it helped didn't it?" He nodded his assent. "You can confide in me, we can talk - like we were doing before, we can spend time just like this – holding one another and being close. You're not alone on this; if it helps, you can make me some love to blow off some steam, okay?"

Peter's eyes shot upwards, locking with hers. It wasn't often that she talked like that, and he didn't like her implications. "I'm not going to use you like that, honey."

"Hey, I get awesome pleasure out of it so it isn't a problem," She gave him a grin which turned into a kind smile. "I just want to help."

"I know, it's just..." He dropped his head again. "Yeah, I need to do this, feeling well or not."

"These things don't just go away, they can come back when you least expect it." Gwen shifted slightly, leaning back into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her more tightly, bringing her as close to his body as he could.

"I'll try again," Peter still found himself speaking softly, but he meant what he said.

"You know, there's no shame in failing something the first time around," She turned her head, glancing up at him. "And it was you who taught me that."

Peter moved a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear, cupped her cheek and finally connected his lips with hers, kissing them affectionately, before finally deepening the kiss as his wife released a low moan.

Again, he couldn't wish for someone else on his life, someone that is always present for him when he needs most

Unexpectedly, a quick bolt triggered on Peter's mind, making him break the kiss and turn his head to the city without releasing Gwen's slim frame while searching for the call's source.

Gwen immediately understood what was going on. "If you want to go, then go." She said softly. "Or else, stay here with us, you're not responsible for everyone's mistakes, despite the gifts, you still are a human with emotions."

Peter gazed her deep green eyes, overcoming his fears and doubts. He slowly nodded, placed both hands on her cheeks and gently brought her closer, kissing her forehead, before releasing his wife and propelling himself over the balcony's edge. "Before I go, you remember father's will the bank had recovered?"

She nodded.

He continued, "They didn't simply find it, someone gave it to them, Harry."

Gwen widened her eyes in surprise. "What? But I...I thought he was dead." She said gently.

"Maybe he is, and this was just a bad joke, but if he isn't..." Peter paused.

"What will you do?" Gwen inquired.

Peter gulped. "I'll find him, I'll find my brother..." He turned to the building's direction. "Get some rest, okay?"

"Your suit?" Gwen crossed her arms, protecting her body against the wind.

"Not ready, but I have a side one." He leaned forward, disappearing in the air.

Telling herself that he would be okay despite not bringing the webshooters along, Gwen sighed and remained in silence, having countless thoughts about such possibility, and conflicted if finding Harry, if he was even alive, is something her husband should really go after.

* * *

**New York - St. Patrick's Cathedral**

_Never thought I'd have to ever come here again._

Peter passed through the enormous church's gargoyles and walked inside the deserted bell's area which had it's own natural decoration such as spider's webs spread around and the common dust, a not very welcoming place, one that stood surprisingly intact during the brief war.

He scanned the place with his very eyes, and found the small fissure in the wall he was searching for. He punched the weak brick, revealing some space inside the wall and recovered a suitcase, his father's suitcase, the object that started everything.

After placing the briefcase on the dusty ground, Peter opened it and grabbed the black spandex, the chest set, and held it with both hands in front of him. It was a new model he had stashed in the church a few years ago just in case. Instead of being fully black and with no webbing like the original black suit that now belonged to Flash, it was similar to the classic red and blue suit but such colors were replaced with black while the raised webbing remained silver.

Last time he wore the real organic deal, he almost lost his mind and body to the symbiote, fortunately, the current suit didn't have any of those side effects, the only aspect that got preserved was how much intimidating it looked, at least for bad guys, and that's exactly what he wanted.

After the short time spent by getting inside of the super tight costume, Peter placed the mask over his shoulder and walked over one of the many gargoyles, gazing the entire cold and dark city.

On his left hand, the copy of his parent's will he had brought with him was being carefully held. He looked down, now holding the paper with both hands, and finally went to read what his parents had to say.

_The last will of the deceased, Richard Parker. In the events of my death, I'm here to declare that all my possessions pass to my only son, Peter Benjamin Parker._

He gulped, personally facing his father's final words.

_Peter, I ask you to honor our family's name, and commit yourself for the improvement of our beautiful city, it's institutions and it's citizens._

Feeling a bad situation occurring not far away from him, Peter stood still.

_Please, be strong, you're young but destined to greatness, make the most of your opportunities, use your intelligence to achieve good things for you, and everyone._

Small puddles of water started to land on the paper, meaning it was about to rain.

_Do not be frivolous with the quantity, do not waste it with outrageous clothes, don't use your gifts to invent silly or pointless creations, and don't pursue a destructive lifestyle._

Peter moved his eyes away from the will, taking deep breath before finally letting it go in the air. He checked both webshooter and turned them. He grabbed the mask from his shoulder, slowly moving the small piece of spandex down his head.

He took one step forward, standing in the gargoyle's edge. He opened his arms and leaned his torso forward, allowing the gravity do it's work by pushing him back to the ground.

Down in the streets, the shootout between robbers and cops was on full mode, both factions were located opposite to each other, cars were lying against the ground and in their doors, serving as covers for the robbers who were using the advantage that the city was still recovering from the latest chaotic event to strike high valuable installations spread across the city. Currently, their latest move wasn't that much successful since the police had cornered them and sent bullets in retaliation.

One particular masked robber who stood some meters away from his teammates lit a Molotov, but as he went to throw it, a huge shadow appeared in front of him, a very similar one.

_My deepest regret is that I won't be able to see you grown to the good man I know you'll become, and finally my son, I ask you that you never give up, never cease to improve life._

He turned around just to see Spider-Man jump from the light pole and towards him. Before he could do anything, the hero flew over the robber and grabbed him from behind before even landing on the floor, and in a blink of an eye, he spun him around and threw the robber over his teammates.

Another one who stood next to a car pulled his pistol from his waist but he wasn't fast enough as Spider-Man quickly pressed his own arm against his neck and pushed him against the car. Spider-Man swung his right fist on the robber's clown mask and ripped it apart, stunning the man who lost his consciousness.

_We only want you to be happy, succeed at school, find a job that you love, meet a person you can trust your deepest thoughts and build your own family with such person._

Spider-Man didn't have enough time to breath as a third enemy on his right flank tried to land his baseball bat over him while a fourth one from the opposite side swung his crowbar towards him at the same time. He quickly grabbed the baseball bat and immediately crouched, getting the fourth opponent to clumsily pass next to him. Using the brief leverage, Spider-Man jumped on the air and kicked the robber who held the bat, leaving him unconscious, and turned to block the previous attacker with his crowbar, before he could do anything with the weapon, Spider-Man grabbed his wrist, turned the crowbar towards the ground and then moved it between the space of his left arm and ribcage, now pressing it against his back, and shoved the attacker towards the car's door window, making the guy's head crash against it.

He noticed someone coming towards him on his left corner so he immediately turned, fired two weblines at the invader, before quickly pushing him closer and consecutively giving him a uppercut in form of a gift for his bad actions.

Spider-Man stood still, recovering his breath while seeing the now unconscious bandits lying on the cold and wet ground around him. He was about to leave if he hadn't heard an escaping robber accidentally stumbling against a trashcan as he entered the dark alley, leaving Spider-Man at the main venue, only for a few seconds before vanishing within the air.

_In death, we'll love you forever. Your parents, Richard and Mary Parker._

The bandit ran towards the alleys' endless path, hoping to get in the other side or find a manhole which would led to the sewers, during the desperate marathon, he paused and retrived his phone with the objective of using it as a source of light. Feeling something unusual in the air around him, he raised his phone, exposing an entire network of webbing blocking his path, and Spider-Man standing on the middle of it, looking down to the ground.

Spider-Man slowly looked up, meeting the robber's scared eyes. "Howdy."

* * *

**A/N: Hey everyone! Finally managed to wrap this chapter after a hell of a week, college doesn't have a break D:**

**Anyways, this chapter marks the end of the story's second act and some plot elements such as the Avengers, and yes, Peter is not part of them anymore, and like any post traumatic experience, he needs time to recover from everything. This chapter had some foreshadowings in some parts, and set up a potential sequel in the future. As for the dream, maybe it was indeed a bad dream, maybe not, I'll leave the judgment to you guys.**

**It's a fresh start, fresh one shots and characters. There won't be any major storylines until the storie's end run that will eventually wrap everything, until then, I want to write fun, energetic and passionate chapters, focusing on Peter's family, friends and beyond, starting with the next chapter which will raise the following question: what would happen if Peter Parker and Wade Wilson suddenly found themselves on a movie's set? Filming a crossover between two heroes in their new actor identities?**

**I thank everyone who worked with me, shared some ideas, reviewed the story and shared their support. If it wasn't for you guys, the story would've ended much earlier with it's original ending. Thanks for everything! Very special thanks to FireflySurvivor.**


	50. Take one, action!

**May 29th - 2028**

"Honey, I'm home!" Deadpool violently kicked the apartment's door open and pulled both pistols up from his waistline as he calmly but carefully stepped inside.

Spider-Man stood where once the now destroyed door was previously located. He sighed heavily, almost regretting the sudden team up. "Couldn't you just simply open the door instead of breaking inside?"

"The chick isn't here." Deadpool replied after making sure the apartment was indeed clean. He went towards the kitchen and opened the fridge, retrieving two beers as he threw one at his partner and walked back to the living room.

Spider-Man quickly grabbed the bottle and groaned in discontentment. "What have I told you? No kills." He placed the beer over the table where his illustrious friend was sat next to it.

"Did you? Sorry, I'm stupidity proof." He cracked the beer open and moved its tip to his covered mouth, making the cold liquid slid down his suit. He just ignored it and continued as if nothing unusual had happened.

The Web-Slinger couldn't understand why he couldn't simply lift part of his mask. He was going to comment about it, but he eventually decided to not even ask why. "We do this my way, Wade, that's if you want my help."

Wade looked up and cocked his head at him. "Would this be our first proper fight as a couple then?"

"What - no..." Spider-Man shook his head and crossed his arms firmly. "Tell me again what this woman did to you."

"She shot me right in the head with my own pistol, and it hurt like hell, believe me." Wade brought the only available laptop closer to his hands. "Now we wait for her."

Spider-Man deadpanned. "Why on Earth would she even dare to do that? I think you're making this up."

"I guess she doesn't like mainly and handsome guys like me." He opened the browser's favourites. "And that even isn't the best part, when I woke up, I was on freaking Sahara with a stinking camel licking my beautiful face."

"Sure, you're the innocent now." Spider-Man affirmed sarcastically. "Whoever this woman might be, she somehow knows how to teleport stuff, if what you say is accurate."

"You tell me." Wade said lowly. He focused in the screen. "Tumblr? Wow..." He chuckled to himself. "Some dirty Spideypool stuff here, eh."

"Spidey - what?" Peter approached the desk but instantly turned his head away after seeing the webpage which Wade was currently looking at. "Tell me I didn't see that."

"Oh, you just did...It's a thing in the internet, and the tele-idiot apparently ships us, can't disagree with her on that." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe if I was with the suit, she wouldn't dump -"

"What is this?" The unknown feminine voice asked as she stepped inside, appearing to be a teen in her early 20s or even less.

Spider-Man immediately turned on his back, seeing the rather short young brunette standing at the destroyed entrance with a confused expression.

Deadpool laid his legs over the dinner table and stretched his arms, moaning lightly. "We want a few words with you, then I'll probably freak slap you."

"You're the real Spider-Man...?" He nodded. "And who are you?" She looked at Wade.

Annoyed, Wade groaned in discontentment and said aghast, "I'm sorry if I'm not as popular as my date, okay?" He placed one of his pistol over the table.

"Is that a gun? The women took one step backwards.

Spider-Man stared Deadpool before moving his eyes towards her and speaking reassuringly, "Look - I just want to figure it out what's going on, and where did you get such gifts; unlike my hothead partner here, I won't throw any pressure at you."

"Objection!" The Merc with a mouth exclaimed.

"Shut up Wade..." He snarled.

"You're just like the others...you're here to hurt me." She said, terrified.

"No, just trust me -" Spider-Man was abruptly interrupted as he was suddenly and physically throw out of the apartment through the living room's window and with Wade heading out through the same way as well.

What they didn't expect, was instead of falling down towards the ground, the pair crashed against the enormous blue cushion spread across the ground of a new and fully closed environment.

Feeling a bit of pain coming from his right shoulder after the clumsy impact, Peter shook his head and looked up, checking his surroundings, seeing bright lights in the ceiling along with huge and small cameras everywhere, and also occupied seats not far away from them as they're applauded by the entire mysterious crew.

"And...Cut!" A man with headphones around his neck stood up from his seat along with the crew as they approached them and started to recover the fake window's fragments from the floor. "What a landing, guys! Amazing!"

A worker playfully and quickly slapped Peter on the butt and proceeded to clean the ground. "Good job, Andrew."

"Am I dead...?" Wade whispered, still lying against the comfy cushion.

Peter turned on his shoulder, seeing part of the now two only floors building they had jumped from. "What hell - ouch." He groaned in pain.

"I think Andrew injured his shoulder, bring a first aid kit just in case." The Director helped him to stand up. "I told you to let the stunt double do the work, you have no superpowers, you know?" He gently took Peter's mask off.

"Andrew? No powers...?" He gulped. "What in the hell is going on...?"

"Um...Spider-Man is a character..." He paused, before gazing Wade who still was rather stunned. "Hey, Ryan, you can take your mask off now."

Peter shook his head against the idea, well aware of the not so pleasant view he would see in matter of seconds.

Wade stood on his knees and panted lightly. "If you say so." He took off the mask, revealing his normal facial features, before noticing Peter's confused eyes. "What?"

Peter exhaled sharply. "I don't know...where am I again?"

**Five hours ago...**

At the Italian restaurant, Peter cut a slice of his beef and brought the fork to his mouth, savouring the delicious plate. He looked up to the other couple sat on the opposite side of the table, Mary Jane and Flash. "My god... this is really good, Flash...you actually have good taste." He teased. "This beef...my god..."

Seeing her now exquisite husband who was wearing a blazer and red tie, since he worked the entire day, eating and talking at the same time, Gwen teased back, "It might fall off your mouth if you keep it open."

MJ chuckled lightly. "That much of a troublemaker, eh?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." Gwen gently cleaned her lips with a napkin. "He's not that obedient." She gave him a playful smile and caressed his thighs underneath the table.

"You hurt my feelings, Gwendy." He mumbled. "Thirty three years old is only on my ID, you must know that."

Flash interjected, "I won't disagree on that." He took a sip of his beer. "Life's too short to take it all seriously."

"Well, you'll have to." MJ suddenly smiled brightly at him, Flash eventually doing the same.

Peter noticed the weird behaviour and swallowed his food, before moving his brown eyes to his wife, mentally asking her if she could make any sense of what MJ meant with that.

Gwen slowly shook her head in response.

Peter nodded and groaned lightly, getting their attention once again. "You guys want to tell us something?" He crossed his arms as Gwen hold snaked her right arm around his'.

"Oh, right!" MJ focused again. "We've been wanting to say this for a while now, but work and all that stuff, you know?"

"Okay..." Peter smiled. "I think I already know what kind of 'work' you guys are talking about." He joked.

Underneath the table, Gwen kicked his shoe and received painful low groan in response from her husband who slowly turned his head to look at her in the eyes.

"Why is that?" Peter inquired with a mock-hurt expression. "I just made simple joke, honey."

MJ raised an eyebrow at the sudden exchange. "So you already know?"

Gwen gave him a cold glare and finally moved her eyes away from him, stopping at the couple second couple. She asked softly, "About what?"

"Well, we're having a baby!" She revealed excitedly, gaining a huge smile from her blonde friend in return as Flash wrapped an arm around her.

Peter smirked and nodded to himself cockily. "Congratulations, guys, I was expecting that, it's 'bout time."

Flash chuckled lightly. "Really?"

He now took a bite of his pie, one of the best things in the world, he thought. "Experience, but again, we're happy for you guys, you two deserve happiness."

Gwen smiled to herself at his words. She rested her head against his shoulder and asked, "For how long? You know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"I'm not sure, maybe two weeks, but definitely a girl." MJ elbowed Flash. "One boy is enough."

Peter interjected, "Ha! But that's where you ladies get it all wrong; in the end, you can't live without us, someone needs to appease your feminine egos."

Gwen mumbled to herself, agreeing with her husband. "Good point." She grabbed her own fork and sneaked it close to Peter's pie, retrieving a small piece from it.

"Oi?" Peter gulped and raised an eyebrow. "Could you please respect my pie's integrity, Gwen? I'm having a sweet moment right now."

Gwen shrugged her shoulders and placed the fork on her lips, tasting the food. "Not a bad choice." She turned to gaze one her oldest friends. "You have no idea how much happy I am for you, Elizabeth will be so happy." She continued. Her daughter was invited to sleep on her friend's house while Helen offered to take care of the boys so that her daughter and her husband could take a night off for themselves.

MJ smiled. "Thank you; I'm thinking of asking you for some tips."

Flash looked up to the ceiling and groaned in disapproval. "Really...? There's like - nine months to go." He eyed Peter who was busy with his pie. "Peter? Any backup?"

Peter quickly swallowed his food and replied, "It's just the start, bud, she'll start talking about the pregnancy day after day, and that golden wedding ring is no kidding." He exhaled deeply, before resuming his special attention to its previous spot.

Gwen continued, "Don't mind them, they only ask you if you're hungry and that's it, until the big day." She teased, observing Peter and Flash's playful stare at her. She chuckled and continued, "But yeah, that sounds great."

Later as the girls started to talk about the subject, with Flash trying to appear focused as well while his friend couldn't contain his enormous hunger and now devoured the innocent pie, a waiter approached them and handed Peter another coke which he had asked for a few minutes ago.

He went to open and noticed what was written across the plastic, 'Share a Coke with Soulmate', he smiled to himself and proceeded to gain Gwen's attention and spoil her. "Hey, honey."

After her chat with MJ was briefly paused, Gwen grunted lightly and turned to look at him with a playful smile. "What is it?"

"I think I'm going to share this coke with my soulmate." He showed her the product.

Gwen's heart melted. "Awww! You're so cute!" She gave him a tiny peck on the lips.

Flash joked. "Aww! That's so unbearable adorable!" He grinned cheekily.

Gwen giggled and broke the kiss, turning to meet him in the eye. "You're just jealous!"

* * *

The Parker's apartment door was quickly open with Gwen and Peter storming inside while urgently fighting each other's lips. Peter closed the door with his right foot and quickly guided Gwen inside as she removed his grey blazer and then proceeded to fastly remove his white shirt's red tie and later violently throwing it at the carpeted floor, wanting more of him.

She quickly snaked her arms around his neck and pushed him against the door of their bedroom, briefly pulling away and taking a brief moment to take of her blouse, standing on blue black bra, and before moving her hands to his torso and ripping his shirt open instead of unbuttoning it, admiring his muscular and well defined chest and abdomen. She gently shoved her husband inside the bedroom as he stood in front of their bed and finally took his shirt of his shoulders and deposited at the ground since his wife was now slowly lowering her pants.

After Gwen pressed Peter down into their bed, she straddled him and leaned down, using her left hand to intertwine her fingers with his as she savoured his lips. He eventually wrapped both strong arms around her back, keeping her close, and reciprocated the passionate kiss, before rolling around on the bed, still not letting her go, just for Gwen to do the same and resume their previous position.

Before they could continue with their lovemaking and relieve their stresses, Peter's phone rang from his currently discarded pants. Still dancing with his tongue, Gwen moaned in discontentment and finally released his lips. Peter shrugged his shoulders and moved his right arm down to reach his pants as Gwen cupped his cheeks and lovely kissed his neck and ear.

"Um...Peter Parker is probably busy right now with...stuff you don't really need to know-"

_"Hey, 'Pidey!"_ The excited voice greeted.

Peter shot his eyes open. "Who is this?" Gwen ran her left hand over his chest, feeling the tiniest scars with the tip of her fingers while she kissed his jawline.

_"It's Wade!"_ He exclaimed._ "You two make lots of noises, is there space for one more?"_

Peter now closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "Tell me you aren't on my apartment...please, just tell me."

Gwen interjected, "Who's here, Peter?"

Wade replied, _"Yes...? You guys totally ignored me on the couch; I can share, but that's unfair-"_

Peter turned the call down and immediately sat on the bed. "Get dressed, Gwendy." He stood up and went towards their wardrobe to grab a short. "Wade is here."

Despite still wearing her underwear, Gwen immediately brought the covers up to her chest. "That Wade?"

Peter slipped a white and snug T-shirt over his torso and turned on his shoulder just to give her a sarcastic smile before stepping outside the bedroom and closing its door. He entered the living room and noticed the couch was empty. Turning the lights on, he instantly spotted Deadpool standing next to the kitchen's countertop, opening a very tiny white sack over a glass filled with water.

"You better have a damn good reason as to why you are here at this hour of the night." He approached the counter top and moved the glass to the other side and away from Wade's hands.

Wade raised his hands in defense. "Sorry, but I only have one chance."

Peter grunted. "I'm not available right now to your nonsensical activities, Wade."

"You owe me one, Pete."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, I owe you since you stalked me the whole way towards home and then fought that hunter guy who tried to kill Spider-Man, thank you." He said sarcastically. "You just don't invade people's homes."

"I was worried, and I could feel something wrong in the air." He stood next to Peter and patted him on the shoulder. "Please, pretty, pretty please?"

Peter groaned, and then nodded. "Talk to me."

"Okay, this person, who suddenly has power out of the blue, physically sent me to the Sahara in a blink of an eye." He explained.

"So?"

Wade replied, "So, she's now here, and she's dangerous...imagine what she could do to any innocent person that annoys her, we need to stop her."

Peter cocked his head. "Oh..."

Suddenly, the door of Peter's bedroom was gently open with Gwen stepping inside, and wearing bathrobe wrapped around her petite body. "Honey?" She crossed her arms once she spotted the pair not far away from her.

The superhero duo instantly moved their eyes to her direction, eyeing her current choice of clothing. Wade whistled lowly. "Oh my, my goodness..."

Peter stepped over his foot, making him groan in pain, and forcing him to look at him. "I will help you, but it's one time only." He now gazed his wife. "Babe, we'll finish this later, this is indeed important, unfortunately."

**Present time...**

One of the producers pushed Peter down into the chair while a man controlling a camera stood in front of him while the female interviewer holding a small paper with both hands checked her hair and eventually turned to face him.

"W-Wait -"

"So, after three movies, two crossovers and the fourth one being filmed, what's next for Peter Parker?" The tall and blonde woman asked with a grin.

Peter frowned at the question as he awkwardly adjusted himself in the small chair and slowly realized what was currently going on with the space around him. "Um, I...yeah - right." He chuckled nervously, before assuming a more serious expression. "What movies again...?"

She smile, surprised. "You know, The Amazing Spider-Man? And then the crossovers after an agreement was made between Sony and Marvel, and even Fox."

Peter deadpanned. "A Spider-Man movie...of course, how could I forget?" He exhaled sharply.

"Will there be any more drama, angst, more bromance between the main male leads? What about Dane? Any possibility? Oh, and the romance with Emma's character?"

Peter didn't knew what to say firstly, he just stood in silence, overwhelmed. "Bromance...? What-" He was interrupted after the female makeup artist repeatedly sprayed his hair to soften it from behind. He coughed briefly and asked huskily, "What is this?"

She focused in fixing his hair with her hands. "Like you don't know, Andrew." She touched his cheeks with the tip of her finger. "Your makeup is good."

He widened his eyes, and touched the skin of his face, getting even more shocked. He was indeed using makeup.

_"I'm beautiful again!" _Wade exclaimed not for away from them, sat on chair with his arms raised as he eyed his face in the mirror against the wall while a designer quickly checked his suit.

Peter turned on his shoulder and got a hell of a surprise when he saw Wade's face completely normal, and not a mess due to the experiences he went through before wearing any actual spandex.

"You good for another take, Andy?" The director approached Peter and gained his attention as the interviewer scoffed and walked away.

He cleared his throat, getting used to the fact he was something Andrew in the new reality he found himself into. "Yeah, Yeah, I...um, I accidentally fell last tonight and I can't remember the project's name, Director...?"

Marc raised an eyebrow and chuckled lightly. "Spider-Man and Deadpool's crossover, no subtitle yet, the TV mini-series." He replied friendly. "And I'm Marc Webb, Marc. Are you sure you're okay?"

Peter nodded. "Right, the TV show." He smiled awkwardly. "Listen, can I and Wade have one hour break? Just to practice a little bit?"

"You mean Ryan? Sure." He nodded. "By the way, what's up with him today? Got all surprised after his face's makeup was removed."

"Um..." Peter paused, and eventually shrugged his shoulders. "He's in character, I guess."

Marc nodded to himself. "That makes sense." He quickly checked his phone. "I got to check the scripts, these Inhumans aren't an easy thing to do." He smiled and turned around, before looking at Peter again. "Oh, your trailer is at sector B, they relocated it to stay closer to the set, and Emma called earlier, don't leave her hanging."

"Right," Peter smiled back. "My trailer...and Emma."

* * *

"Andrew Garfield," Wade teased playfully as he gazed the trailer's door with Peter standing next to him. "What a goofy name, is this a half American - half British name? Damn redcoats...look at what they did with your dignity."

"That's probably fake me." He said in disbelief and walked towards the door and opened it, before stepping inside and seeing the rather fancy and cozy area which apparently was his and only his. "And this is fake mine."

"I'm just saying..." Wade followed him inside. "This world isn't so bad, that's for sure." He spotted a mannequin who wore Spider-Man's suit next to the rather large TV screen which was placed against the wall. "What an ego..."

"Tell me about it." Peter checked his surroundings and eventually settled himself in a chair against the only available table. He opened the laptop and started to do some research.

Wade stopped in front of bookshelf and quickly eyed some celebrity magazines. "Like - you're famous, you're a hero, now fictionally but you get the point."

Peter nodded. "Yeah, I noticed I'm powerless the second we crashed through that window." He searched his actor's name through the net. "I just don't get why she would send us here if she likes us, and by the way - she's powerful, more than we could imagine."

"Um... I lied about that." Wade rubbed the back of his neck.

Peter looked up to him. "About what?"

"She didn't really ship us, I was just messing with you."

Peter rolled his eyes and moved his attention back to the laptop, before muttering, "_Great." _He paused. "How do we even get back?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know, not sure we need to."

Peter opened the bottle of water next to the laptop and took a sip, before saying, "Of course we do, I have a wife and three kids to take care of." He narrowed his eyes at the screen, and smiled playfully. "And you...you have one too, at least around here." He laughed cockily.

"What?!" Wade hold one specific magazine and urgently approached his friend.

Peter started reading his biography, "Ryan Rodney Reynolds is a Canadian actor. He portrayed Michael Bergen on the ABC sitcom Two Guys and a Girl, Billy Simpson in the YTV Canadian teen soap opera Hillside, as well as Marvel Comics characters Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, and Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the spin-off film Deadpool, currently filming a new crossover." He whistled lowly. "You have history, man, and here I thought I lived a lot, ha!"

"I married Black Window...?" He smiled cheekily.

"You did, and now you're with someone else." Peter stretched his arms. "Natasha would have a hell of a day if she knew this."

"Your turn." He threw the magazine over Peter's hand. "You own Facebook, and some billions."

"No way," Peter opened it and gazed the material with curious eyes. "In a movie, apparently." He sighed. "This is a nightmare, a vicious and horrific nightmare."

"Not the word I'd use to describe it." Wade said. "Sure - I'm not American here, but man... I'm gorgeous again, Andrew."

He corrected him, "It's Peter."

"Okay...but since you want to leave, what's your plan?"

Peter shook his head. "I have no clue, for now, we pretend to be Ryan and Andrew unless you want to come off as a crazy guy. We need to blend in." He suggested.

Wade rested his hands on his waistline. "Crazy, eh? That's my surname, dear."

* * *

"Hey, guys!" Flash called the pair as they walked together in the crowded area outside the filming set.

Peter turned on his shoulder and smiled happily. He approached him and gave him a friendly hug. "Dude! I'm glad you're okay!"

He raised an eyebrow at his words. "Me too, I guess."

Peter instantly inquired, "So, you also discovered what's going on? Do you know away out?"

Flash crossed his arms and replied seriously, "Not yet, but we should act very soon, before anything else bad happens."

Wade chuckled sarcastically. "That's an understatement."

Flash turned his head in surprise at Wade's direction. He moved his right hand into his jeans' pocket and retrieved a small piece of paper, before carefully reading it. "Did you guys change the script? These new lines aren't here."

Peter gulped. "W-What...?"

Wade groaned in disapproval. "Oh, great."

Who was supposed to be Flash continued, "I thought we're doing rehearsals."

Peter grabbed the paper from his hands and proceeded to read it. "Chris Zylka? Zylka...?" Peter said aghast. "You aren't my Flash!" He threw the paper back to Chris' hands and walked past him, totally annoyed by the revelation.

Wade gave Chris a cold stare and headed to join Peter as they left the poor actor wondering what just happened, probably a prank made by his co-stars. He turned around to see the pair and laughed cheekily. "Ha! You guys got me! Very funny!"

Back at the indoors set, Peter and Wade found a replacement Spider-Man suit in the costumes rooom and went to check if they're spared from the reality change they went through hours ago.

Peter grabbed his right glove and pressed the webshooter's sensor at its palm, but it didn't work as expected. He said aghast, "Dude, its fake, very, very fake."

Wade recovered a katana and pressed its tip into Peter's stomach as the blade automatically retreated backwards. "Yep, it's definitely fake - all fake."

"And if it wasn't?!" Peter asked annoyed since his partner could've stabbed him if it was indeed real.

He shrugged his shoulders and focused his eyes in the blade. "Well...it would be painful."

"Really?" Peter said sarcastically, slowly pressing his right arm against his back as if he was hiding something from Wade. "Give me that sword before you actually manage to hurt someone." He took one step forward to grab it but Wade keep it firmly on his grip.

"Woah, slow down, cowboy." He narrowed his eyes at him. "It's mine."

Peter gave him a cold stare, before challenging, "What about this one?" He moved his right hand away from his back and close to his chest, holding Wade's characteristic secondary blade.

"Oh, very funny, now give it back." He tried to reach for his weapon with his free hand but Peter evaded it calmly.

"No." He shook his head in disagreement.

Wade scoffed. "You know, I'm _up here_ with you." He gestured to his forehead.

"Yeah? Right back at you!" Peter stated.

Wade stood quiet, before trying to quickly recover his blade again as Peter moved his arm away. He chuckled sarcastically and briefly looked away, and then tried again if Peter hadn't done the same movement one more time and later not so aggressively shoving him away.

Determined, Wade quickly wrapped his arms around Peter as he tried to resist before they eventually landed down into the floor. Peter kept the blade away with his free arm while trying to get Wade off him. "C'mon! Get off!" He demanded roughly.

Wade insisted, trying to keep Peter trapped. "Give it back!"

"No!"

Some meters away, the director and the rest of the crew watched the situation with surprised expressions as the two supposedly actors were on the ground, one struggling to break off while the other tried to get his supposedly weapon back.

One of the producers standing next to the director asked in disbelief, "Are they high?"

Marc raised an eyebrow after he stopped to check the script and saw what was going on at the costume section. "Honestly, I've no clue."

**Half an hour later...**

"Action!" The Director exclaimed meters away.

Wearing his entire Spider-Man costume in the fake building's rooftop which was surrendered of green panels, Peter looked around, trying to realize what he should do while symbiote Flash stood in front of him.

Flash asked seriously, "So, what should _we_ do, Pete?"

He gulped. "Um...I think... maybe..." He took one step closer, later noticing he had crossed the mark on the floor that exactly determined where he should go. He awkwardly returned and continued, "What do you think...?"

"Cut!" Marc said from his chair. "What's going on here?" He asked the producers sat in the chairs next to him as a single make-up artist quickly went to check on Chris during the limited time.

"You tell me." One whispered in disbelief.

Marc shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, let's do this again." He affirmed. "Action!"

Chris gently pushed the woman off the set and turned to face his co-worker. "These people are dangerous, what should we do?"

Peter rubbed the back of his neck, nervously. "Right," He now moved his arms to his waistline, and later crossed them, not really knowing what do with them. "We should get help from the Avengers...um...or the president cause I-I..."

"Cut!" Marc sighed heavily. "Get me the script assistant."

The producer, Kevin, said aghast, "This is an atrocity."

"Gosh..." Marc decided to skip the current scene and move forward, so he signalled the practical effects team. "Smoke! Ryan!"

A small device hidden in the rooftop's surface blew up as a dense amount of smoke covered the small portion. Peter noticed a humanoid shadow clumsily walking inside and later standing still. The smoke finally vanished in the air and Deadpool was the only thing that remained from it. "Hello, boys." He said cockily.

"Wade, what are you doing here?" Peter questioned, actually surprised.

"I sensed some trouble, so I followed you." Wade affirmed.

"Again?" Peter stated incredulously.

Flash rolled his eyes. "Can you guys stop fighting?"

Peter turned to face him again, but now there was a large camera right besides Flash that pointed directly at him, and that made him stood quiet as he struggled to do something, not really comfortable with the weapon of mass embarrassment aimed at him.

Wade whispered, _"Don't look at the camera..."_

"What - oh..." He cleared his throat.

Marc buried his face on his hands. "For the love of God..."

Peter focused in remembering his lines. He eventually continued awkwardly, "Um...now we can get the keys and access the base, but I don't think there will be any resistance cause - " He suddenly turned to face the crew outside the set. "Do we really need all these lines?!"

* * *

After an entire afternoon of disastrous acting, Peter and Wade now found themselves inside the private car that would drive them to their respective homes since they managed to 'finish" the job earlier than the time it was originally scheduled.

The driver broke the silence asked, "Should I get you to your mansion first, Mr Garfield?"

Peter, who was lost on his thoughts in the backseat and next to Wade, got brought to reality at the question. He quickly gazed the interstate's panel and noticed where he was, Los Angeles. "Um...my mansion, that seems about right."

He nodded. "What about Mr Reynolds?"

Wade stood quietly, playing some mini-game on his cell phone. Peter rolled his eyes and elbowed him, finally getting his attention. He whispered,_ "You're Ryan Reynolds, remember?"_

The driver raised an eyebrow as he watched the situation unfold through the front mirror.

"Oh, I'll be accompanying...Mr Garfield." Wade chuckled lightly, finding the last name somewhat amusing.

"As you wish."

About thirty minutes later, Peter and Wade were now standing in front of the rather large gate that separated them from the other side which was a more luxurious one. The well done bright green grass surrounded the two floors house in the center along with a large straight path made of stone that came from the gates and went towards the house.

Wade whistled lowly._ "Hello, Andrew Garfield..."_

"I wouldn't buy this just to live alone." Peter said. "Let's go."

"How? Are we basically going to climb these gates?"

"No." Peter moved his right hand to his jacket's pocket and retrieved a key set. "Found this on the trailer, figured it might come in handy." He smirked.

Once inside the fancy house, Peter and Wade took their time to admire the very cozy living room with its large sofas, chandelier, fireplace and a coffee table in the very middle. Portraits of movie's posters apparently gathered by his counterpart were hanging in the vanilla painted walls. A spiral stairwell formed a path to the second floor and its balcony.

Wade was the first to comment, "Dude, you're awesome."

Perplexed, Peter replied, "I know..."

Wade approached one of the stands and checked the large amount of photos standing over it, seeing two blonde children having fun in park located in London's winter. "Who are those?" He asked as Peter joined him with eyes narrowed at the pictures.

From the second floor, a very familiar and feminine voice replied, "Andrew's very close friend's kids."

They instantly turned on their backs and were greeted by the view of a woman who looked exactly like Gwen except for the red hair. She wore dark blue jeans and a brown leather jacket over her white shirt.

Wade widened his eyes. "Gwen?!"

The woman chuckled lightly and shook her head as she headed downstairs. "Funny as ever, Ryan, but the joke is kind of old nowadays." She stopped in front of Peter and gave him a tiny peck on the lips. "How was work today, honey?"

Peter gulped. "Um...productive, effective, and...The usual thing." He smiled nervously, realizing the fact he kissed a different person who totally looked exactly like his blonde wife. The squirrels on his mind where having trouble to process everything that was going on.

Confused, Wade interjected, "Wait...you and fake Gwen...? Here too? Wow..."

She moved her eyes to him and spoke rather seriously, "For real, that's not funny anymore."

Wade deadpanned, and eventually shrugged his shoulders in response. "Of course...because...um... you're the beautiful and talented actress who plays Gwen, ha." He gazed Peter, mentally asking what to do, and cleared his throat, before finally staying quiet for a change.

Noticing their silence, the young woman sat against the couch and watched the par with curious and doubtful eyes. "What's going on-?"

Peter quickly replied, "Nothing, just...um, work." He chuckled. "By the way, your hair colour, it's...nice." He smiled reassuringly, trying to change subjects.

"Hmm...Okay then." She exhaled deeply. "I'm going out to do that stuff I mentioned earlier."

Peter raised an eyebrow, not knowing what she was talking about. "Right, the thing, yeah."

She cocked her head at him, noticing he wasn't remembering it. "The meeting with the Ghostbusters' director, for the sequel...?"

"Oh...then best of luck with that."

She smiled brightly. "Thank you." She stood up and kissed him briefly, before pulling away and giving Wade a friendly nod, and walking away and towards the main door. "You boys have fun!"

Both Peter and Wade's heads accompanied her track, her rear to be more precise, before she finally disappeared from sight.

Wade broke the silence, "Man, you still have one hell of a luck..."

Peter nodded and smiled. "Yeah..." He finally noticed what his friend was oggling. "Dude, that's my wife!"

* * *

Now sat in a chair at the games room, Wade laid his legs over the poker table and asked, "So, let me get this straight; you and fake Gwen are together even in a different reality?"

Peter checked the laptop in the opposite side, holding a beer with his free hand. "Looks that way."

Lost on his words, Wade continued, "Geez, is this a meant to be - soulmate godly twilight thing..?"

Peter rolled his eyes at the question. "How would I know? Heck, I don't even know where my kids are, this whole thing is messed up."

"Okay...but, I still can't believe it, don't you ever get tired of the woman?"

Peter looked up and sent him a cold stare. "Dude, bite me." He focused on the laptop's screen again.

He raised his hands in defence. "My baby daddy got angry, I'll be quiet now."

"Thank you." Peter tapped 'Harry Osborn' in the search engine which later showcased pictures of the supposedly actor who played him, who looked much happier and healthier than _his_ Harry.

Trying to find some distraction, Wade start to whistle some lowly rhythm, later making fart noises with his mouth, repeatedly and repeatedly, until his friend finally had enough of it.

Peter groaned. "Wade, what hell?"

"Okay, do you even know are we going to get out?" He finally asked.

Peter took a sip of his beer. "You know, there isn't any manual to achieve that, even in the internet."

"And...?"

"I'm working on that."

Wade nodded to himself, and whispered sarcastically, _"He's working on that..."_ He scoffed. "Listen, since you don't have any money issues, can you loan me your credit card?"

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Spend such money, that's why - there's a virtual online poker game."

"Will you stop bugging me at least for some minutes?"

Wade smirked. "As you wish, bugboy."

Peter chuckled and shook his head, before throwing his counter part's credit card at Wade's hands. "Have fun, but don't go anywhere."

**Hours later...**

Lonely, calmly and holding his cold beer, Peter adventured through the house's rooms and corridors, trying to understand and discover the stories that happened in the reality he currently found himself into. The current verse had a much more peaceful life for him, or his other himself, no deaths, danger or super powered humans, but it wasn't his life, it was someone's else, all his family and friends weren't among him, but only in the other side, waiting for him to eventually come back.

He now walked in a corridor with many pictures of persons he never met, probably the family of his counterpart. He hoped his other himself indeed has a 'normal' and calm life. Not far away in the straight corridor, the house's main door was open with fake Gwen calmly stepping inside, removing her shoes and later holding them with a single hand, getting relieved by the action.

Peter greeted friendly as walked towards her, "Hey, Emma - I mean Emily Jean Stone."

She smiled playfully after he called her by her full name, and then corrected him, "Em..." She also took of her jacket and placed it over his shoulder.

Peter smiled back. "Yes, Em." He placed his beer in the counter next to the stand and gently retrieved the shoes from her hand, assisting her. "How was the meeting?"

Emma stretched her shoulders, relaxing her body. "Great, some good ideas were tossed in the table, who knows?"

"That's nice, I guess." He smiled softly.

"Where's Ryan?" She checked her corners and looked out for him.

"Sleeping in the couch, he must be tired." He now assumed a more curious expression. "Listen, do you know where the kids are?"

Emma widened her eyes at the sudden and unexpected question. "Um...whose kids again?"

"Ours...?"

Emma chuckled lightly, surprised. "You know we don't have any, not for real, but only the fictional ones." She said gently, "Are you practicing or something?"

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, yeah - you got me." He smiled weakly, now feeling rather empty after her answer, and already missing his children.

Emma continued softly, "Like you said once - when we're ready to settle some roots, on its proper time."

He smiled again. "Yeah." Just to make sure, he quickly recomposed himself and continued with his indirect interrogation, "This might come off as another weird question, but did some drones appear in the cities across the globe?"

She frowned at the question. "Yes..."

Peter continued now seriously and excited, "Really, when?!"

"Well...in your movies...?" She replied confused.

Peter deadpanned, and sighed. "Oh, obviously..."

"That's definitely a weird question, honey." Emma approached him closely, kissed him and said amorously as he instinctively licked his lips, "I think you have been Peter Parker for far too long." She took his free hand and slowly led him upstairs and towards their bedroom.

**The next morning...**

"I have absolutely no idea how we're going to get back." Peter confessed as he and Wade stepped inside of the now not so busy filming set.

Wade frowned, thinking. "What if...we jump through the same window we came from?" He stopped on his tracks and gazed the small built set of the apartment they originally had encountered the woman who sent them to their current location.

"I doubt it, you know it's not the window which is 'magical'." He pointed it out.

"It won't hurt to try it." Wade patted his friend in the shoulder and headed towards the empty of crew members set.

Peter sighed, before following him closely. "Actually, it will."

Once inside the fake living room of the apartment they previously were, Wade touched the glass which was made of a hardened type of plastic and took a few step backwards, standing next to Peter, and turned his head on his side to face him. He asked seriously, "Ready?"

Peter stretched his shoulders and quickly cracked his neck. "On you."

Wade nodded, before looking towards the window and exhaling sharply. It was his moment, he would prove his worthiness to his friend, and actually accomplish something for them both. He took one step forward and briefly ran at the window's direction with Peter closely next to him. When close enough, they jumped and propelled their shoulders against the window, crashing and flying through the weak and fake material, getting on the other side, and noticing they're in the same location amidst their painful groans as everyone stared them with shocked expressions.

A bald and tall producer immediately approached them and asked urgently, "What are you guys doing?! You can't afford to get injured, you should know that by now."

Peter groaned and slowly stood up, using his hands to move away the tiny pieces of plastic from his clothes. "It's for another take, if need." He eyed the small badge on the man's suit, 'Kevin' was written on it.

"Okay, but let to the stunt guys, you're no Spider-Man." He affirmed. "I know you guys want to collaborate, but we need you one hundred percent."

Peter chuckled sarcastically. "Look, I really don't care anymore; I'm Peter Parker, and I'm Spider-Man, I went through stuff you would never endure by yourself, I can do anything, I saved tons, but tons of people's lives, not mentioning the whole world once... so, yes; I'm Spider-Man, and I'm firing myself." He said harshly, getting a surprised gaze from Wade who now stood by his side.

"What?!" Kevin widened his eyes. "Y-You can't do that, people love you and I can't just find another Spider-Man, is this about Marc? I can get him to direct the next episode if you want." He tried to reassure with Peter.

"I can't? Watch me." Peter brushed his shoulder against his as he walked past him, heading towards the exit, furious and frustrated.

He eventually noticed he was being watched by someone in the dark sewer set meters away on his right. The mysterious man wearing black tie gazed him with emotionless eyes, before turning on his back and disappearing inside.

_What?_

Thinking something was off, Peter stopped on his tracks and walked towards the unusual sighting. He carefully entered the area, adventuring through the labyrinth, while stepping over the catwalk while clean water ran on the sides - like a real New York sewer.

"Hello...?" Peter called, not getting any kind of response for a while.

A male voice finally replied from behind him, "You shouldn't be here."

Peter instantly turned on his back, spotting the same man he saw minutes ago. He questioned carefully, "I bet you know something..."

"This is not your world, you defy the laws and codes." A metallic blade slid down his right sleeve and into his hand.

"Wow, let's talk about this, okay?" Peter took one step backwards and raised his hands up in defence.

The man stood quiet as he slowly walked towards him. "I don't like this, but you're an intruder, and intruders must be eliminated...for everyone's sake." He suddenly disappeared from sight.

Powerless, Peter raised an eyebrow, before turning around and immediately getting shoved into the ground by the man. He groaned in pain and stood on his feet again. He swung his arm towards the mysterious present but his foe grabbed his wrist with his free arm and head-butted him, making him stumble backwards. His opponent was extremely strong.

Peter moved his left hand to his nose and wiped the small trace of blood coming from it. He accidentally stepped in the wrong way and fell on his butt as the man slowly approached him and prepared the blade for the final blow, but it never came, instead, he grabbed one of his arms and ruthlessly released his anger over Peter with constant punches, until tiny cuts were open on the intruder's face, and small traces of blood came from them.

Once he caught a break, the man raised his fist but this time he hold his sharp and small blade. Peter also hold his attacker's arm and begged as he panted heavily, "Please...I...I just want to come back to my family... I wish nothing else...I need them...I'll do anything..."

He hesitated at the sight. "I'm...sorry." He tightened his grip over the blade.

A second male with a low gravelly voice stopped him from doing so. "Daniel, stop it."

Peter now eyed the second man, with a vanilla coloured coat standing behind his attacker, probably the same height and age as his, dark hair and blue eyes.

"Why? He's not supposed to be here, he changes the variables set by the master planner, it's our job to maintain things as they are meant to be, no matter the cost, and you know that."

"Not like this; you'll be murdering an innocent man, a man who saved more life than us in a lifetime, don't do this." He said seriously. "This is not the path we should take, even if times aren't one of the best; I get why you're angry...but this man don't deserve to suffer from it."

Daniel frowned, struggling to decide what its best. Eventually, he disappeared in the thin air, leaving Peter alone with the man who probably saved his life. Peter exhaled deeply and slowly crouched as he looked up to his saviour. "Who are you...?"

He stopped to analyse the interesting fake walls and moved his eyes to the beaten Peter. He approached him and touched his shoulder, and now Peter's injuries were totally gone. He took a few step backwards and replied calmly, "I'm Cassiel."

Peter gasped, checking his now healed face, before finally saying, "Right, obviously, I mean - what are you? Because I don't know a being that can do that."

Cassiel cocked his head at him. "I'm a Protector of Mankind."

Peter smiled sarcastically. "Yeah, well, whatever that might be, you're not doing a very good job at it."

"We don't interfere in conflicts that are a product of your people's choices, it's the path you'll have chosen."

Peter slowly stood up and sighed. "Okay...so, you're another alien or something?"

"I don't know what that might be, but my existence is a natural one, we date centuries before your creation." He replied. "One of our given tasks is to protect the multiverse, its integrity to be more precise.'

"How did you find me?"

"You're an anomaly, we can sense it, and now I'm going to bring you and your friend back to the place where you belong." Peter was about to say something but Cassiel commented first, "I already talked to the woman who sent you here, a descendent. She's afraid, you were a potential threat to her, and now she understands, don't worry."

Peter gulped. "You can now read minds? I was just going to ask you that."

"It's one of my skills, indeed."

"That's incredibly...uncomfortable..." Peter joked.

He asked confused, "I'm sorry?"

Peter shook his head. "Nothing." He paused and checked his corners. "Why did everything got quiet all in the sudden?"

"Time is not running and...I...I wanted to talk to you first."

"Why?" Peter inquired softly.

"I..." He breathed heavily, and briefly moved his eyes from Peter. "It's a very welcoming experience, I must confess."

"Talking?" Peter continued, not believing the given answer.

"I rather appreciate small moments with your kind, they don't happen often...and I always learn something." He affirmed as they embraced a mutual silence for seconds. "It's time to go."

Peter insisted, "But -"

"I'm sure you have many questions, but unfortunately...some of them I can't answer, I'm not allowed to, orders."

Peter eventually nodded respectfully. "Will I ever see you again?"

Cassiel hesitated. "I can hear you, but we...probably won't." He placed his right hand over Peter's shoulder, as the hero's vision slowly faded out.

* * *

Feeling some weight pressed against his right shoulder, Peter calmly opened his eyes and slowly scanned his surroundings, noticing he was sat in a sofa and with Wade sleeping next to him while he rested his head on his shoulder. "Get off..." He mumbled as he not so aggressively pushed Wade to the other side of the couch, receiving a discontent groan in return.

"You're awake!" The feminine voice stated, excited. The brunette walked around the sofa to face the illustrious pair.

Peter narrowed his eyes at the young man, later realizing he was wearing his entire Spider-Man suit, same for Wade with his own spandex. "You...?"

"Look, I'm so sorry for sending you guys away, it was a dumb move when you only wanted to help me, now I know that...I was in panic." She confessed. "I'm Sam, by the way...and I didn't took your mask off, I swear!"

Spider-Man brought his hands to his face and sighed heavily. "No, no...It's alright."

Sam asked, "Do you remember anything?"

"Everything, minus the part where I manage to return." He replied.

"Well, he... I mean, I brought you back, after realizing my mistake." She gulped.

"How many hours we're out?"

"Hours? Thirty minutes at last."

He deadpanned. "Really? Wow..." He paused for a few minutes. "Listen, before this, you said people were after you...tell me your story, maybe I can help."

She smiled kindly. "I honestly doubt it, but...well, when I was young, probably six, I discovered I could travel between worlds, when I wanted to, mostly to be alone for a while, and when I got older, it became a mean to flee from danger."

"What do you mean?"

"Here, sometimes I was chased by this secret group, probably because of my powers, I covered my tracks for a while, but they eventually got close, really close, and I had to travel again, but there's also other people after me in the other side, so I can't stay away for far too long." She stood quietly, reliving old memories. "When you suddenly appeared on my apartment, I thought you were working for them as well, mostly because of your friend who tried to hit on me in a bar days ago."

"Sounds like Wade." He briefly gazed his friend, who was deep in his sleep and snored lightly. "This group, you know who they are?"

"I have no clue, I only know they're very evil - Darth Vader evil." She smirked. "Now I do some hacking, play some role playing games and some other stuff when I'm not busy."

Spider-Man chuckled lightly and nodded. He webbed her phone at the coffee table and brought it to his hands, before typing his number on the keyboard. "If you need my help with anything, whatever it might be, just call, and don't try to track my number because I already thought about that." He gently threw the phone at her own hands, offering his help since the girl was on her own and without anyone's assistance. She seemed like a good kid. He though

She smiled thankfully. "I won't; this means a lot, you have no idea."

Spider-Man stood up. "I do have some; I'll do some research about your gifts when I have free time; I must say, you're very special, and because of that you need to be even more careful."

"Hum...I'll make no promises." Sam teased.

He crossed his arms as he straightened his torso.

"Alright, alright...but I still can play World of Warcraft, right?"

* * *

In the rooftop of the Parker's building, Wade and Peter leaned against the edge and gazed the now much quieter city of New York, they're both tired, physically and mentally, and now it was time to finally part ways.

"So, what do you think of the recent experience?" The Merc asked.

Peter took his mask off and inhaled some fresh air, before replying, "I rather stay on my world, and you need to stop harassing girls, the mysterious and powerful ones too."

Wade sighed, aware that his friend was right about the subject. "Yeah, I think you're right - maybe I will go for the more old ones then."

Peter chuckled lightly and shook his head slowly.

He continued, "I still wonder where people like her came from."

"Back there, I read part of the scrip, and there was something called 'Inhuman', they're like - special people, mutants...? I don't really know, that's a harsh word." Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "We need to keep our eyes open, there might be hundreds of humans like Sam out there, and they need help."

"So, failed military experiment?"

"Nah, I doubt there's any in a colossal scale, besides - Sam said she discovered her powers when she was a kid, so we can scrap that from the list of possibilities." He affirmed, and later yawned. "We wait, let things unfold, and honestly? I need to sleep, urgently."

"Ditto." Wade stretched his shoulders.

Peter turned to face him. "Before you go, do you remember any...? I can't figure the person's name out, it's Cass something."

"Never heard of." Wade replied as he went to check for something on his suit's pockets.

Peter nodded, and then shrugged his shoulders. "That's fine...then I guess this is goodbye?"

"Wait a sec...I can't find the little sack."

"Sack?"

"Yeah, I opened it in your...oh..." He gulped. "I used in that glass of water, it's a medicine that keeps me focused and...Among other things."

Peter brought his hands to your face, sighing heavily, before moving them to the back of his head. "Tell me you didn't left it on my kitchen and drank it." He asked, considering the possibility that his wife might have drank the water after thinking it was meant for her husband. "Gwen..."

"Um...I think I got to go now..."

* * *

After taking the suit off and having a quick shower in the visitor bathroom, Peter slowly opened the door of his bedroom for the first time after getting inside home, he didn't want to wake Gwen, but that turned out to be pointless. He stepped inside and saw his wife with her back leaned against the bed's headboard, staring the ceiling and giggling softly to herself.

"Gwen? You okay?" Peter whispered lowly.

"I'm...I-I'm...I'm not okay...I'm a-awesome..." Gwen exhaled deeply and continue to gaze the ceiling for no reason at all.

Peter sighed. "Did you drink that water? Is there anything else you took?"

"I...I took everything... I-I...its ama-zing..." Gwen laughed briefly.

He affirmed amused, "Well, you always were a happy drunk, or in this case, high."

Gwen suddenly started to check her surroundings, before turning to face him and gently grabbing his left hand and pulling him closer so that she could whisper. "Honey, I know what you really, really, really are."

He sat next to her. "What?"

She said dramatically, "Vampire..."

Peter deadpanned, wondering if she was actually being serious. "No...I'm pretty sure I saw my reflection in the mirror minutes ago."

"That's the point... you're seeing things, m-maybe you went crazy."

Peter replied aghast, "I'm not crazy."

"Well, c'mon...you always have been half crazy...and since the war ended you got even crazier, maybe...maybe you finally cracked!" Gwen laughed as if she just said the most amusing thing in the world.

Peter nodded slowly, emotionless, wishing to be run over a truck instead to have his high wife's thoughts, but then again, he now had to put his vows into use, in death, misery, and craziness.

Gwen glanced the window and continued, "Maybe now...you are - for real...really crazy, you know?"

"I made one simple mistake with Wade, and now you're high because of that; it won't happen again."

Gwen cupped his cheeks and said dramatically and softly, "Hey, I know, I know...honey, it's okay...look at me, it's okay...cause you're my husband...and I still love you very much." She now appeared emotionally, as if she was about to cry.

Peter smiled. "Thank you, I guess."

She caressed his cheek as they gazed into each other's orbs. Suddenly, Gwen moved her right hand from his cheek and playfully pinched his nose. "Boop!" She grinned cheekily while her lover didn't seemed to be really amused.

"Right..." He mumbled aloof. "Time to sleep, Missy." He stood up and walked around the bed as his wife moaned in discontentment and laid her head over her pillow, waiting for him.

Peter lay down and brought the sheets to their neckline before he wrapped his arms around his wife and brought her closer. Gwen rested her head over his chest, caressed his toned abdomen and sighed contently. She whispered, "I love you."

He kissed the top of her head and moved a golden bang behind her ear, watching her slowly closing her eyes and drifting into sleep. "I love you too."

After a few couple of minutes of making sure the love of his life was lost in her relaxing sleep, He moved his brown eyes' gaze at the ceiling and quickly thought about the unusual experience he found himself into, like - traveling to another dimension which was something he considered implausible to happen, meeting his friends' counter parts, later discovering the mysterious kind called 'Inhumans' and more. Not mentioning the feeling on his gut that he wasn't remembering something in particular, as if something was erased from his very memory.

Deciding to slow down his thoughts so that he could get some sleep done, Peter closed his and breathed calmly, taking on his wife's scent while her petite body's heat kept him warm and comfortable.

When he least expected, Gwen asked softly, "Can I have breakfast off your abs, sweetie?" She opened her eyes and looked up. "You're just too hot, honest opinion."

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! This chapter marks the 50th one in the story, and because of that I wanted to write something different than the usual, as promised before. This was inspired by the TV, show Supernatural and it's episode called "The French Mistake", when I saw that, I instantly thought about doing a Spider-Man version, so I'm giving the credit to where it's due. **

**I also wanted to explore the Marvel lore quite a bit, The Inhumans are the first thing which comes to mind, though, I made some huge changes to their origin that will eventually be explained, the original idea is still there, but I don't want to give anything away this soon. Also, new characters were intruced, I'm planning them to become regulars as the story progress, some OCs too - like Sam and Cassiel.**

**These two in particular, are related to this Inhumans side plot. As for Cassiel, the name comes after an Angel named Cassiel, from the Bible. I'm not religious at all, but when I was mapping out future chapters, Inhumans to be more precise, their Comics Origins mixed with some real world mythology was just a perfect fit. So, wait and see.**

**I also wanted to dedicate this chapter to Movie Guy 94, who's also a big fan of Deadpool like me, and I really wanted to see Ryan Reynolds and Andrew Garfield together as their comic book roles, it won't happen, but it somewhat did here. And about that, there were some obvious changes in the 'alternate' reality, so don't take them all seriously.**

**Now, I'm quite overwhelmed by how much long this story has lasted, if not for the support, it would've ended much earlier. Seriously, I had this goal of thirty chapters, still going. I wanted to tell the story of Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy and their friends, but like any common Spider-Man story, sometimes he needs to go into an adventure. Here, he saved the whole city twice and the world one time, yet, his other duty is to raise his children, and that's where the story will focus on along with eventually new storylines, nothing big, but more personal, very personal, and that's being set up since the last chapter. Some of you comic book geeks like me (ex, unfortunately) might have heard of a baddie called Morlun, well, that's it for now, and after that, what I'd call the highest point of the story is when the greatest threat isn't a villain, but maybe Peter himself. That will start the end run.**

**I'll admit I still have some juice to keep going, and as long as people are reading, I don't see any reason to end it before all of that has happened. I'm now excited to write the kids growing up, Elizabeth eventually becoming a woman, and the twins brotherly bond. What do you want to read?**

**So, I must thank everyone everyone who's still reading the story, supporting and reviewing it. Big thanks for Alice and KirkCaptain for the latest reviews, always cheer me up. There's a lot of other important people to me like FireflySurvivor, Movie Guy 94, EggMan, Marie and zipzip, the list just goes on, even the many guests or unregistered readers!**

**That's all I have to say for now. Adios!**


	51. If This Is My Destiny

**A/N : **_**Kept you waiting, uh?**_** *shrugs* Hey guys, I apologize for the one month wait, these last stressful months kept me often busy, and this chapter wasn't an easy one to write, one of the worsts, actually. It's not because I'm running out of ideas, that's barely the issue, in fact, I spent a few nights plotting some chapters and subplots with Sebas F, another great writer BTW. It's just that I'm really overloaded with things to do until the year's end.**

**Anyways, speaking of this chapter, it resolves around it's characters, we get to see some getting developed more, and the lead, Peter, reflecting about his very own porpuse, something that will come at full circle more in the future. He's now the best Spider-Man he could ever be, he reached it's peak, now the consequences are coming through.**

**The chapter is kinda fluffy than the usual, or it always have been? I guess everyone likes that. I hope so, ha! Also, I know there's barely any side plot being worked with this one, but the next ones will have more importance to the story overall.**

**Another thing I have to say is that Chapter 50 will get some additions, I was somewhat worried about its reception, but they turned out great, so I decided to include some stuff I scrapped because I thought they're too much, once it's done, I'll inform in the next author's note. It's one of my favorites, I just have to do it.**

**I recently realized that the oldest brother of Gwen is actually called "Phillip" instead of Howard, you know, the blonde one. I really don't know how this happened, I was certain it's Howard, the movie gave me that impression *sighs* Either way, it remains Howard, no regrets...**

**Final revision was made by the lovely FireflySurvivor as ever, and I'm not sorry if one of her favorite shows got mentioned here in a not positive way, at least it's his opinion, **_**blame**__**him! **_**Thank you for the help :)**

**Enjoy, and please review! Helps a great deal.**

* * *

**December 23th - 2021**

"Seriously, it's a dinner and not a fashion or whatever else exposition." Peter teased his half naked wife who only wore her underwear and an open blouse while he helped her to dress their one-year-old daughter. The baby was laid on their bed and played with her tiny shoe given by her parents with the objective to keep her distracted.

Gwen smiled proudly and gently connected the small and delicate necklace across Elizabeth's neck, before making sure she was comfortable with wearing it. She turned on her shoulder and briefly gazed her husband's choice of clothing with appreciative eyes, an expensive black and tie satin shirt and dark blue jeans, the watch on his pulse was his Uncle's. "You knew the terms once you proposed me, _my_ daughter is a diva." She winked. "And you're not too bad on yourself either."

He shrugged, seeing her current attire which was nothing but a simply open blouse and underwear since she went to do two things at the same time, dressing her daughter and herself. "Well, I wouldn't mind if you stay like this." He gestured to her.

Gwen rolled her eyes and smiled briefly as she slowly brushed Elizabeth's hair into perfection, or almost close to that. She was glad their daughter was such a collaborative baby. Once done, she smiles contently at the sight of the baby wearing her fancy vanilla dress and a very small red glitter rose hair clip that accentuated her golden hair. She kissed her forehead, receiving a tiny squeal in return. "Take care of daddy while mommy gets herself ready, right?" She gently pinched her tiny nose.

Peter chuckled lightly and mimicked her words. "_Take of care daddy,_ you shouldn't say to the guy inside that spandex, honey."

Gwen moved her right hand against the back of his head, stroking his hair, and kissed him briefly. "Aww, did I hurt your mainly feelings, _daddy?_" She said between the kisses, without opening her eyes for a short moment. She pulled back and stood up, realizing she had to hurry things up.

"Right, but the kiss won't make up for my destroyed cup." Peter turned to their bed, lying next to Elizabeth before finding Gwen's phones amidst the many bed covers. He raised an eyebrow at the large quantity of notifications his wife had.

Gwen carefully chosen a set of tiny earrings from the wardrobe and went to place them on her ears. "I didn't break it, I put it in the dishwasher and the dishwasher broke it. Well, cracked it..."

Peter slid his finger over the screen and tapped the password, not noticing Elizabeth who was now busy playing with his tie. "Why did you put it in the dishwasher in the first place?"

"Because it was disgusting." Gwen replied, seeing herself through the mirror as she adjusted the second earring.

"It was my Captain's Binky plastic mug. I got it out of a box of Captain Binky crunchy nut cereal. It was disgusting when I got it. That was part of its charm." Peter said cheekily and faux mock hurt.

Gwen sighed, at both of her earring not wanting to cooperate and at her dork husband. "Shouldn't you be getting ready?" She whispered to herself, _"Why do earrings never pit when you want them to...?"_

Peter understood what was getting her phone crazy, the many likes in her pictures on Instagram. He knew she didn't use it often, but her popularity made up for that. "I am ready. Do you know how many boxes of crunchy nut cereal I had to eat before I found that mug?" Elizabeth slowly made her way into her father's chest, squealing lightly as she tried to gain his attention. He placed a hand on her back and rubbed it gently, it still wasn't enough for Elizabeth though. He looked up to Gwen, seeing her slowly wearing her snug jeans over her perfect legs and hips. "Six, six boxes..." He paused, gawking his wife. "...say, you _really_ look cute in that..."

Gwen smiled to herself, making sure he couldn't spot her while doing so. He was always such a flirt. "Peter..."

"Now, if they'd have been offering you in one of those boxes, I'd have eaten as...oh, four...maybe five."

Gwen protested, "Hey! Are you saying I'm not as attractive as a stupid mug?"

"To a six-year-old? No." He smirked playfully. "Now, if we're talking here twenty-six..._then_…"

Gwen closed her blouse and interrupted him, "I'm not having this conversation anymore, we have to go-"

"Gwendy, who's this guy called 'Impala67' and why is he always liking your photos? As in matter of fact, why there's so many dudes following you?" Peter didn't mind his wife taking pictures of them and publishing when she thought it was a good one, but his primal instincts said otherwise when it came to the male crowd. After all, he never really got used to the gawking Gwen usually went through. That's what _he_ thought.

"Oh, I think he briefly worked at Empire's security staff, good person." Gwen replied, retrieving her bag from her wardrobe.

Suddenly, a sobbing sound could be heard coming from Peter's chest. He lowered down the phone and saw the other girl of his life looking at him with sad eyes. "Hey, hey, it's okay." He placed the phone next to him and hold her with both as he sat in the bed. He kissed her cheek and she instantly smiled happily at the affectionate action. "Oi? What an actress you are!"

Gwen chuckled as she approached the bed and leaned down to retrieve Elizabeth from Peter's strong arms. She kissed her daughter's forehead and smiled lightly. "That she is, talent doesn't lack with this girl."

"I wonder where she got that from..."

* * *

**June 16th - 2028**

_Daddy...!_

Peter shot his eyes open and immediately sat on his bed, waking Gwen along who instantly joined him as well. "Liz..." He gasped and moved his feet down into the ground.

"Peter?" Gwen asked urgently, not understanding what was going on. She left the bed once he hurried through the bedroom's door and towards their daughter's room. "What's going on? You're scaring me."

He stopped at Elizabeth's door and quickly opened it, stepping inside, before turning the lights on, seeing nothing but her empty bed and the covers tossed aside. "Oh no..."

His daughter wasn't anywhere to be seen and his heart was racing fast as he started to panic and his skin to flourish. He eventually looked up to the ceiling and spotted Elizabeth sleeping peacefully against the cold surface, clearly needing a blanket.

Peter moved his right foot against the wall while his hands kept him firmly stuck on the wall. He reached the ceiling and moved his bare arms around Elizabeth, keeping her against his chest as Gwen ordered him to be careful. He calmly landed back to the floor. "Wake up, young Lady."

She lazily regained her consciousness. "Dad...?"

Gwen approached them and asked softly, "What happened?"

Peter placed Elizabeth on her feet as they kneeled in front of her. She replied, "There's something under my bed." Gwen walked away from them and reached for her bed, moving her hand underneath it, searching for what got Elizabeth scared.

He took Liz's right hand on his and squeezed it softly. "There's nothing under your bed, honey."

Gwen interjected calmly, "Actually, there is..." She turned around to face them and held the chest part of her husband's not so welcoming black suit, the one that once corrupted him for days, at least it wasn't the real deal.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "How did it get there?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders and replied calmly, "I thought you said you wouldn't wear it again, not when it's not needed."

"I told you." Elizabeth affirmed. "And why is this one _black_, dad?"

"It's...a long story, for another day." Peter said softly. "Did the boys get into your room earlier?"

She frowned, thinking. "Yeah, we're playing hide and seek."

He looked up to his wife and nodded to her. She went to turn off the lights while he put their daughter back to her bed. He kissed her forehead and whispered, "You're safe, okay? Nothing bad will ever happen to you, your handsome dad will take care of you."

Elizabeth smiled brightly under the bed sheets.

Minutes later after making sure Elizabeth was indeed sleeping, Peter met Gwen who calmly stood at the room's entrance, observing them with passionate eyes. He placed a single hand on her waist and slowly closed the door.

Peter apologized, "Sorry, I forgot about it."

"It's okay," Gwen said quietly as she barely opened the twin's bedroom door and took a quick peek inside, seeing them sleeping peacefully on their respective beds. Her little monkeys as Howard used to say.

She turned on her back, still holding the spandex, and grabbed her husband's left hand before leading him back to their own room. She closed the door and placed the suit inside the wardrobe while Peter sat on the bad and sighed heavily.

"I won't forget to place it somewhere else this time; just been busy recently." Peter said as Gwen approached him and rested her hands on his shoulders. He kissed her bare belly, closed his eyes, and wrapped his arms around her waistline and hugged her closely.

Gwen stroked his perfect hair. "I know." She exhaled deeply. "I need to tell Elizabeth to be careful with her gifts when not home since she's heading back to school."

He looked up to her huge green eyes. "I will-"

Gwen gently placed a finger over his lips. "Let me carry this task, you know, girl talk, yours is after her show, we'll give you some alone time with her."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "That talk...?"

"Which one? There's lots of girls talks." Gwen smiled.

He gulped. "Um...the first one, I guess?"

Gwen giggled. She released him and laid down onto their bed while Peter did the same and snaked an arm around her, before bringing the bed sheets closer. She settled herself next to him and replied, "Just reinforce the basics; boys, growing up, and among some other stuff; I had a lot of those with mom, dad didn't really know how to properly talk about that, he's all too formal about it, maybe because he was terrified of such topics when I was growing up."

"Yeah - well, I think I might be with him in this area." He replied playfully. "I only had two of those talks with Uncle Ben, thank god boys are _much_ simpler."

"What were them about?" Gwen asked curiously.

"If I recall right, how to treat a lady, and protection...that was awkward; I remember him taking a huge breath after it was over." He grinned.

She laughed softly. "Little would he know that the latter one was very unsuccessful." She teased.

Peter turned to look at her. "But you're no lady, Mrs Parker."

Gwen fixed him a mock - glare. "You're right, I'm a goddess." She giggled.

Peter chuckled lightly and shook his head. "Then you say my jokes are bad." He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, feeling her warm and relaxing breath on his skin. He leaned an inch closer and kissed her lips passionately, tangling with her tongue as she moaned contently.

As Gwen ran her hand over his chest, feeling some tiny deformations in certain areas with the tip of her finger, she broke the kiss and pulled back, looking down at his toned chest while receiving a confused stare from her husband. She propped herself up on one elbow and traced her fingers along the ragged scar across his chest. "This is new," she said with a concerned smile. Her hair was tousled and there was still a gleam of perspiration on her face. The bed sheet was partially draped over her, clinging to her body, as she lay there next to him.

"Knife." He replied simply and slid his hand which was previously around Gwen inside her shorts and caressed her hips.

She frowned, shaking her head slightly. She still found it maddening when he acted so cavalier about his personal safety. "You need to learn to be more careful with this body," she said, continuing to move her hand over his chest and shoulders. "I own you."

Peter opened his eyes and smiled. "Then in that case, it's a good thing you're here to take possession of your property."

"I'm glad." Gwen said before kissing him again, drawing in a long breath through her nose as her lips pressed against his. "But I'm only partially kidding, Peter. I won't stand by and allow you to continue to be so reckless out there." She continued lowly in the darkness of the bedroom.

"You think you can keep me in line?" He teased.

"Seems like it." She replied concerned. She was very well aware that her husband's body isn't the same like it was during his mid-twenties, his regenerating factor wouldn't keep doing miracles despite his flawless physical form, and he needed to realize that.

Peter brought her closer and moved a lock of her golden hair behind her ear. "You know I can't exactly have born again." He tried to light the situation. "It's nothing, just a scratch."

Gwen repeated his last sentence playfully, "Just a scratch he says..." She smiles amused. "You're quite the specimen, _Peter Benjamin Parker."_

* * *

"Bacon and eggs incoming!" Peter turned off the stove and calmly grabbed the frying pan with his right hand while the other held the spatula. He turned around and precisely raised his arms above to his neck level as Gwen ducked and passed under his arms to reach the fridge. "Hey there, Gwendy."

"Morning." Gwen retrieved a strawberry type of yogurt stored inside a sack and placed it over the large countertop where their children were patiently waiting for their breakfast.

Peter smiled briefly and moved his eyes to the countertop, seeing the twin with spiky hair, Aiden, sitting over it while grabbing bits and pieces of cereal from his pot. "Aiden, chair, you two would make a great combo." He used the frying pan to place the bacon and eggs over each of his kid's plate.

Aiden sighed and retreated back to his chair without even turning around to see what he was doing, leaving his mother holding her breath at the dangerous sight which thankfully didn't turn out into something bad. She still wasn't used with Peter and his kid's, the boys in particular, reckless acts.

Gwen moved around the counter and stood between the chairs of the twins and assisted David first by cutting some small slices of bacon with the plastic fork and knife and later doing the same with the other twin so that neither of them gets jealous. She started to notice they're getting into the not sharing so often phase, but it wasn't anything major as she had noticed with other children, their bond remained pretty much the same, and that made her happy.

She kissed the top of their heads and walked back to her plate which was located next to her husband's position who just came from the stove with Elizabeth's part of the meal that didn't fit into a single frying pan.

Peter extended his hand through the table and served Elizabeth. He grinned, "Do you need any help, _my cutie pie?"_ He teased.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him playfully, and shook her head along with a smile. "No, daddy, thank you."

Peter shrugged his shoulders and returned back to the sink. "I will see your piece later...all these independent girls these days..." He mumbled, making fun of both the mentioned persons present in the large room.

After placing the frying pan inside the dishwasher, Peter cleaned his hands with a small white towel and turned on his back, seeing Gwen standing where he was previously located, letting him face her flawlessly shaped back while she took a sip of her hot coffee, read the newspaper and occasionally glanced their children.

Then she felt the gentle touch of two hands on her hips and his warm breath on her neck as Peter leaned in and kissed her tenderly just below her right ear. Sighing peacefully, she reached down and took his hands, wrapping them tighter around her waist as she leaned back into him, drinking in the sweet kisses he planted down her neck.

Before Gwen could do something, Peter had quickly and gently taken the cup from her hand and started to drink most of its content. She turned on Peter's grasp and shot him a cold glare as she realized what he wanted with the affectionate action seconds ago. "Hey!" She tried to reach for the cup but Peter raised his hand above his head, and since he was taller, it was impossible, but she didn't forfeit that easily and constantly tried to get his hand back.

Peter grinned playfully. "You know you can't reach it."

Gwen tried to contain a chuckle as she struggled to bring his arm down, clearly failing short due to his much, much superior strength.

He teased, "I'll give it to you for a kiss." He quickly glanced their children, Elizabeth smiled at them while the twins devoured their peanut butter and jelly.

Gwen sighed and crossed her arms under her breasts. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're getting no kisses." She feigned, defeated.

Peter chuckled and quickly leaned forward to steal a kiss which Gwen reciprocated at first, but it didn't take long for Gwen to gently push him away with her hand that was placed against his chest. "Couldn't resist." He lowered his arm and handed her the cup back.

Gwen rolled her eyes and turned on her back and retrieved her sandwich from the plate, before proceeding to read the newspaper again as her husband wrapped his right arm around her waist. Without looking at him, Gwen offered her meal as he gladly took a bite and later leaned his chin over her shoulder, enjoying the moment he was currently spending with his family.

* * *

**New York - Elizabeth's Elementary School**

"Mom, don't walk me into school!" Elizabeth protested calmly as she and Gwen crossed the street that separated them from the school in the other side. She held her mother's hand tightly.

Days ago, the Mayor had finally authorized the reopening of all schools that were able to accommodate its students due to the damage the war caused, most of those were already repaired, but some small scars remained in the city, it wasn't one hundred percent back to its original illustrious form.

Gwen raised an eyebrow and smiled lightly. "Why? Cause no other moms are doing it?" She found the new phase Liz was going through rather amusing, she knew the current moment would arrive sooner or later, when her daughter started to act more independent.

Elizabeth looked up and hesitated for a moment. "Um...yeah."

When in front of the school gates, Gwen kneeled to be on her level and squeezed her daughter's hand softly. She spoke playfully, "And you don't want to stand out? Good, do your mom a favour and remember that. You know me. I only settle for the best." Elizabeth smiled. "As for your dad, he likes to clown around and make people laugh." She continued, "...that's why I need you to don't be us during this week while you're getting back to school and your gifts are now suddenly developing themselves, you need to be more careful, even if you see someone being picked up, don't use your powers, even if it seems the right thing to do."

"But-"

Gwen continued gently as she placed both hands on Elizabeth's shoulders, "No 'buts', honey, not everything looks like they seem, even more for people who are special like you, so for us, no Spidey stuff, okay? Act like everyone else."

Elizabeth saddened her expression, "Are you saying that _without_ my gifts... I'm not special_?"_

"No, no, no." Gwen shook her head and hugged her daughter closely, giving her a reassuring embrace. "Elizabeth Stacy Parker, with or without them, you're one of the most special people in the world."

Liz pulled back and grinned proudly. "It's the blonde hair, isn't it?"

"Absolutely! And you get that from me." Gwen kissed her forehead and stood up. "I see you later then, during the show?"

Elizabeth briefly looked up to the buildings that surrounded them, and saw a crouched red silhouette standing in the edge of a rooftop, the white lenses were recognizable even thousands of meters away. She could feel him.

Elizabeth smiled and met her mother's green eyes again, before nodding excitedly. "Bring Aiden and David, dad too!" She turned around and quickly headed towards her group of friends who chatted at the school entrance while they waited for her arrival.

_A couple of hours later..._

Spider-Man whistled a playful rhythm to himself as the sat next to the building's rooftop edge and swung his legs around, texting another superhero friend of his while there wasn't anything that required his intervention for the moment.

I _took some guy named Mysterio during the past night, he said he normally deals with you. _\- Matt Murdock

Peter chuckled lightly. _Oh, good, he can be tricky._ \- PP

_I wouldn't say tricky, really. He kept playing dinosaur noises and saying 'You'll never find the real Mysterio!', but he was just standing there so I punched him_. - MM

Peter knew he was deadline with the second Mysterio, a rip off. The first one apparently died years ago during his battle with the Sinister Six. He never was found. The new one was an amateur. He thought.

_Holy crap, his illusions had no effect on you! Do you want to take him as your villain from now on? _\- PP

_Sure. By the way, I know I'm blind but was he wearing a fishbowl? That has got to be a mistake on my radar, right?_ \- MM

_No mistake, dude was wearing a fishbowl. He's a weird dude. Have fun with that. _\- PP

Peter laughed loudly and laid on his back. He had officially lost a baddie from his own rogue gallery. At least Matt was immune to Mysterio. He never imagined the day when vigilantes would start trading 'their' bad guys with one another.

He sighed peacefully for a moment, allowing the wind to be the only sound he was hearing from. As with any vigilante, the duty ultimately called through Spider-Man's special sense, a quick bolt triggered inside his head, warning him of a threat nearby.

He stood and stretched his arms, before walking very close to the edge's end and gazing the city and its complexity.

_Time to go to work._

Spider-Man leaned forward and fell towards the ground as he spun in the air just before firing two bio cables with each hand at the building in the square meters in front of him, gaining extra speed while he reached a constant momentum and swung over the many cars down in the streets.

He eventually held one single web line, flying very close to the many citizens who stopped what they're doing just to caught a brief glimpse of the heroic figure that has been keeping the city safe for more than ten years, someone who never asked for something in return, and always declined what often was offered to him.

To what many considered a favour, Spider-Man considered his eternal duty.

He carefully landed over the rooftop of an in movement car and quickly slid over its front panel just to jump towards the next one fast, constantly doing the same thing repeatedly with different acrobatics, giving them a stylish show as he headed towards the place his abilities warned him about.

* * *

**Empire State University - Gwen's Office**

In the comfortable and cosy private area of Gwen's office which had a L shaped couch in the middle, accompanied by a coffee table while her desk was placed not far away with the view of the city through the windows on it's right side. Gwen herself was currently focused in finishing her report in her laptop.

Gwen was tired, her work was requiring more of her energy since the latest conflict end's, and because of that she started to feel incredibly uncomfortable and homesick most of the time. The daily stress never had weighted so much over her, having three children to raise and one husband to take care of surely consumed her time as well, but such time was when she felt at ease, now, a bunch of emotions suddenly started to come and flourish over herself.

She also noticed Peter was acting a little bit different since the war, probably due to what he saw and fought during that time, one of the many reasons as to why he quit the Avengers after years of taking care of the world as a united group. Currently, he now had to face those who thought Spider-Man overstayed his welcome, and those who blamed him for everything, that could get such a cheerful man like her husband affected in so many ways, mostly mentally, and she tried to be there for him, hide her feelings so that he could confess his for her while not needing to get worried. She had to remain strong, it's her duty, always have been since they kissed for the very first time.

Changing her focus to lighter thoughts, Gwen smiled weakly as she remembered Peter telling her what happened when he was suddenly throw at another dimension. She thought he finally went crazy, even after the effects of Wade's 'ingredient' were long gone by then, but she decided to believe him like she always did.

Gwen instinctively placed her right hand on her stomach and continued to muse over the experience her husband went through.

Apparently, she was an actress in this alternate reality, both of them, and they're still together. She was Emma something, and her hair was red, similar to MJ's. Now, that was something she judged impossible to happen, she cared a lot about her hair's natural tone to ever change it. Besides, her husband didn't seem to be too much fond on the idea of her becoming anything else than blonde.

She teased Peter about the fact that he kissed another woman. She recalled him panicking over the playful tease, she was just pulling his leg, and truth to be told, Gwen didn't mind such fact, it was her in some way.

What Gwen really lamented was that she didn't get to meet Peter's counterpart. That would be something else. She thought.

Someone knocked Gwen's door and brought her back to reality. She shook her head and rested both arms over the table. "Come in."

Gwen's recently designed assistant, Judy, opened the door and greeted her with a professional smile as she stepped inside. "Mrs Parker, there's something that requires your intervention."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"The count ability is putting the plan of reducing the science's team budget forward due to the increased taxes the city has been asking for, you know, due to the war and everything." Judy explained.

"I heard about that." Gwen crossed her arms under her breasts. "What can I do?"

"Well, what should you do, basically." Judy gulped. "They offered two options to us, place countless of researches on hold, or...fire at least half of the team so that more money can be saved and relocated to these projects."

"What...?" Gwen hesitated. "Really?" She couldn't believe that the count ability was actually considering the possibility of firing thousands of people from the department, leaving them without any source of money when such thing was more important than ever for those families, but not doing such thing meant all the projects she had been working over the years would be put into hold, or even cancelled.

"I know, it's not an easy choice, but you're the department's lead, there isn't anyone else that can come up with a decision than you." She said sympathetically.

Gwen sighed heavily. "Damn..." She paused. "Just...tell them to stop funding half of our current work; I won't fire these people."

Judy nodded.

Gwen exhaled deeply, stood up from her chair and grabbed her purse. She smiled kindly, the latest news got her even more exhausted. "If you may excuse me, I'm going to pick my boys, Aiden and Dave, and clear my head out."

"Aiden? That's a very nice name, I don't hear it often." Judy opened the door to Gwen.

"It's my grandpa's." Gwen smiled thankfully as she passed next to her co-worker and stepped inside the calm hallway. "It felt appropriate, they're both illustrious, and very important to me."

* * *

**New York - Daily Bugle**

"Your boyfriend should be arriving." The tall humanoid figure covered by the red substance raised Jameson from the ground by holding his neck with his free claw.

Jameson met the monster's enormous white eyes while it's large tongue kept swirling around in the air. His entire office was a mess, with thousands of papers spread across the ground and the wall behind his desk totally destroyed. Not mentioning the other offices which were also torn apart, people laid on the floor unconscious.

It would've been a carnage if the monster had gone too far.

"Are you this red because you're shy, do you blush?" Spider-Man appeared in the enormous hole that was found in the wall where the monster had come through.

It turned on its back, still holding Jameson tightly. "Finally!"

Spider-Man stroked his chin and asked curiously, "Where did you come from? You're rather familiar..."

Jameson quickly interjected furiously, "Stop talking and help me, Spider-Man-"

"Shut your face!" The monster's goo came from the hand which was holding Jameson and wrapped itself around his mouth. He turned his head back to Spider-Man and replied cockily, "You've met us before, indeed, Kassady, rings a bell? It's Carnage now."

Spider-Man immediately recognized the name. A serial killer he had caught years ago, not really a friendly person. He teased, "No, no, I was interested in the suit; I don't really remember the names of all the bad guys I came across, they're not important, you know?"

"What?!" Carnage's eyes got bigger. "I'll...make you remember us!" He threw Jameson towards Spider-Man as they crashed against each other and were consecutively throw out of the building due to the impact.

_Son of kitty!_

The hero quickly recomposed himself and projected his body towards Jameson, gaining more speed, before reaching him and wrapping one single around his waist and firing a webline to slow down the fall.

Surprisingly, his special sense didn't warn him of the incoming danger that came from behind him as Carnage suddenly swung closer and kicked his back, making the pair crash through the window and inside the lower levels of the building.

Spider-Man kept Jameson firmly on his arms while they slid against the floor. When they finally stopped, he pushed Jameson off him and slowly stood up amidst his painful groans. His opponent was - if not stronger than him.

He looked up and saw Carnage standing next to the broken window. The monster's right hand suddenly changed itself into a form of an axe, a rather big one. "This will be _fun!"_

Spider-Man closed both fists at the sigh. For some reason, he felt the need to unleash some of his buried anger over Kassady, an involuntary desire, and he wouldn't hold it back. They both ran at each other's direction while raising their hands for the impact.

Outside the building and down in the streets, the male executive who carried a briefcase on his left hand approached the hot dog cart stationed under the enormous publicity panel stuck against the building's wall, a very common sight at the city.

After grabbing his lunch and slowly bringing it closer to his lips, he suddenly heard some windows crashing in the direction towards the Daily Bugle. He turned on his back and instantly saw Spider-Man land over a taxi, smashing its top. He shrugged his shoulders in response and decided to focus on his food since heroes fighting wasn't an uncommon situation either.

Spider-Man jumped from the car's front which he accidently landed due to Carnage's attacks as the same buried his right arm in form of an axe over the position where his foe was previously located.

The monster turned on it's back and saw Spider-Man standing over a traffic pole, observing him, before firing one biocable at one of the many skyscrapers, placing all his strength on his legs and jumping forward as he swung away.

"You're not going anywhere!" He shouted angrily and what seemed to be his own webline came from the palm of his hand and into the buildings, following the hero closely. "Not anymore!"

Spider-Man briefly gazed the menace over his shoulder, trying to come up with a plan that could stop the beast which was incredibly stronger than him in every way, but that didn't help with Kassady's useless brain.

If the suit he's wearing is another symbiote that came from nowhere, the only thing he could imagine of is an incredible amount of high pitch sounds, and that's it. He didn't have many knowledges over the parasite at all, and he thought there wasn't any left. Apparently.

_Where do all these bad guys come from...?_

* * *

**Elementary School - Theatrical Stage**

Excited and anxious, Elizabeth checked her bee - like costume for the piece and assured herself everything was ready and on its proper place while her friends did the same with their teacher's help. She would finally practice something she starting enjoying which was acting, not as much as discovering and learning new things, but the new activity was very captivating to her.

Quickly taking a peek outside through the large red curtains of the stage, Elizabeth noticed her parents and brothers didn't arrive yet. She knew her mother was coming with her brothers and it wouldn't take too long, but her father was a whole different case to talk about.

If he wasn't working, he was helping people and she knew that, so she wouldn't blame her father for not managing to appear in time. He's one of the greatest persons in the whole world, he was capable of achieving things no one else could, and those things always were meant to help those in need, she couldn't be any _prouder_ of her affectionate father, but she wanted to make her _parents_ proud with her own achievements, and he was also required.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and sighed heavily, hoping that everything would be alright with her personal hero, saviour and father, while wishing for his more than welcoming appearance at the local.

"Elizabeth, you okay?" Her teacher asked from behind, gaining her attention as the blonde girl turned on her back.

She smiled brightly and nodded. "Yes, Ms Roberts." She paused. "I'm just looking out for my parents and brothers."

The teacher knelled and squeezed her shoulder gently. "I'm sure they'll be here soon, there's thirty minutes left, nothing bad could happen today, trust me."

* * *

**Fifth Avenue**

"You fudging lick me again I'll fudging kill you!" Spider-Man stated furiously as he tried to break free from Carnage's grasp who currently stood over him and kept his both wrists on check. The monster's rather large tongue constantly swirled in the air, much to Peter's disgust.

He eventually managed to press the palm of his right hand and consecutively fired a web line at Carnage's face, briefly stunning him as he instinctively released Spider-Man's left hand from his. Peter grabbed a small rock from the ground which was one of the many debris they had caused throughout the fight in the street and violently pressed against the side of Carnage's head, getting Cletus of him while making the monster scream with its high pitch voice as the small rock became dust at the abrupt contact.

Kassady stood up and clumsily went to remove the webbing which was spread all over his face, making him unable to see and feel anything at all since his senses were temporarily compromised.

"You waste my time...!" Spider-Man suddenly appeared holding a light pole with both hands, taking advantage of his unnatural strength, he swung it towards Carnage's figure, sending him across the street and inside the large and fancy restaurant as he crashed through the doors and slammed against the many occupied tables.

Spider-Man quickly jumped inside and landed in front of Kassady who was now standing on his feet. "Not on _my_ city...!" He punched his stomach, raising him from the ground with a single hand during the moment. Once he again managed to stand up, Spider-Man recovered a piece of plank with a single webline and violently pressed against his stunned opponent's chest as he clumsily crashed inside the kitchen, instantly causing a small yet chaotic explosion from inside.

The fire fastly spread itself over the ceiling as the people who still were located inside the restaurant hurried towards the exit, trying to avoid the destruction that both Spider-Man and his enemy were causing without really noticing the collateral effect.

Spider-Man closed his fists and stood still, gazing the destroyed kitchen's entrance. It didn't take too long to spot Kassady slowly crawling his way off the burning area, he was in pain, weakened, and that made Peter instantly realize another weapon that could be used against such type of symbiote, fire.

The goo that covered Kassady's figure was slowly melting and getting off his body, but most of its proportion remained over him. Peter could already see half of the man's face.

He walked towards Cletus, spun him around with his feet, making him lay on his back, before moving his right hand against Kassady's chest, grabbing the goo and ripping a small part off his body as the symbiote now attached itself in Peter's currently covered in spandex hand.

"No..." He growled. "It's mine...!"

Peter felt anger being pumped into his veins, such ordinary sensation he hadn't felt for years now. He tried to remain calm by briefly closing his eyes and slowing down his breathing while keeping Kassady in check with his feet. He wanted to end the monster who painfully gasped in the ground, one less problem, one more solution.

_**You're not him! You're not the first one...!**_

Spider-Man sighed heavily and stood motionless. Once the red symbiote was fully emerged with his right arm, he turned on his back and slowly walked away as the fire started to consume the place.

Kassady coughed briefly and said, "Don't you dare leave me..._Peter!"_

Spider-Man suddenly stopped on his tracks after his name was mentioned out of the nowhere.

Kassady chuckled. "Oh yes, I know everything about you...like that little pretty girl of yours...so kind, Elizabeth, eh? All of them, name by name, face by face." He provoked, seeing Spider-Man slowly turning on his shoulder. "It told me everything once it found me, you're done."

Spider-Man closed his fist, containing the urge of ending Kassady in a blink of an eye after the mention of his daughter's name. He sighed. "Even if you did...no one will _ever_ believe a madman, consider yourself lucky to still be breathing in front of me."

"So? You won't kill me or...I don't know...kill me?" Kassady said, disappointed. "You heroes...know nothing about the real world, you're always stuck with your perfect morality that causes more harm than good! And then I'm the crazy one!"

Spider-Man cocked his head at him. "Really? What do you know about morality?"

"What would _you_ know? You have a good life, no problems at all...you must swin in money, made no single effort with those natural freaky gifts!" Kassady chuckled. "Oh, sorry, good old Uncle Ben met his death so that you could later go on a personal rampage, that's sad...!"

Spider-Man stood in silence as a piece of the ceiling fell into the ground not very far away from him. "I never had an easy life, Kassady... everything I've ever accomplished was with much effort and sweat, and everything comes with a price, you made your choice, and you chose wrong."

He laughed to himself. "Have you seen how many young kids are getting into jail these days? Orphans? Guess why? The war you created, the monster you and your buddies created! And I'm the bad guy?! Look around you; we only exist because of you; you think know what's best for everyone but the only thing your kind create is chaos...!" He paused. "Your time is getting into an end, your pointless fight will be buried with your legend and death, it's only a matter of time before people get tired of you...you're not needed, never was!"

Spider-Man stood quiet, absorbing what Kassady had to say. "I fight...for freedom, mine...and everyone's, I fight for the right to choose our own fate, and if I die, I'll die knowing I did _everything_ to stop your kind, and I'll die...free..." He turned on his back and started to head towards the exit, hearing the many sirens coming from outside the restaurant.

Kassady gasped. He wanted to end Spider-Man after that arrogant and proud attitude of him, and now he had the perfect opportunity as the hero let him face his back. He found a silver knife at the floor and grabbed it with his right hand, before standing up and quickly reaching his nemesis, bringing the knife closer to his back with a loud roar.

Spider-man instantly noticed the movement behind him and quickly turned around, slightly leaning his stomach backwards as the tip of the knife brushed against the spandex, he moved his right hand to Kassady's and propelled him into the floor, making him land on his back as he grabbed his left wandering arm and twisted it, getting the man incapacitated as he growled in pain.

He looked down to Cletus while he held his broken arm and said emotionless, "Everyone can learn how to use a gun or - in this case, a powerful biologic weapon...what _you're_ going to learn is how to use your head, when you get that, maybe you'll be able to live among us, until then...you're more than welcome to stay away from society."

"I will...kill you...!" Kassady stated harshly.

Spider-Man now stood on his right knee. "That's right...don't blame yourself, blame _me_...when you're out, find me, try to kill me again, and never stop until you achieve such thing, just keep in mind...next time I won't be this forgiving...I'm done playing nice..." He put Kassady's arm back to it's former place, receiving a painful scream in return, and put him into sleep with a single punch as the firefighters entered the place and found nothing but fire and Kassady lying on the ground, the hero wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Outside the restaurant and next to a building's rooftop edge, Spider-Man stood on his feet and observed the events unfolding back at the streets, seeing his once opponent restrained in a medical stretcher as he was placed inside the ambulance.

_Have you seen how many kids are getting into jail these days? Orphans? Guess why? The war you created, the monster you and your buddies created! And I'm the bad guy!_

He reflected over such speech, realizing the ugly consequences the war brought since it's resolution, and Cletus had a point. He wondered if he was still needed, and if his actions were actually doing something aside from fighting people who wants his head.

After he woke up hours after the final battle, he didn't even question Gwen about what happened during the meantime, he was tired of everything, hearing the bad stuff would only make it worse, and now, the harsh truth was finally exposed, and he had to accept it.

Peter brought the hand which was covered with the symbiote closer to his face and tilted his head to the side, gazing the substance he now controlled with his own will.

He needed to get rid of it.

* * *

"Yes, sweetie, I told you I would arrive in time." Gwen maneuverer the car's wheel with a single hand while the other kept her phone next to her right ear. She quickly glanced digital clock in the panel between the two front seats, fifth minutes left. She moved her eyes to the mirror and saw her two boys sleeping in their seats, the side of their heads were resting against each other.

Gwen sighed at the view. She would have to wake them, and that wasn't an easy task since forever. "They're fully awake, yeah." She paused to pay attention to the traffic, before replying to another of her daughter's questions. "Your father? I was about to call him., Okay, I will, love you." She turned the call down and briefly placed her phone over the seat next to hers.

She moved her free hand through the space between the two front seats and gently held Aiden's small right foot, squeezing it gently with the purpose of waking him up. "Boys?" No response. _Still heavy sleepers? Peter's minions confirmed once and for all. _Gwen smiled to herself and kept trying to wake Aiden until she finally accomplished such thing.

Aiden slowly opened his eyes and brought his hand from his brother's and brushed his eyes in laziness. "Mommy...?"

"Don't do that, it will hurt your eyes." Gwen said concerned. "Could you please wake your brother? We're almost arriving at Liz's school."

Aiden yawned and nodded. He lazily turned on his right side and placed the tip of his finger against David's small nose who later narrowed his closed eyes as the urge to sneeze started to arrive. "Davey..." He called.

"Not like that..." Gwen deadpanned, seeing her son's not gently way of waking up his identical brother. She retrieved her phone, tapped her husband's phone and initiated a video call. She handed the device to her boys and focused back into handling the car. "Warn your dad that he needs to hurry up."

David leaned his head against the side of Aiden's as they both disputed space to see their father's image in the phone as the call was finally answered. _"Hey, guys." _Peter smiled. He appeared to be inside of an elevator, alone.

"Hi, daddy!" The twins greeted at the same time.

_"What are you guys doing?"_

Aiden spoke calmly, "Nothing."

David continued, "Mommy said that you need to hurry up, she didn't seem happy." He said innocently.

Gwen rolled her eyes at the driver's seat. It was true, the male Parker's were meant to mock her whenever she was close.

Peter chuckled lightly._ "Did she, eh? Sounds like your mother."_

Gwen finally protested, "Hey, that's not true!"

_"Well, you must admit that you can get grumpy here and there."_ He teased.

She scoffed. "Whatever, just don't forget that your daughter is waiting for us, her father included."

Even if he was unable to see his wife, Peter caught the playfulness hint on her tone. _"Aye, mom." _He joked. _"Just got into some trouble earlier, on my way."_

Gwen teased back, "You better, or else you're getting in the chair of regret tonight if you misbehave."

* * *

**Pay Get Clean Laundry - Manhattan**

After gladly giving the symbiote to one of the small list of people he trusted on his life, Tony Stark, Peter swung towards the laundry and later made sure the whole place was indeed empty of people. Now wearing his civilian's clothes, Peter approached one of the many washers and took off his current attire which were over his now dirty Spider-Man suit and released them at the recently cleaned floor. He opened the machine's top and threw his mask inside of it, before proceeding to take off his super tight chest set, it was always a chore to achieve such difficult task.

He was still somewhat affected by the earlier events, his mind was racing with thousands of thoughts, and they're now directed to the moments that followed his conversation with Ultron, a robot that shared the same point of view with Cletus, about heroes causing an inevitable circular cycle of destruction, and that more would rise regardless of their 'peaceful' goals.

_Are they right?_ He wondered._ Is the fight over? Am I...outdated?_

Noticing his self-doubts about what he did through his entire life, Peter slowly came to the notion of how much different he became since that particular moment with Ultron inside the Breach. He never really inquired Gwen about what happened shortly after the weapon was fired while he remained unconscious, apparently he was declared dead for a short amount time after the weapon crashed into the ground following the EMP blast, but that didn't change the fact he came as a different person after such event.

Was that good or bad? Only time will tell.

Later when the suit slipped out over his torso and face, Peter rested both hands on the sides of the machine and looked down to the ground, still holding the suit with one single hand as he breathed calmly, his hands were shaking lightly due to the anxiety caused by the countless thoughts he found himself diving through.

_I know how it ends for me...Kassady, I know._

He finally calmed himself, gasped in relief and looked up, noticing a tall dark haired man standing in the other side of the establishment, stealthy gawking him over his shoulder, surprised by Peter's well defined build.

Peter gulped, still holding his suit with both hands, paralyzed. "Um...it's for...Halloween...I mean - it's not _that_ far away..."

The man raised an eyebrow. "What...?" He wasn't paying attention to the suit at all.

Peter realized what was going, and that made him remain incredibly uncomfortable towards the awkward situation. "I... I'm a... family man..." He cleared his throat once again. "Just...erm, yeah."

"Oh..."

Peter nodded to himself. "Yeah...not against anything, but...like - I'm not wired that way, you know?" Where was Gwen to help him with situations like the current one? He wondered.

He deadpanned. "Okay..." He turned around and focused back to his own rented washer.

Peter exhaled sharply, relieved. He quickly placed the rest of his suit inside the machine, standing only on his boxers and not really minding that at all since he had more pressing issues like getting into his daughter's presentation in time. He found a penny at his jeans' pockets and finally activated the washer, before picking his daily clothes like his jacket, jeans and shirt and wearing them, heading quickly outside to find a cab once all of that was done.

* * *

**Elementary School**

Peter quickly hurried inside the school as he did his tie and searched for any sign that indicated where was the stage. The hallways were basically empty. That could only mean people were already inside, and that was a bad thing. He thought.

Cursing himself during the whole search, Peter eventually found the right door and stealthily opened, being greeted by a dark ambient where all the seats were already occupied by the student's familiars. He searched for any young blonde woman accompanied by two boys. His eyes settled themselves in the very first line in front of the stage.

Gwen had David sat on her lap, playing with her phone while the piece didn't start. His twin brother Aiden kept his father's seat warm, he gazed the spotlights with eyes that surely meant curiosity, and desire. He was pretty much holding himself from crawling there and do his stuff with the poor electronics.

Peter fastly descend the stairwell and finally headed towards them.

Noticing some footsteps amidst the chattering, Gwen turned on her shoulder and saw her husband clumsily walking in the slim pace between the lines, being careful to not step over someone's toes, but that didn't seem to work as she constantly heard someone grunting in pain while he quickly apologized.

Once close enough, Peter smiled cheekily and gently took Aiden on his arms, before sitting down with the twin lying his back against his chest. "Hey," He quickly gave Gwen a tiny peck on the lips. "Man, I hate this thing." He loosened his tie quite a bit, not really comfortable with accessory.

"What took you so long?" Gwen whispered.

Peter exhaled sharply and adjusted himself in the seat. "Honey, the traffic was intense."

Gwen deadpanned. "You didn't take the car."

He stood quiet. Should he really bother her with what he fought minutes ago? He wondered. "It's nothing, I explain it later." He took her hand on his and squeezed it gently. "You look fantastic; you know?"

Gwen decided to let the subject go away since he was trying to change it. She smiled kindly and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Thank you." She sighed happily. "Now we wait for our little girl to shine."

**One hour later...**

As the Parkers minus Elizabeth walked outside the school and entered the garden-like park nearby the parking lot, Peter sat in bench and next to Gwen. He wrapped an arm around her waist while the twins hurried inside and experienced the many attractions. Elizabeth was still inside so they had to make the most of their time.

Gwen crossed her legs and sighed contently at her husband's arms, she wanted to be embraced by him once again. She rested her head against his shoulder and gazed their children. "I missed you today."

Peter kissed her temple and took in her scent. "Long day..." He paused. "Sorry for taking up too long, had to deal with Kassady."

Gwen placed a hand on his thigh and asked lowly, "Again...?"

"Yeah, but I managed it." He slipped his hand inside her blouse and stroked her belly. "I promised I wouldn't miss this, some of them I can keep it."

Gwen smiled to herself at the simple act of affection he was giving her.

He caught a glimpse of the sudden smile and raised an eyebrow. "Gwen...?"

She looked up to him innocently. "What?"

Peter tilted his head to the side. "I know that look of yours."

Gwen smirked and teased, "Peter...wait till we get to our bedroom, okay? Be patient."

Peter deadpanned. She was trying to change the subject, and knowing his wife very well, he knew something was up. "That's not what I meant...do you want to tell me something?"

Gwen stood in silence for a brief moment, gazing into his brown orbs. She didn't want to get him excited when she wasn't totally sure if it's indeed happening. They didn't talk about such possibility for months now. She cupped his cheek and said softly, "I... I'm not sure, okay? Give me a few days."

Peter didn't know what to do at first, so he just nodded in agreement.

It didn't long to Aiden quickly approach his parents while he kept both his hands together as if he was holding something. "I found something on the ground, it's red and tiny!" He revealed. "Guess what it is, and fast, I need to help David to pick a flower for Liz!"

"Erm..." Gwen retracted a little more into her husband's strong arms, expecting the worst.

Peter smiled and leaned closer to his son while Gwen carefully moved herself behind his shoulder. "I doubt that would be a vegetable, right?" He teased, well aware of Aiden's tastes which didn't include any vegetable at all.

He shook his head, disgusted. "_No_...but it's alive." He grinned.

Gwen exhaled deeply. "Oh boy..."

Aiden opened both hands and revealed very small ladybug, it stood still on his hands, not really seeming to mind the human imprisonment. "It's awesome, isn't it?"

_He just said 'awesome', I'm done._ Peter chuckled lightly, before moving his right hand next to Aiden's so that the tiny insect could reach for his hand, which turned out to be a slow process. "A lady bug."

Gwen sighed, relieved, at least it wasn't an ugly looking insect. She resumed her position next to Peter and placed an arm around her beautiful son as he went to happily hug her in return. "Insects, ew." She kissed his temple.

Peter continued, "Good thing we're arachnids, right, Aiden?" He teased. "Or else your mother wouldn't like us one tiny bit." He moved his hand that was holding the ladybug down into the ground and allowed the insect it's more than deserved freedom.

Aiden turned his head to his father's side and nodded with a convinced grin while he hugged Gwen back. She sent him a cute glare, as if throwing sharp daggers at him through her deep green eyes.

"I think I'm probably tending to like my little boys better than my biggest one." Gwen teased back.

Peter was about to protest with another of his, most of the time, cheesy jokes, but changed his mind when he heard a very familiar and young feminine voice called them from behind. He turned on his shoulder as he stood up and saw Elizabeth running towards him. He quickly kneeled and opened his arms as Elizabeth instantly wrapped her own arms around him in a strong hug while he later stood up and brought her along. "Hey!"

Elizabeth leaned her head back so that she could see her father eye to eye. "How much awesome you think I was?!"

"Linkin Park levels of awesomeness." Peter smiled happily as Elizabeth giggled in return, if there was one single trait everyone was sure they both shared, it was the musical taste, much to Gwen's disapproval, she preferred more relaxing type of songs, but then again, their daughter needed to inherit at least something from her father since she was considered by the whole family to be a Mini-Gwen. "You're fantastic today, honey, don't forget to tell your uncles when they're back from their trip."

"I will!" Elizabeth smiled back.

Gwen walked next to the pair and kissed Elizabeth's cheek. She moved a trace of her daughter's golden hair and said softly, "We're proud of you, sweetie."

Peter smiled contently at the sight. He felt disarmed, free, and lighter. He was just Peter Parker for moment, he didn't need to think about himself, about the different man he slowly found himself becoming into over the course of the time. He was in peace with himself, he wanted nothing but to spend all the time he could with the ones he loved the most.

Nothing more, and nothing else.

David gently grabbed Elizabeth's right foot so that he could gain her attention. She looked down and saw her young brothers standing next to each other and gave them a kind smile. Aiden was holding a white flower with his right hand. "We got this for you!"

* * *

**New York - Central Park**

"I've told you I'd come in time." Peter sat in the bench, being accompanied by his very own daughter who laid her head against his chest. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and sighed contently.

"I'm glad you did, dad." Elizabeth placed her right hand over his abdomen, hearing her father's very low moan as if that specific area was causing some pain to him, and he apparently he didn't want to tell her, but she wasn't naive. "Does it hurt...badly?" She looked up.

Peter cleared his throat. "What do you mean?"

"Your injury, I noticed it." She replied innocently.

Like mother, like daughter.

"Um...don't worry about it." He said, reassuringly. "I've been through worse, believe me."

Elizabeth asked concerned, "But shouldn't you treat it?" Peter chuckled lightly. She cocked her head at him in suspicion. "Why are you laughing?"

Peter moved a golden lock of hair behind her ear with the tip of his finger. "You just remind me of your mother a lot, not just visually, but also mentally." He affirmed. "Always looking out for us boys."

"Well, mom is awesome." Elizabeth grinned.

He nodded in agreement. "Ditto." They now stood in silence, wrapped in each other's arms, while watching the two colourful birds building their small house in a tall tree not far away from them.

Peter enjoyed moments like the current one, where there isn't anything else besides him and his family, no immediate threats, big responsibilities and the world's weigh on his shoulders, just them, and only them. "Hey, Liz?"

"Yeah?" She focused her green eyes towards him.

"Recently, your mother and I came to the conclusion that you should know our entire truth, and I volunteered myself to talk to you alone." He stroked her smooth cheek gently.

"I love histories." She smiled kindly.

He nodded, before exhaling deeply. "Well, when I had your age, your other grandparents, Richard and Mary, as you know, left me with May and Ben, before they unfortunately passed away due to a plane accident."

"Then Ben and May raised you as their son, right?"

"That's right, and it stayed like that for many years to come." He said calmly. "Ben taught me what May couldn't, and vice versa, but the biggest lesson I learned with them is that I don't get to choose what I should do, but what I need to do for those who need my help if can."

"With great power comes great responsibility, mom tells me that often."

Peter smiled brightly. "Yeah, basically, and she's right, listen to your mom." He chuckled lightly, before proceeding, "Well, days later after I discovered my powers, after I thought I was invincible, Ben also passed away when trying to do something honourable which wasn't his job, but he felt the need to anyways." He gulped. "I was devastated; May was super worried about me, and your mom was always there for me, you know? Before we even started dating..." He cleared his throat, these two topics never were an easy for him, no matter how many years passed. "I was on a dark path..."

"It's okay," She interviewed her fingers with his. "Tell me more."

He squeezed her hand. "I wanted revenge, satisfy my hunger for 'justice', that's what I thought, but thanks to grandpa George, it didn't take me long to realize I was wrong, and thanks to him, I became Spider-Man, the proper one, the man Ben wanted me to be." He explained, rather heartbroken. "George Stacy saved the city, the Stacy's did during that night with Connors, and we lost one too, before that, he told me to stay away from your Mother, to protect his daughter, and now I understand deeply his reason...but as you know, I couldn't, and that almost cost her life once, then I swore that I'd give everything...to keep your mother safe."

"I'm glad you did so." She kissed his cheek, Peter smiled lightly. She inquired, "Who was Harry?" She recalled Peter briefly mentioning him some time ago. It got her curious.

Peter hesitated at first, but the words eventually came. "Harry was the only friend I had in years, he was the first one to be more precise...we're so alike and our bond was something else, we're like - brothers... he's a man that deserved so much, but didn't have enough time to trail his path, make his choices; in the end, he gave his life for me, and that's the memory I use to remember him, despite our differences which are in the past now."

"So, you loved him too?" Elizabeth asked, not aware of the complications and meanings such word can have.

He exhaled deeply. "I think so, he was a very important person to me, we're supposed to take care of each other..." He sighed, before changing subjects and focusing in the story of their family over Spider-Man's, "Anyways, years later your mother and I returned from England, after she was done with her college, we eventually married, the tine felt right."

"How was it?" She questioned, curious.

Peter replied, "Quite the experience, and very touching, that's for sure."

"I wish I could've been there, I kind of love weddings, they're beautiful." Elizabeth confessed.

"Well, you weren't among us in that day." He said softly. "But when you were, after your mom and I decided to start a family... when I held you for the first time and you gazed into my eyes, or when I saw you peacefully lying next to your mother hours later after you're born..." He smiled weakly. "I realized what is my objective here, and it's not save this city or the whole world, but to simply give you and the boys the love you deserve, and that's it, be a father...villains and problems be damned, there's nothing on this world... I wouldn't do for you." He licked his lips, distracting his eyes that were getting wet. "And now, honestly... I don't know if I'm up to that, this emptiness inside of me...I'm afraid to not be here for you, to not see you grown into a even more beautiful and intelligent woman who I know you'll become..." He confessed. After all the experiences he went through, during his life, he couldn't help but agree with the man he fought hours ago.

Maybe his other career would eventually backfire, and since he can't stop, not until he's incapacitated from doing so, his time could eventually arrive, and he was afraid of leaving the he loves most, giving them the pain he felt during all these years since he was six.

"Daddy..."

He continued sober, now looking at the stars in the sky, "I almost lost your day...and I eventually could lose all of them..."

Elizabeth suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him closely as her father wrapped his own arms around her and buried his head on her shoulder. She whispered softly, "I'm never...letting you go, daddy, you'll be here with us, forever." She stroked his hair. "I love you."

"I love you too." Peter hugged her back, keeping her close with both arms snaked around her back.

They eventually lost count of the time as they stood quiet, just embracing each other amidst the silence of the park. What the pair noticed was that small puddles of water were very slowly colliding against their clothes.

Elizabeth looked up to the sky, "Look, dad, it's raining." She stepped back into the ground and smiled happily as the puddles of water start to form in the ground.

"I think we should go then." Peter suggested and also stood up, bringing his jacket along and before checking his surroundings and seeing people running towards a safe area while opening their umbrellas.

"Why?!" Elizabeth opened her arms, enjoying the sensation.

"Well...um..because-" Peter was interrupted after Elizabeth quickly kicked a puddle and sent traces of water at him. She smiled in anticipation.

Peter instinctively tried to walk backwards but she was faster than him. He smiled at her. She quickly leaned down and used her right hand to splash more water at him.

Deciding that he shouldn't miss anything with his kind despite how different these situations could have been, Peter placed his jacket down into the floor while Elizabeth constantly jumped over the close puddles, kicked them towards him as she got closer, giggling all the way.

Peter chuckled lightly and took a small jump before stepping over another puddle and later taking large steps towards her, getting Elizabeth more soaked as she retreated back. She again bent down just to use her hands to splash more water towards his direction, and later jumping very close to her father, sending waves of water all around them as they laughed together.

* * *

With Aiden resting his head against Gwen's camisole and her shoulder, while having both arms snaked around her neck, she turned off the living room's lights and headed upstairs, carrying her asleep son on her arms. She slipped a hand underneath his shirt and massaged his back, being careful to not wake the rest of her beautiful family.

Noticing the door of her bedroom was half open with a low weak light coming from the available open space between the door and the wall, Gwen slowly opened it and saw her husband and daughter lying on their bed and underneath the many covers. She smiled softly at the sight.

Elizabeth herself had an arm draped across her father's back while Peter kept her close to his chest by having his right arm wrapped her slim frame. Gwen couldn't help but realize how much time has passed since her first came to light, her little baby, and now her blonde daughter was getting bigger and bigger with each every day, until the day she finally becomes a fully grown up woman.

Even when such day comes, Gwen knew Peter would still be the father every child could wish for. He considered himself heavily flawed, but Gwen always personally thought he was perfect, with everything that happened on their lives, he remained the same cute, lovingly and dork boy she fell in love with almost fifteen years ago, and that would never change, because persons like Peter are rare, but men like him are even more rare.

Once she placed Aiden into bed, Gwen walked through the corridor illuminated by a dim tonality, she stopped right next to her bedroom's door, now seeing only Elizabeth tucked underneath the covers. Peter wasn't anywhere to be seen, as for his suit, it remained in the same spot, fortunately.

Deciding to investigate further, Gwen calmly headed downstairs, taking one slow step after the another with her bare feet throughout the spiral stairwell. She immediately spotted Peter standing next to the kitchen's long sink, he opened a small orange plastic capsule and placed it's tip against his lips, taking most of them.

As for Ren, the now heavy weight puppy snored lightly in the couch, clearly enjoying it's comfort.

"Peter, what are you doing...?" Gwen crossed her arms, trying to stop the heat from getting off her body and into the air.

Peter groaned as the pills started to take effect on his muscles. "Painkillers." He replied huskily. He turned around and snapped his neck, before pulling his shirt over his torso and handing it to his wife who tried to make any sense of the situation.

She quickly eyed the the empty capsule in the sink. "_All_ _of them_...?" She asked in disbelief. "You do realize those can kill you if you're not careful?"

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "Kraven once kept me in a coffin and drugged me for weeks, this won't kill me, besides...I'm not an ordinary human, right?" He winked and leaned his torso forward, falling into the floor with both hands as he started doing push ups next to Gwen.

He was being dismissing, hiding something. Gwen thought. She placed his shirt over the counter top and focused on the toned muscles of his back, especially his both trapezius which were constantly flexing and joining each other over and over again. "Yeah, well, during that time it's not like you had a choice either, and we all thought you're dead, you even said goodbye to me before that." She sighed, hard times were during the second breakup. "But that's not the point, what is causing such pain on you that raised the need to empty that capsule?"

His breathing became rigid. "Got a pretty heavy blow on the chest and back earlier...the pain didn't fade away yet, it's getting annoying." He paused briefly. "Adams mentioned something like it would eventually happen, now I'm just exercising myself, feels rather...good."

"Hm... you're at your physical peak nowadays..." She lost her gaze on his back. "...I mean - you're not getting any younger, me and you both."

"You remain beautiful as ever, don't fret about it."

Gwen smiled lightly. She scoffed. "Could you please stand up? As perfect as your back is, it doesn't talk back."

Peter chuckled. He took one long breath and finally stood up, before stretching his shoulders, his defined muscles were now more rigid to Gwen's appreciation. "I thought you enjoyed the show."

"I did." Gwen took one step closer and placed her hand against his chest, touching the affected area. "You probably pulled a muscle, this can become more serious if you don't treat it well."

Peter placed both hands on her waist and gently rubbed the delicate skin. "How do you know?"

Gwen tilted her head to the side and kept her gaze fixed on his chest. "Well, let's say I may have gotten a basic medicine degree last year." She finally looked up, her eyes darkening once she met her husband's.

"Aren't you a little genius?" He teased.

"Not really," Gwen shook her head with a smile. "Can't that friendly girl - Sam, I think, heal you? You said some bruises suddenly disappeared during that reality thing of yours."

"Sam isn't God, you know." Gwen fixed him a cold glare. He clarified, "It's beyond her skills, and I can't really remember how that happened, just bits and pieces." He sighed, frustrated. "It's killing me."

"Fine." She cupped his right cheek, comforting him.

"I actually feel better now, your fingers are magical or something?" He asked, surprisingly serious. The pain had vanished for good.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Cheeky..."

"I'm not joking, but take that as you want." He teased.

She smiled and ran a hand in the back of his neck. "I guess you're staying home tonight, right?"

"Well, I..."

Gwen wrapped her arms around him. "Please?" She begged. "Stay with me."

Peter eventually nodded. "Okay...I will." He hugged her closely, closed his eyes and let her warm comfort him through the peaceful and silent atmosphere of their apartment. He smiled to himself and later broke the passionate silence, "So... love time?" He questioned on his own dorky way.

Gwen giggled and looked up to him with a huge grin. She shook her head playfully. "No, you're not getting any love time tonight."

"Too bad." He shrugged and gave her a tiny peck on the lips.

Gwen licked her lips and suggested, "We _could_ cuddle and watch some TV show, though."

He moved a hand underneath her camisole and trailed soft circles in the naked skin of her back. "As long as it isn't Glee, fine by me."

Gwen smiled cheekily. _Persuasion then it is_. "Well..."


	52. Somebody Save Me

**Upstate New York - Unknown Area**

"Where is he?" A man wearing a corporative black suit and tie raised his sleeves while he walked around Peter who stood up chained to the ceiling by both hands.

The rather large and empty cell was illuminated by a single dim light in the ceiling, a second one was placed over the only available metallic door which was guarded by two extra companions, one male and one female.

A rounded silver table could be seen located besides Peter, it contained all sorts of instruments, some which he thought were a little too much radical and unnecessary for century twenty one style of interrogation.

Peter spat some blood into the floor. He's was under heavy effect of some tranquilizer that made everything all fuzzy and rather funny. He chuckled lightly to himself and answered, "Like I said...he's gone..."

The man groaned in discontentment. He stopped next to Peter and placed a single hand on his chin, forcing him to look at his eyes. "You're-"

Peter interrupted him with a cheeky grin, "Firm hands you got in there, pal, but I pretty much don't kiss on the first date..." He paused and tilted his head to the side, recalling some old memories. "Or do I...?"

Not approving of Peter's jokes, the interrogator quickly punched him in the stomach. He then turned around and held his hand, feeling his knuckles in pain as if he had just punched a solid rock. He remained firm nonetheless and he couldn't allow his prisoner to see any sign of weakness.

Peter held his breath, before exhaling sharply and shaking his head in adrenaline. "Wow! You sure you didn't break bone there-"

Now a fist landed across his face. He coughed briefly and said huskily, "Okay, that was better...but I suffered worse, maybe I should tell you this story about-"

"You think you're funny, don't you?"

Peter hesitated, but his expression didn't lose any of his teasingly attitude. He replied, "Nah...I _think_ I'm adorable." He grinned boyishly.

The man sighed heavily, controlling his patience."Just...tell me what I want to hear." He asked firmly, "Where's Harry Osborn...?!"

Peter now assumed a more serious expression through his face, letting all jokes fly away from his consciousness after the name's mention. "What makes you think that I'd even know where he is, squirrel?" He teased. "You do like a squirrel if I'm going to be honest..."

"You two are close, you're his only family." The interrogator replied, confident over the intel he gathered over the last months.

"Were would be the key word." Peter replied coldly. "And how on Earth do you know about us?"

"I know a lot about you, Peter Benjamin Parker." He began calmy, "Born in 1995, son of Richard Parker and Mary Parker, spent the rest of your childhood with your Uncle and Aunt, the latter was murdered..." He grabbed a small knife from the table next to them and pressed it's tip against Peter's shoulder, not moving anywhere further for awhile.

He continued, "Married to Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy, three children, Elizabeth, Aiden and David..." He slowly descended the knife down through the shirt as Peter gritted his teeth. "That's right; we know you very well, as in matter of fact, your wife is trying to find you, but.._.we both know it won't end well for her if she achieves such thing_..." He whispered menacingly, playing his physiological game.

"You-" Peter grunted heavily as the cold object teased his flesh.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" He challenged, noticing Peter's stare was getting even more deadly after he brought his long dead mother and family to the table. "Now, again, where is Harry Osborn!"

* * *

**One day earlier...**

**June 20th - 2028**

Peter slowly roused from a satiating and relaxing sleep, only wearing his boxers and thoroughly satisfied. He forced his eyes open to stare at the ceiling and it's fan when the air conditioner wasn't turned on. He rubbed his eyes as he groaned lightly. He checked the floor, seeing his clothes spread all over it, tokens from their endless night together since the boys were sleeping in May's house while Elizabeth wanted and went to visit her school's friend.

A thin sheet covered his legs and draped over his hips. He turned his head to the side.

Gwen stretched atop the bed on her stomach, arms tucked under the pillow. The sheet reached her waist, leaving her naked back and arms bared to his eyes. She faced him, in sleep, head ducked into one of her arms and stray pieces of blonde hair hung into her face, offering her back so freely. When she slept, she rarely stayed on her side and she often slept very lightly, was usually the first awake when he stayed with her. Rarely could he watch her sleep.

He carefully twisted onto his side, facing her and reached out to tuck her hair back from her face. Gentle, his fingers barely brushed her cheek but her eyes opened anyway, startled at first. He smiled, regretful. "Sorry, beautiful. I wasn't trying to wake you."

She hummed and closed her eyes again, exhaling a sigh. "What were you doing then?" her voice was husky, a little raspy from sleep.

"I've said this before...but you're just so gorgeous." He growled lazily and rubbed a hand over her bare back. He moved closer to her. "Keep sleeping. I was just … watching."

"Hmm...I guess you do have that privilege." She reached out and pressed a hand into his chest, guiding him onto his back. She slipped closer to him and pressed against his side, pillowing her head on his chest as she draped her arm over his chest. "Sleep while you can, honey."

After their first child was born, they didn't have much time together as they did before, even less with two boys. They had to enjoy every opportunity given to them once in awhile, there's still some free time before May arrived with the twins so that she could later attend to her tea party with her own friends.

"Well...I'd rather stay here with you and...well, make out, I guess." He wrapped his arm around her, splaying his hand on her back to hold her against his side.

She smiled and snuggled into his side, her hand absently tracing a pattern on his toned chest. "Make out, uh?" He nodded. "Aren't you thoroughly satisfied?"

He nodded. "I feel amazing."

"As do I," She tilted her head back to press a kiss to his jaw. "But I would like to stay energized, and I will take the test today so there's that..."

"You...y-you think you're pregnant?" He asked softly.

She sighed happily on his arms. "Maybe, one more little Parker? Possible."

He smiled and contently lay with her, his fingers brushing along her back, first his nails then the pads. "Gwen."

She purred in response. "Mmm?"

He ducked his head to whisper close to her ear. "When this is over...we should go on vacation."

Gwen smiled lightly. "Why's that all in the sudden?"

He stroked her waistline. "I need a...I mean - we need some time off, you know? All of us."

"And where would you like us to go...Mr Bugboy?" Gwen asked innocently yet with a hint of playfulness.

Peter laughed in amusement as glanced the ceiling. It had been some time since she last called him by the nickname she gave him more than ten years ago. Gwen herself grinned happily when she heard the sound of his cute laugh. Peter began, "I don't know, some place tropical?" He suggested. "We're mostly used to winter, makes some sense, but I don't really mind, I'll be happy anyways."

"That's good to hear." Gwen opened her eyes and looked up and cupped his cheeks, admiring his relaxed stance, the tip of her fingers massaging the recently shaved skin, she couldn't remember the time where he let his facial hair grow at all. One of his traits. She honestly preferred this way.

"Me and you, come whatever." He looked down to his wife.

Gwen nodded. They're a codependent team. And despite Peter's best efforts to keep her away from any type of trouble which she could physically help, it would always remain that way.

She suddenly narrowed her eyes in surprise once they caught glimpse of something on the side of her husband's perfect hair.

"What?" Peter raised an eyebrow.

"Is that..." Gwen gently made him turn his head against the pillow so that she could see what got her attention with a more clear view. He mumbled something in discontentment since she was leaning herself over his face, not that he minded. "...grey hair?"

'What - no way." Peter carefully lowered Gwen off him as she let a giggle out and grabbed his phone from the bed's stand and used the screen to check the grey hair Gwen just claimed to have found. "You're messing with me."

Gwen leaned on her elbow and supported her head with the palm of her hand and observed his puzzled expression. "I don't lie, lying is bad." She smirked. "Besides, I probably know you better than you do; you can trust my judgement."

"Still not buying it." After Peter told himself that she was indeed playing around with him, he placed his phone aside and sat on the bed and moved his feet down onto the ground, stretched his shoulders and stood up.

Gwen eyed his boxers as he walked away and towards the bathroom. "What are you doing?" She smiled lightly. "Are you mad at me, honey?"

"You bet." Peter analyzed his reflection in the mirror. Gwen was surprised by his reaction. He groaned. "There's not a single gray hair." He turned on his back inside the bathroom and crossed his arms at her direction.

Gwen lied down with her back propelled against the soft bed, intertwined her slender legs and sensually opened her arms as she let out a content moan, only a single thin sheet covered her chest and waistline. "I was wondering if you'd take years to find out you didn't have any like you took to say 'I love you' to me." She winked. "And by the way, you would look even better with some grey hair, believe me, adds more to the whole responsible daddy vibe, you know?"

Peter rolled his eyes and walked back to the bedroom. He stopped next to the desk in front of the window. He spotted his alter ego's mask positioned right besides a folder that contained his photographic work. "Day off, buddy." He said straight to the mask.

Peter opened the folder also placed next to Gwen's laptop. They're mostly Spider-Man photos, ones he took during free time for an extra paycheck, not that he needed it at all, but he couldn't just sit around do nothing despite getting a bloated paycheck from Tony Stark during his time in the Avengers.

He found one that didn't relate to Spider-Man at all. It wasn't taken by him. "Stole my camera to capture me and David watching some TV?" He smiled happily.

"Well, technically, what's yours is mine, and vice versa." Gwen purred. "Besides, you two we're looking so cute together and I couldn't just ignore it, you'll thank me in a few years when they're older."

Peter briefly moved his thumb over the picture as a gesture of affection. "I know, but I'm not complaining; it's a nice one." He lowered the picture back to the stand, turned around and approached his side of the bed and remained still. "But are you sure about the whole 'what's mine is yours' thing?"

Gwen slowly sat on the bed and kept the sheet closely against her chest as a way to tease her husband. "I'm pretty sure..." She purred once she was nearly the bed's edge, gazing his toned body. She licked her lips and leaned closer to his neck and kissed the naked skin.

Even if they're running out of time alone, she still wanted to leave her handsome husband desiring for more. She loved their playful banter.

Suddenly, Gwen found herself in Peter's arms after he quickly swooped her into them, the sheets were now wrapped around her. She breathed relieved and wrapped both arms around his neck. "Oh my god, I hate when you do this."

Peter turned around and carried her towards their bathroom for a quick shower. "Bath time, Lady Rabbit."

She giggled at the name and playfully raised an eyebrow at him. "You? Turning me down for a shower?"

Once inside, Peter closed the door with his feet, leaving their bedroom missing the human element. _"I know, right?"_

**Later in the morning...**

_"Honey?!"_ Gwen called her husband from their bedroom.

"What?!" Peter replied as he watched one of his and the twins' favorite cartoon on the couch. He caressed Aiden's soft and spiky hair. He was sat over his lap and with his back leaned against Peter's torso. He also tightened his grip around David and brought him closer to his chest.

One couldn't express in words how much he missed his boys after a single night.

_"I think indeed I'm late!"_ She continued, her footsteps now getting closer as she walked downstairs.

Peter fixed his eyes on the television. "Late to what, woman?!"

_An apartament full of people yelling at each other_. He mused.

Gwen laughed to herself. "You aren't paying any attention, are you?" She walked around the sofa and sat on the arm's support. She continued, "Period late."

Peter simple nodded, before instantly looking at his wife after the realization suddenly kicked in. "Wait... you mean... your monthly duties?"

Gwen chuckled and caressed the back of his hair. "Yep." She grinned, playing with his hair by wrapping portions of it around her finger.

Peter smiled back, rather nervously and happy, a mix of emotions. He exhaled deeply. "Oh boy, are you really - I mean, really sure?"

"Slightly late." She answered. "Could be anything, though, still..."

He said to himself, "And we aren't exactly doing anything to not have a child..."

Gwen blushed and smiled to herself, "Precisely."

While Peter was certainly happy, having another kid wasn't something easy to deal with it, there's thousands of tasks that would come along with, but it's something the couple would handle naturally, it's just the emotions of expecting a surprising unexpected pregnancy flowing in his mind at once.

He looked down at the twins, who were barely paying attention to the such important topic, and said, "It wouldn't be bad to have another little rascal." He focused his eyes back to his blonde wife, "Do you have any pregnancy tests around here?"

Gwen shook her head in response. "It's been some time since I last used one."

"What's pregnancy?" Aiden finally asked without taking his eyes away from the large TV.

Gwen exchanged a smile with her husband, before she addressed the question herself, "Pregnancy is when a woman is carrying a little baby on her stomach, womb more accurately."

"Oh, so who's pregnancy?" He tilted his head to the side.

Gwen corrected her son, "Pregnant, we'll find out soon." She stood up and checked the clock on the wall. "Let's head to the pharmacy and pick Lizzie."

Peter patted the twins on their backs. "You guys heard the General Stacy."

* * *

The two boys, one grown up - mostly, and the four year old twin, Aiden, followed Gwen closely from behind as she calmly headed towards the feminine part of the store. She guided the cart which David found himself inside of it while he ate his chocolate bar, it showed on his lips.

Peter singlehandedly held the basket's long and linear support and dragged it over the shiny ground, the unusual factor is that Aiden was basically sat inside of the basket, just enjoying the ride while smiling boyishly.

"How do you know which one is the one to buy?" Peter approached Gwen as she knelled down in front of the pregnancy tests stand at the feminine's products section of the giant market.

"Relax, I got this." Gwen carefully eyed the lower part of the stand, searching for a specific product.

"If you really did, we wouldn't be here." He teased.

Gwen laughed briefly and quickly looked up at him, fixing him a mock-glare. "It's not totally my fault, you know?" She quipped.

"Hey, you're the woman of the house, you're responsible for everything that happens in there." Peter affirmed cheekily. "It's today's reality." He placed a hand on her waistline and gently adjusted her blouse by slightly lowering it down to her jean's waist level.

She rolled her eyes at the answer and turned back to the stand. "Now, where is it...?"

"There's like a thousands of brands." Peter eyed the countless options. If it were for him he'd pick the most close to him, but he decided to let Gwen choose instead, she probably knows better. He thought.

Gwen grabbed a pink-ish brand, "Here, this is the one I used to buy before you got me pregnant for the first time."

"Not sorry for that, Mamma Stacy didn't get mad at me so there's that." He played along. Gwen smiled happily to herself, remembering the day she announced to him she was indeed carrying their first baby after months of preparation.

"No need to." Gwen read the prescription. "Yeah, this is the one."

He leaned closer to check the small words. "That's the one which said positive when you had Elizabeth?"

She nodded.

Peter sighed and looked at his David. "I'm nervous, guys." He leaned in the cart and gently pinched Dave's nose, "Imagine another one like you two? Or like your sister? Do we even have room for another one?"

David replied while he played with cart's belt, "Yeah."

Peter grinned, amused by the reaction. "These two are definitely stoked..."

"Three? Three is enough?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know, there might be a fourth one in the way." Gwen groaned in disapproval. He chuckled kneeled next to her and agreed, "Yeah, if one comes positive, you take another one, if it comes negative then you take another one, then we'll know."

"It's very rare to get a false one." Gwen affirmed. She turned her head to her side and quickly stole a kiss from Peter, before standing and placing the small boxes inside the cart and moving it further while Peter dragged Aiden's basket with his free hand.

She was somewhat excited for the possibility of having another kid, it was something they hadn't really talked about it recently, after all, they're kinda busy, but it wouldn't be a bad time. While Gwen and her husband never really planned another kid, she would be very, very, very happy regardless.

Peter caught his wife smiling shyly to herself, she seemed a little embarrassed, or happy, for obvious reasons. He couldn't help but smile as well. They couldn't be anything but happy.

"Gwen?" He called gently from behind, dragging Aiden's basket along. The boy was having the time of his life, apparently.

"Yeah, honey?" Her smile widened as she replied, quickly eyeing the many stands while maneuvering the cart.

"You okay?" Peter questioned. He knew Gwen was a very conservative woman regarding some topics, at least when they're in public and not alone.

Gwen nodded. "Of course."

"So...what do you think?"

Gwen chuckled briefly, before answering his question, "If it's positive, it'll be great."

Peter smiled brightly. "You know, I'm glad we always have been on the same page where you and I believe where when we have child, it's meant to be right then and we... well," He poorly held a laugh and continued, "... we weren't really using anything to prevent it."

Gwen giggled and blushed for brief moment. "It would be a good time. I mean - it wouldn't be bad..."

Peter agreed and quickly interrupted her, "No, it would be great."

She repeated, "It would be great."

"Yeah, it would be both." He laughed.

"It would just be a surprise. " Gwen said, excited. "I think we're just so busy to even think about having another kid, I mean - three is already quite the number; I never had this in mind when I was a teen."

"Yeah, I think we're ready to have another kid...but we're not; at this point, we can't ever be ready, when it happens, we'll become ready." He affirmed, not managing to wipe the smile from his face, not that he desired to.

"We'll find out pretty soon." She smirked lightly. "And I know that the best time to take a pregnancy test is on the morning so.."

"Don't worry, honey, I'll keep you distracted until then." He winked and received a mock-glare from his wife in return.

"You are...such a romantic guy, aren't you?"

"If I weren't, you wouldn't fall in love with me." He teased.

Gwen giggled. "I'm pretty sure I fell in love with you by myself, it took you some time to actually make a move."

"Well..." Peter struggled for a reply. "I was worried you were a lot of woman to handle, mommy..."

Her head flicked to face him, a hurt look plastered across it. "Are you saying I'm fat, Peter?"

"What? No, definitely not..." Peter was stammering as he sought to explain, they hadn't had many major arguments yet and he was hoping to keep it that way for a long time. He trailed off as a grin broke out across Gwen's face, realising she was winding him up. "Not funny, Mrs Parker."

"You're so easy to fluster, it's actually pretty cute," Peter huffed, shaking his head at the description. She merely gave him an innocent smile. "I wouldn't take you on a date and force you to make the hardest math exercise ever so that you could prove your worthiness." She stopped on her track and turned around to face her husband.

Peter shrugged. "Even if you did, I would do it regardless." He gripped her waist and leaned closer, connecting his lips into hers and savoring her taste for a few seconds. He whispered closely as they touched foreheads, "You know that I love you, right?"

She rested a hand on his shoulder, taking on his scent. She said softly, "I know, and I love you too." She gently kissed him back, capturing his lower lip and biting it gently, before pulling back, giving her husband a grateful smile and heading towards the many cash-registers with Peter following her closely as he dragged over the shiny ground the bask with wheels which Aiden was sat inside.

Peter suddenly remained still near the corner of a section once he saw_ his _own stand. "It's beautiful..." He said perplexed. His eyes were brighten in adoration.

"Daddy..." Aiden stood up on the cart, like if he had found something divine.

Gwen stopped next to him and caught the twins staring the same spot Peter did. It was Spider-Man's only products, filled with masks, toys, kid sized suits and web shooters that only fired water, thankfully.

"Um... boys...?" Gwen wasn't that much impressed by the merchandise.

"Shhh..." Peter raised a single finger at Gwen without even looking at her. "I need some time...to copyright the _hell out of this..._"

"And I want to be the real Spider-Man!" David stated firmly. "Be cool!" He said roughly as he flexed both biceps as show of strength, no matter how small his arms actually looked, that couldn't an apparently fearless Parker.

"One day, buddy...one day..." Peter suddenly shook his head and turned his head head to face David. "I mean - no way, end of discussion."

Aiden shot him a cold stare. "Mommy, dad is being mean!"

Gwen waves her hand dismissively. "This discussion is only between you boys." She continued further through the enormous store. She didn't know how they would to talk with their children about their gift's purpose once they're older enough to make their on decisions.

Some distance away from his wife, Peter suddenly caught Gwen changing her course and entering a section he had no clue what it was about. He eventually reached her last seen position and turned on his side, seeing Gwen holding a small baby red pajama in what seemed to be a baby solely dedicated area.

Gwen looked up at him with a heartbroken expression, "Look, honey, it's so cute..."

_Oh, no...she didn't_. Peter sighed. Her wife always had a weakness for such kind of stuff. She was in heaven. "Right..."

"Aww..." Gwen grabbed a pair of tiny socks. "I miss this."

All the three boys looked at the blonde woman far away. Peter said, "This is the only place on Earth we constantly need to keep your mommy away, guys."

_"Oh my goodness...!"_ Gwen spotted a stand showcasing countless types of shoes for newborns.

* * *

After stepping out of the elevator, Peter approached the door Gwen had told him to since she was the one that had brought their daughter to her friend's apartment the past day. He could already her fits of giggles from his side, meaning that the other most important girl on his life was having a good time and that made him incredibly satisfied.

As long as Elizabeth was happy, Peter would share the same sentiment. Aside from giving casual and unknown people a motive to always keep smiling as Spider-Man, his family's happiness is his ultimate goal. There's nothing, past or present that he'd put in front of them.

He pressed the tiny button next to the door and patiently waited for a response. It didn't take long for the door to be open as he was greeted by a very old acquaintance he hadn't seen since highschool years, almost fifteen years ago.

"Liz Allen?" Peter raised an eyebrow and smiled surprised. The girl who asked him to take pictures of her boyfriend's car for his birthday, they shared nothing of special at first, but she was there for him when his Uncle passed away.

"Peter, it's been a long time." She smiled reassuringly.

Peter shook his head to check if he was seeing straight. "Wow...I, wow, Gwen didn't told me, but yeah...nice to see you as well." He nodded.

She leaned her shoulder next to the door. "It was a surprise, I didn't know you were still together, Elizabeth told Nathalie who her parents were, and later she questioned me if I knew them so I was surprised, I'm happy for you both, you two always made a cute couple back then."

Peter rubbed the back of his neck, lightly embarrassed to her compliment. "Thanks, means a lot." He said thankfully.

She smiled kindly and offered, "Wanna come in?"

"I would love to sat and talk about the recent years, but Gwen and the boys are waiting for us."

"Oh, no problem -"

"Daddy!" Elizabeth, who was wearing her school's uniform along with her headband that once belonged to her mother, suddenly appeared next to Liz and went to hug her father as he kneeled down to stay on her level.

"I've missed you!" Peter hugged her back and stood up, holding her with both arms.

Allen chuckled at the sight as her own daughter approached her and smiled happily.

"I knew you were here." Elizabeth pulled back to see him eye to eye.

Peter winked, well aware by what she meant with that, a skill she had developed and one he never possessed. He looked up to Allen and gently grabbed his daughter's schoolbag from her hands. "Thank you for taking care of my little girl."

"I'm not little!" She protested and frowned at him.

"Just a little bit rebellious then." He stroked her shiny blonde hair.

They said farewell to Allen and her kid, before Peter lowered Elizabeth and held her hand as they headed together to the elevator and patiently waited for it to arrive into ground level.

"So, Liz, how was your day?" Peter asked. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and brought her closer.

"It was cool, we drew together, watched a movie and played some games." She smiled happily. "By the way, Nathalie has a puppy just like ours!"

"All of that sounds awesome." He trailed small circles with the tip of his finger over her cheek. "Oh, it's very early to even talk about this, but there's a chance that mommy might be pregnant."

Elizabeth widened her green eyes at her father. She smiled lightly, excited about the possibility of having another member of the family in their house. "Does that mean I'm getting a little sister now?"

Peter thought Elizabeth would get a little bit jealous at first, but once again, his expectations were inaccurate, she always has been understanding and supportive since she knew she would getting two baby brothers years ago.

He briefly chuckled to himself. "Just hold on, okay? It's early, I don't want to let you down if mommy turns out to be not pregnant." He caressed her hand with his thumb. "But yeah, you could have a baby sister."

"Sweet!" Elizabeth almost jumped in excitement. Her shiny green eyes she inherited from Gwen where brighter than ever. "Where would she sleep, though?" Elizabeth wondered.

"Liz..."

Elizabeth rubbed her chin and frowned. "Maybe in my room...?" She murmured to herself.

"Eliza-"

"That woud be so cool!" She grinned. "We need to come up with a name-"

Peter insisted, "Elizabeth!"

She looked up to her father with a rather curious expression. "Daddy?"

"I'm just saying - let's calm down, okay, sweetie?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and scoffed, something Peter found incredibly cute, he didn't need to look far to see from who she had gotten that from. "You're no fun." She moved a hair bang away from her left eye with an annoyed exhale of air.

Peter shrugged his shoulders in response, but kept his right arm around her shoulder while the elevator descended back to firm ground with a relaxing beat coming from the speakers. The doors eventually opened, revealing the hallway's view to the two Parkers. He held her hand and walked towards the main exit with Elizabeth accompanying him the whole way.

Once outside, Peter noticed the sky was now darker than before, he had lost count of the time he spent inside the building. Not far away, Peter spotted their car, Gwen was checking her makeup through a small mirror she always carried in her purse while the twins were non-stop laughing at something. They probably discovered something with their Uncle Howard during some phone call and now we're talking about it. At least 'idiot' wasn't part of their vocabulary anymore. Peter thought.

Later when the pair settled themselves inside the car and Gwen drove them back to the main street, Peter crossed his arms asked, "Did you know Liz Allen was there?"

"Of course I did." Gwen nodded. "I wouldn't drop our daughter somewhere without knowing the people she would be with, it's like you don't know me."

He continued calmly, "Why didn't you tell me, though?"

"It was a surprise; it's not everyday you get to see an old-school friend." Gwen answered. She and Allen did spend some time together during highschool days, mostly to study that's it.

Peter rubbed the tip of his nose, thinking. "Well, I barely used to talk to her; I remember feeling dumped back then."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. There's some story there which she didn't know about. "What do you mean by 'dumped'...?"

"Oh, never mind." Peter cleared his throat, faking a whole state of hesitation and awkwardness.

Gwen slightly turned on her seat and pursued his eyes with a suspicious expression. "Honey...?"

Peter stood witv arms crossed. He was holding himself to not grin. He was finally having his wife for a moment, at least once in every thousand years. "It's in the past now."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Wait, are you telling me...that you and Allen had a..." She paused, realizing what she was about to say. "...a thing before we got together?"

_Getting heated..._

He turned to look at her and focused on her curious yet shocked gaze. She seemed incredibly jealous. His concentrated expression suddenly vanished as he bursted into fits of laughs at Gwen's reaction.

"What's so funny?" She asked incredulously, observing him trying to calm himself down.

Peter rubbed his eyes, wiping a single tear. He couldn't breath. "You had to see your face, Gwendy." He chuckled. "Nothing ever happened, obviously, I just thought she wanted to go to a date with me before you and I and started talking for good, that's it."

Gwen exhaled deeply. "So, you..."

"Nope, god, we have nothing in common!" He smiled, but Gwen only gave him a cold store in return as she focused back in the traffic in front of them. "I love when you get mad, most of the time." He realized she was playing hard to get and decided to move along. "Where's your boots?" He caught her feet only wearing socks for some unknown reason.

"Under the seat." Gwen replied seriously. "They're getting uncomfortable."

"Hm...alright then." Peter wished he had his professional camera nearby just to capture Gwen driving without any shoe or boots, the simplicity and unique sight just asked for it. He'd love to see every picture they had taken when they're older, recall the best moments of their lives.

He smiled to himself, and Gwen did notice the sudden sign of happiness spread across her husband's lips. She asked gently, "...and what are _you_ smiling for?"

Peter looked into the sky through the front mirror as he leaned his back against the seat and sighed contently. "Just...I'm just appreciating our moments together."

"O-Okay..." Gwen analyzed his expression. He did look happy, more than he often did after beating Ultron.

She didn't asked about it too much because she wanted him to emotionally heal on his own pace, she knew her husband was still affected by the aftermath, and how couldn't he? Gwen herself got emotionally wrecked after the whole Clocktower incident, but he was there for her, and so was she now.

Gwen quickly gazed the mirror, seeing Elizabeth reading a children's book May had bought to her, literature seemed to be her thing, much to Gwen's relief, she was glad her daughter enjoyed discovering new worlds and tales by simple holding a book in her hands.

As for her boys, they're now sleeping as usual, both leaning their heads against each other's. They're together when she carried them, and they're also together now. She couldn't honest ask for anything else than a brotherly and healthy relationship between them.

Peter broke the comfortable silence, "Isn't there something neat to listen in the radio?"

Gwen smirked as she handled the car's wheel. "I know this station..."

Peter deadpanned. "Yeah - no, you're country girl." He shook his head. "No way I'm listening to those songs."

"What's wrong with country? Do you want to hear classical instead?"

Peter groaned in disapproval. He moved his forward into the car's radio but Gwen quickly slapped his hand away. He playfully raised an eyebrow. "What? How old are we again?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders and said proudly, "I'm twenty three years old."

Peter chuckled at her answer, before affirming serious, "Right, you look twenty three years old while I'm the rugged alpha male."

She giggled to herself. Her husband had no bounds to his cheesiness. "Honey, if there's something you are not, it's alpha, you're too much soft to be that." Peter fixed her a mock glare. "What about you, Liz, you think your father is soft as well?"

Elizabeth moved her eyes away from the book she was reading in the backseat and looked up. She smiled teasingly. "Too soft, mom."

"There you go." Gwen winked for her husband.

Peter turned on his seat and narrowed his eyes at his only daughter. "Thank you, Elizabeth Stacy Parker." She shrugged in response. "Your support is overwhelming, since day one." He saw the twins sleeping and leaned against each other's shoulders. He knew they would stick up for him, at least someone in their family would.

"It seems I win as usual." Gwen said cockily as he resumed his previous position. She went to turn on the radio but quickly hesitated when a police car fastly passed besides them with it's siren echoing across the avenue. She turned her head to Peter's side and saw him steadily following the car's tracks with his brown eyes. "Peter...?"

He stood quiet for a brief moment, before gulping and smiling reassuringly. "It's okay, I got the day off...and I actually can do that."

Gwen nodded. She finally activated the radio and pressed the random station song so that the selection can be fair. She could heard Peter muttering something to himself, apparently he was teasingly praying that their next possible child be more supportive and active.

It seemed like he was sure. Gwen noticed.

The mixer in matter of seconds finally chose a track. Bon Jovi.

_I walk these streets, a loaded six-string on my back, I play for keeps 'cause I might not make it back..._

The couple looked at each other and exchanged a curious glance. Peter smirked happily. Gwen actually had heard the song before, and she surpringly enjoyed it very much. "Bon Jovi."

Peter asked in shock, "Sweet child of mine. How do you know?"

She turned around, exaggerating the spin and puffing her chest out slightly. She raised an eyebrow, pouting slightly as she replied. "Maybe I am a rock chick after all," He smirked giving her a disbelieving look. "Fine, I heard it on Elizabeth's IPod."

"I knew it-" Peter was cut short when Gwen suddenly changed the station to a more pop-focused one. "Taylor Swift...?" He asked aghast.

Gwen kept grinning to herself as he gazed her with a 'are you serious' kind of expression.

"Can I say the only time I ever consider breaking up with you is when you're listening to Taylor Swift?" He teased.

Gwen laughed, surprised by his affirmation. She shook her head and quickly stared the front mirror to check on their children. She saw Elizabeth looking at them with shocked eyes. "What's up, sweetie?"

Peter turned on his seat. Elizabeth replied concerned, "Are dad and mom going to...break up...?"

Gwen and Peter exchanged a curious stare at each other, mentally talking to one another. She answered first, "Of course not; it was just a silly joke, right, daddy?"

Peter nodded and gave his daughter a reassuringly kind smile. "Yep, your mother and I are just meant to be..." He caught Gwen grinning lightly on his corner. "...don't worry, we're all together through whatever the future may bring."

* * *

After saying goodbye to Gwen who took their kids and went to the nearest store to buy the rest of the dinner's ingredients, Peter was supposedly meant to start cooking the basics to gain some precious time. He opened the building's front door and stepped inside the reception. It was empty. No sign of the doorman. That never happened before. There was always someone present, or else anyone skilled enough could enter the building without any kind of barrier.

He shrugged his shoulders and walked forward and towards the elevator, but quickly stopped on his tracks after his consciousness warned him of a possible situation coming from the visitor's bathroom, located in the small hallway between the elevators and the reception.

Now he couldn't ignore it. Something was definitely wrong.

Peter approached the bathroom and slowly opened its doors, seeing nothing but apparently empty cabins. He glanced back and forth. He walked inside and checked his surroundings before his eyes settled themselves at the large horizontal mirror where all the sinks were placed under it.

In the stall behind him, he heard a toilet flush. The hairs on the back of his neck rose; whomever had entered the washroom had been there since his arrival. Far longer than was needed to do any business. Either way…

The stall door slammed open and Peter ducked, seeing the glint of metal in the bathroom's mirror. The movement saved his life, as the knife skittered across his cheek instead of slitting his throat.

He quickly moved backwards to gain some space between him and the intruder. He was about to press the palm of his hand but quickly realized he wasn't wearing his webshooters. "This doesn't have to go this way." He warned. "If I wanted you dead you'd be, back off."

His opponent ignored the remark and went forward, aiming the knife at him.

The knife thrust past, less than an inch from Peter's eye as he fastly leaned to the side. It slammed into the wall behind him and he heard his assailant cry out as the man's knuckles were skinned against the wall tiles. But the man recovered and elbowed Peter in the face, causing him to stumble into the bathroom stall. The knife wasn't very large, but it didn't need to be. Three inches would be too much, and Peter was quite naked with his current attire, no protection; an easy target for any would-be assassin.

The close-quarters of the washroom meant that Peter's usual distant hand-to-hand fighting style was useless as his back would be permanently against a wall. He was forced to resort to close-in, which meant that his arms would be lower to protect his midriff. Unfortunately that meant more headshots. His opponent was only human, yet trained. Peter didn't bother to catalogue the man's looks. He was too busy just trying to stay alive.

Once he caught a freak, Peter slammed the man's head down on the rim of the toilet bowl. The water turned bright red. He looked to the man's side. overcome with pain, he had dropped his knife. Peter picked it up in a reverse grip and stood still as his opponent gasped heavily.

Should he do it? Was it bad that he even considered murdering the man? He wondered as he gritted his teeth.

The attacker slowly recomposed himself. He eventually stood up and faced Peter, struggling to stand on his feet. His target was much more stronger than expected, in every way.

Peter kicked him in the stomach and sent the man flying against the wall, careless enough that he didn't know if the assassin was alive. Peter wiped a traced of blood sliding down his lips and kneeled to check the man's pulse.

He was still breathing.

Violence was a drug, unmatched in its potency save for intimate affection. Once a man had got the taste for it, he was very difficult to satisfy. Avengers were often exposed to it. That craving in the hands of the wrong trained individual could be disastrous. And the results were the very people Peter fought.

Spider-Man was the living proof that one could resist such primal urges, not get corrupted and coordinate his will to the greater good. He could have simply used his gifts for something else, but he didn't.

The spider within him was howling in triumph, and demanding more. Peter fought down the darkness as he took a few steps back from the body. He stripped his jacket off and took a look at his white shirt. It wasn't white anymore, but had been stained with sweat and blood. He stripped it off and took a look at the cut on his arm, and the one on his weren't closed, but they were smaller. The one on his cheek had stopped bleeding, and the other was only seeping where before there had been a steady stream.

Working quickly, he cleaned the knife and used it to cut a strip out of the shirt. He tied that onto his shoulder and tested it experimentally. The arm worked fine. Shoving the knife in his back pocket, he turned the tap on and washed the blood off his face, chest, and hands. He almost looked normal, aside from the new wound on his face. Perhaps it was a bad thing he had shaved; a stubble would do a good job of hiding it. Gwen would spot it, certainly, but his children hadn't been around him enough to not recognize it as simply another scar.

Peter turned around and calmly headed towards the closed door. He couldn't even remember the last time he fought someone without his suit. Now, he wasn't holding it back.

When inches from the door, Peter stood still once again. He stated it with cold eyes. "Will I have to take on all of you at the same time?" He challenged, getting no response in return.

The door slowly opened, revealing a group formed by four men wearing black clothes standing in front of the door and next to each other.

Peter tilted his head to the side. He craved one of those for quite sometime now. "Then so be it."

* * *

**Present time...**

Peter slowly opened his eyes and raised his chin to see what was going on. He now found himself sat in a cold metallic chair. His hands were trapped in the armrest, and some type of sedation kept him and his strength in check. He was growing impatient, the desire to break free and cause a wreck was constant, but he was unable in doing so.

The only available door was suddenly open with the same tall, dark and haired man strolling inside, bringing a folder under his right arm as the previous guards also headed inside and resumed their position next to the door that automatically closed.

"Feeling better?" He stopped in front of Peter and crossed his both arms.

"Squirrel, I...can't help you with what you're asking, Harry Osborn is dead." Peter stated firmly. "Unless you've found a way to bring people back from the dead, he remains that way."

The man sighed heavily. "Your statement doesn't match this." He opened the folder and showed the first picture to his prisoner.

Peter stood emotionless as he saw a very similar person - if not identical to Harry walking inside the bank where his father's briefcase was left, and he was indeed holding it. He also seemed a bit different, wearing a coat and dark glasses, probably trying to avoid any unnecessary attention. It was him.

He continued, "Now, tell me, why'd he walk inside the bank, leave that briefcase for you, and then one day later you're there to retrieve it? Coincidence? I don't believe in that." He paused. "You're aiding him, so you're wanted for treason, and that gives me the right of doing whatever the hell I want you; that's why you're here in the first place."

To say that Peter was shocked would be a monumental understatement. Suddenly, a big and painful hole was felt inside his stomach. It had to be a mistake, he saw the life leave his once best friend's body, his Butler confirmed his death to Gwen. It wasn't possible.

"Nice shots, Tex." He joked.

'Squirrel' rolled his eyes. "So, can you now come clean with me?"

Peter gulped. "Why are you even after him?" He asked.

"That's none of your business; you stick to your meaningless life and I stick to mine."

Peter ignored the remark. His eyes remained directed at the picture for a few more seconds, before he finally looked up to the man in front of him. He didn't say a word, there wasn't a single word that could express the hurricane of mixed emotions within him. The only thing he wanted to do was to find his friend, after he's done with _them_.

"You know, this meaningless life of mine...guaranteed you the right of going further with your life more than twice." Peter stated aghast. "And I don't know what are you and who you work for, but if you threat those close to me once again, I swear I'm gonna track every single of you and take that right back...that's promise."

"Okay..." The interrogator waited for an answer to his original question which never came. Peter's stare was becoming unsettling. "Gathering your thoughts...?"

Peter smirked evilly. He cocked his head to the side and answered huskily, "I'm just wondering something."

"What...?"

Peter smiled, menacingly. "Just which one of you bastards I'm going first to beat the living crap of once I'm free of here."

Impatient, the man sighed heavily. He wasn't getting any results, and the whole thing was becoming tiresome. He ordered, "Put him to sleep again, he's getting violent."

* * *

**New York - Parker's Apartment**

Gwen pushed open the double doors leading from her bedroom to the balcony and stepped barefooted out onto the terrace as a gentle breeze rustled the hem of her nightgown. The cool late night air sent a momentary shiver down her back as she slowly walked to the edge of the balcony, taking in the sweeping views of New York's illuminated and now calm streets.

She held Peter's illustrious mask on her right hand, the closest thing she had from him aside from their children. His scent was still all over the spandex. It comforted her. Placing her hands on the rail, she looked up and was met with thousands of brilliantly shining stars casting their vivid white light down upon the city.

Even if her mother had volunteered to sleep in the apartment and help her take core of the twins, she was tired, emotionally.

Closing her eyes, Gwen breathed in the crisp, purifying air as she allowed her mind to drift.

Then she felt the gentle touch of two strong hands on her hips and warm breath on her neck as Peter leaned in and kissed her tenderly just below her right ear. Sighing peacefully, she reached down and took his hands, wrapping them tighter around her waist as she leaned back into him, drinking in the sweet kisses he planted down her neck.

_Where you have been?_

Her eyes still closed, she allowed him to spin her around to face him as she draped her arms over his shoulders, leaned in, and touched her forehead to his.

_You keep me waiting too long._

Pulling his head in closer, she opened her mouth expectantly as their lips touched and the electric charge she always felt when they kissed echoed throughout her body.

As he pulled away from her, Gwen beamed as she slowly opened her eyes. But then her smile faded and her face betrayed her loneliness as she realized he wasn't there and was left staring back across the empty balcony.

Swallowing as she turned back around to face the sky, she grasped the railing more resolutely and looked back up into the vastness of the universe.

_I will find you._

* * *

**May 18th - 2015**

_After hearing the sound of someone knocking the door of Gwen's Aunt house who recently moved from England and to the most popular city in America, Gwen approached the fancy door without taking a peek through the magical eye and opened it calmly, instantly getting surprised once she saw her ex-boyfriend standing in the porch with both hands stashed inside his black jacket's pockets while the refreshing wind of the afternoon flew against them._

_It had been six months since they last talked to each other. She didn't thought they'd meet anytime soon, and she couldn't figure how did he find her, but that question quickly vanished once her suspicious became the truth, he was indeed looking over her despite their personal problems._

_"Peter..." She said softly, breaking the silence that lasted for seconds. She analyzed his expression, she could notice he was rather nervous, but he managed to place a short grin across his lips, one that gave the message he was more than happy to see her._

_Peter smiled friendly. "Hi, Gwen."_

_Gwen was speechless. The whole moment between them felt different._

_He continued, "I didn't have your new number."_

_Gwen exhaled sharply and cracked a comprehensive smile. "No, no, it's okay, I - I write you the new one, but I'm...um...just...surprised."_

_He nodded in agreement. For some reason, it felt a lifetime since they last met. Lots of thing had changed once they took their own aways and moved away from each other. "How's Simon?"_

_Gwen leaned her shoulder against the wall and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Good, he's playing with his cousins."_

_Peter nodded to himself once again, relieved. He moved his eyes away from the always beautiful woman in front of him and quickly gazed his surroundings, scanning the house. "Nice place...cool."_

_Gwen wanted to smile at his evasiveness, but she refrained herself in doing so. "Peter, you didn't come here to talk about my Aunt's house." He looked up, now seeming to be more serious, yet afflicted. "You alright?" She asked._

_Peter looked down to the floor. He didn't imagined it would be this hard to say what he wanted to say. He smiled to himself, her innocence towards his own world couldn't guess everything that was going on, and he didn't blame her. Not at all. "No, not really."_

_"What's going on?" Gwen questioned, paying attention to his reluctant expression._

_He breathed heavily and met her deep green eyes. "Look...I have no illusions, okay - I know that the life I take...I know how it ends for me...but I made my peace with that."_

_Gwen remained quiet, even if she wanted to comfort him badly after the words he still pursued to explain his lifestyle, one that didn't need to be as he claimed it to be._

_Peter continued, "I want you to know...that who I do picture myself happy with...is with you," He affirmed calmly while seriously. He needed to make sure that Gwen knowledges he would aways care for her, a lot, even if they couldn't be together, for her own sake. He never intended to hurt her throughout their relationship, that was the least of his desires._

_Gwen smiled very lightly, trying to contain it. He never confessed said anything like that to her before, and although she always knew, it was nice to see him affirm that by himself._

_Peter smirked to himself, briefly. "...and everyone else together - like Simon, the whole family." He turned his attention to the ground, getting somewhat ashamed by the confession._

_Gwen smiled happily after hearing his passionate words. A side of Peter she was waiting to appear, the side of a determined and grown up man. She didn't know how to properly react or what to say. "Well, I.."_

_Peter interrupted her and said in hurry, "You don't have to say anything."_

_She cut him off, "No, I...I do, Peter...I want it too." Had she just said that she wanted the same as well? He instantly looked up and connected her eyes with hers. Gwen was smiling, carefully. She began, "It's...cold out here, let's get inside and I'll get you a coffee, we talk in there."_

_She went to turn around but quickly stopped on her tracks. "I wish I could." He gulped._

_Gwen didn't understand his hesitation._

_Peter sighed lightly, regretting to have come close to her once again. He let her hand go and said heartbroken, "Take care of yourself, Gwendy."_

_He turned on his shoulder but Gwen held his hand first, keeping him still. "No - wait, you can't just say stuff like that and then leave." She affirmed, she could see there was something holding him back, and it wasn't the damn promise, it was worse._

_Peter closed his eyes without turning to face her. He sighed and bit his lips, before resuming his previous position. "I know, and I'm sorry." Peter apologized. "But I don't have choice."_

_"Yeah - you do...you do, you can just get inside and we can talk personally." Gwen insisted as she gestured inside and tried to enter the house if Peter hadn't gently grabbed her wrist, stopping her from doing so._

_The notion of how much he missed her touch, her delicate and smooth skin came to flourish once again, but he'd have to leave again, probably for good this time. "Wait, it's very likely that bad things will happen to me in the hours yet to come, and I don't know if I will ever come back..."_

_"What? What's going on?"_

_"Whatever happens I'll make sure you'll be okay." He continued, "This hunter, he knows who I really am, he knows everything about me, my friends, the ones I love and a lot more, like you." He paused. "I made a deal for you and May."_

_"Deal?"_

_"I'll not get into this duel he offers if he doesn't agree with some conditions, he wants me to battle him to death, and if I don't...he'll make me, whatever it takes, there's no escape."_

_"Whatever you're thinking of doing don't do it." Gwen said softly. "We can sort this out, together, please." She begged._

_Peter stood quiet. He held her hand with his. "You can't, and I can't continue to give you this life, you deserve a lot more, and I can't grant you anything."_

_Gwen shook her head. "Don't...just...stay a little longer, talk to Simon."_

_Peter smiled weakly, but it quickly vanished as he moved his eyes away from hers. He cleared his throat. "It's better if I don't..." He said huskily, looking at her beautiful face as she ultimately nodded to herself._

_Gwen realized she was fighting a lost battle to talk him down from walking away again, but now he was heading towards a direction she didn't know if he'd ever come back from. She was more worried about Peter Parker than the state of their relationship, and it's always have been like that._

_Observing her sadder expression of acceptance, Peter gently moved a lock of her blonde hair behind her left ear. He brushed his cheek against hers for a brief yet eternal time. He whispered, "You will never be alone."_

* * *

_Alone..._

_"He took on nine of our guys alone, there's something wrong with him until we knocked him out." _The mysterious voice paused. _"Maybe he's one of them, it's a possibility._

Peter's vision slowly started to come back. He blinked his eyes, resisting the toxins that were floating on his veins. He had to stand up. He had to fight. Too many people were counting on him to come back from whatever might the place where he currently was.

He looked up to the ceiling and howled furiously while he tried to break free from the chair's armrest locks, instantly getting attention from the two guards who were chatting between themselves next to the door. His right hand was the first to free itself from the chair, quickly followed by the second. He was still chained to both hands.

Peter opened his arms and broke the cuffs apart. His strength was now coming back to him. He stretched his shoulders, moaned lightly and fixed a deadly stare at the two guards who where in state of shock.

They weren't expecting the prisoner to break free by solely relying on his strength which they now deemed it unnatural. No one ever had accomplished such thing. It was impossible.

The first guard retrived a baton from his waistline's grip and took a few steps forward, ready to engage Peter while the other reported what was going on inside the cell by his radio.

When close enough, the man aggressively tried to land his weapon over Peter's shoulder if Peter hadn't quickly held the incoming arm and later swung his closed and free fist across the guard's face, causing the baton to fall from his hand and into the floor.

The man instantly placed his other hand over Peter's left shoulder. One single punche caused him to bleed through his mouth and get him stunned. Peter grabbed his arm, shoved it away and used his free hand to punch him once again. Before Peter could succeed with another blow coming on his opponent's left side, the man successfully raised his left arm to protect his flank as Peter's right arm and fist was already on their way, and once again he blocked it by repeating the same action.

Peter had enough of it and went forward with an uppercut in the man's chest, quickly followed by a now precise blow across his face that stunned him for good as the guard took one step backwards due to the force he was put against to. Peter fastly took advantage of the opening and grabbed the man through the back of his shirt, pressed his knee against his stomach and threw him across the room, sliding over the floor just to slid-crash against a wall.

He sighed and turned around to face the second guard who was taken by surprise after watching the brutality. He stood next to the door and raised his baton at Peter's direction as a form of a warning. "Enough! I'm just working here for a week - please - I don't want to hurt you!

Peter didn't expressed a single emotion. His face was as blank as a paper. "I don't think that's going to be a problem..."

He closed both fists.

* * *

**New York - Sam's Apartment**

Sam excitedly synched her phone to her earphones and chose a track to her taste, mostly modern pop culture. She smiled content and headed inside her apartment's kitchen, before grabbing a large circular metallic plate from inside the counter and later placing a frozen pizza over it. She cut a few slices of pepperoni and carefully allocated them to precise spots so that there wasn't any disproportionate space between the slices.

She grinned happily as she calmly danced to herself next to the counter.

After placing the plate inside the stove, Sam circled around the kitchen's countertop and stopped behind the couch. She grabbed her videogame's controller under the cushions and opened the famous app that streamed a huge collection of movies that were just waiting to her food to become ready so that she could pick one.

Before she could sit, relax and use her phone, her door's bell was activated and caught her in surprise. She wasn't expecting anyone to come at her apartment anytime soon.

_Suspicious_.

Sam sighed. She stood up, murmuring something to herself until she arrived in front of the door. She unlocked it with the keys and half opened it, seeing a very pretty blonde woman standing on the other side with arms crossed. She was wearing a black hoddie, a backpack could be seen wrapped around her right shoulder.

"I don't suppose you're here to massage my gums...am I right?" Sam questioned, seriously, quickly eyeing the visitor's figure. "You could be, though."

Gwen tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Was the girl...flirting with her? "Um...not really, but I could use your help, it's urgent."

"Oh," Sam paused. "Have we met before?" She closed her arms.

"We...both share one acquaintance, a guy that you accidentally threw to another dimension." Gwen replied, avoiding the name 'Spider-Man' in case if someone was hearing them.

Sam widened her eyes. _"Him...?" _Gwen nodded. She fully opened the door and gestured the blonde to come inside, before closing the door, locking it and turning on her back.

Gwen analyzed the apartment. Very well organized. Color neutral. Not a bad place to live. She thought to herself.

"So...you're... Spider-Man's sister, aunt or...girlfriend...?" Her last speculation option came off as if she was disappointed.

Gwen turned to face her. "I'm his wife to be more precise." She knew Peter trusted the girl, and if she would ask for her help, she couldn't hide his real name from her any longer. She hoped it was the right decision. "Peter Parker's wife." She took a deep breath. "You have to promise me that you won't mention this to anybody else though, he trusts you very much."

Sam raised her hands in defense. "Don't worry; I know who Spider-Man is for months now." She smiled.

"You unmasked him that night?" Gwen asked, shocked.

She shook her head. "Nope, hacked into his cellphone, just to be safe." She replied. "Turns out his safety wasn't that safe as he claimed it to be, amateurs."

Gwen stood motionless. She was surprised at her skills. "Well...since everyone who could help me is off the city, you're my only chance, and it seems that you know what you do."

"Oh yeah." She nodded cockily. "So, what's going on? What can I do to help?"

Gwen exhaled deeply and relaxed herself. She sat over the couch's armrest and crossed her arms under her breasts. "He's missing, someone attacked him at our apartment, the place is a wreck...I'm sure someone has him, and the police is useless right now, no matter how much time they're going to spend inside that bathroom" She paused. "Can't you...I don't know, track him down with your gifts?"

Sam leaned her back against the wall. "It doesn't work like that; I need a location, you know? So that I can go to him, and...if I do it, I'll be on the Hunter's radar again."

"He told me about them, but...please, I really need your help, I can't do this alone, it's really beyond my reach."

Sam hesitated. She coud see the fear in the woman's eyes. She also knew if it was opposite, if she was the one in danger, Peter would help her without thinking twice. "Alright..." She nodded. "But Peter will be owning one to me."

Gwen smiled thankfully. "I'll remember him of that."

Sam unfolded her arms, grabbed her laptop from the coffee table placed in front of the couch and sat next to Gwen. She started typing something inside the small back console that Gwen was having trouble to understand as she narrowed her eyes at the screen.

Coding or anything computer related was never her thing.

"What are you doing?" She inquired, curious.

"First try; beaking into the city's antennas, then the country's." Sam replied without looking at the blonde next to her. She briefly moved a lock of her dark raven hair behind her ear and resumed on her task.

Gwen tilted her head to the side. "Isn't that illegal...?"

"Underage drinking is illegal; punching a cop is illegal; this is piece of cake." She shrugged.

Gwen deadpanned. She wasn't sure the girl was actually being serious by telling events of her life or if she was just messing around. She continued to know her better. "How do you know all of this?"

Sam giggled. "Aside from the usual whining, videogame's forums can actually teach you something, and there's the fact I had to learn how to avoid the Hunter's radars." She explained.

Gwen hummed something to herself in amusement while Sam didn't finish what she was doing. She wondered if the girl had any familiar figure around, she seemed to live all by herself, and if Peter was right, she was indeed alone, and her abilities apparently were what caused that.

"Damnit." Sam cursed. She stop typing and gazed the laptop's screen with disappointed eyes.

"What?"

"It's his number's signal, it's being blocked." She answered. "I can't get through it, this can't...be true."

Gwen hugged herself, hiding her hands back into the hoodie's sleeeves. "What now?"

Sam moved her laptop aside and stood up. She stroked her chin as she started pacing around, trying to come with a second plan, or third, as long as it takes to bring her friend back. She stopped, as if realization had kicked by, and turned around to face Gwen. "Do you have anything physical that you share with your husband? Like - something you both have."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, it has to be something similar, if not equal, something unique only you guys have." She paused. "It's something Quantum, I have no idea if this works, I never practiced it before."

"I heard that before, but it was speculated they break the law of physics." Gwen gently slid her wedding ring off her finger, taking a short moment to observe it's meaning to her.

Sam smiled sympathetically, she could already see the deep bond the blondie shared with Peter. "Yeah, the unknown is truly complex." Gwen willingly handed her the ring. She carefully took into her head, she felt the other end through it. "I guess becoming one with one another can be a single thing." She frowned, thinking about what she just said. "Did that make any sense to you...?"

"Um...kinda...?" Gwen hugged herself. "What now?"

Sam looked up to her and questioned, "You sure you want to go if this works?" She paused. "We don't know what we might find, he's probably in danger."

"Out of the question, we're doing this together." Gwen stubbornly replied.

Sam smiled lightly. "Hold my hand, it will feel like a second went by."

* * *

Peter was breathless and kneeled on the ground, physically drained, and emotionally conflicted. There still were holes on his life he was still trying fill with answers so that he could finally move on. An once close ghost was now knocking on his own very door. He didn't know if he should open the door and pursue closure, or to simply ignore it.

The last option seemed to be the most appropriate one, to everyone around him. He'd sacrifice his wishes for the safety of his beloved ones, but such action wasn't an easy one to execute. He couldn't simply bury one of the most important people on his life once again.

If there's a chance, he felt obligated to take it, for him.

He was gasping heavily. His surroundings were a total chaos. What looked to be a commanding center filled with computers and desks was completely torn apart, even some of the lights in the ceiling were constantly blinking in malfunction.

Workers of the group that went after him at his very apartment, threatening the security of his family who he always gave his best to keep them away from his secondary and dangerous life, were lying in the ground next to Peter and at every corner of the room.

They all tried to stop him.

_**You're gonna fail, and this?! This is what you're going to become!**_

He breathed roughly, checking his corners, seeing no movement from any living being. He didn't know if they're even alive. His shirt and jacket had red stains spread all over it. His heart was racing fast.

_What have I done...?_

He cleared his throat and carefully gazed his hands. They're trembling in fear.

_"Peter...?!"_

Someone called his name, but he was too confused to even notice it. His mind was traveling between countless thoughts. Suddenly, he felt two pair of delicate hands gently pressed against his cheeks. They carefully forced him to look up to the mysterious person.

It was Gwen. She had knelled to be on his level as well. She seemed deeply concerned and her terrified facial expression only reinforced such thought. "Peter...tell me you had to do this; please - tell me...you had no other choice!"

Peter met her beautiful green eyes. He was speechless. He didn't know how to react.

Gwen gulped and hugged him as he instinctively lowered his head against her shoulder, conforting her husband who couldn't expressions any words due to his current state of confusion and fear. She stroked his hair as a way to relax his armed muscles.

Crouched next to one of the Hunters, while checking their pulse, Sam observed the couple, she could see Peter seemed okay and safe. She later broke the silence from behind them and informed, "They're all alive, but unconscious." Gwen slightly turned her head to see her. "Not that they deserved; Peter spared all of them." She stood up and went to check one of the many computers, they seemed to be working. She would gather what she could about them, their origins, who they work for and more.

Gwen nodded, before turning back to her husband. She felt him calmer now. How could even doubt him? Peter always put human lives before himself, he always placed the possibility of negating such view down on the list, until there wasn't anything else he could do. It wouldn't be now that would change.

"It's okay, honey..." Gwen whispered and kissed the side of his head. She looked up to Sam and said, "We should go, it's better if you delete everything about Peter and you, just to be safe."

"I'm working on that." Sam affirmed. She suddenly frowned at the screen in front of her. "Should I...wipe all the files regarding 'Harry Osborn? They're related to Peter's."

Gwen widened her eyes at the sudden name's mention. Could this be all about him after all? Were they after Peter to find the man who died years ago after fighting alongside his best friend? She thought.

Gwen sighed and answered, "No, save them for later..."

* * *

**Upstate New York - Two Whales Hotel**

Inside their quarters, Peter and Gwen were both taking a shower together. They arrived at the nearest hotel in the road by using one of the Hunter's cars after Sam made sure it was clean of any bugs and trackers.

Sam herself was currently wasted from teleporting she and Gwen to Peter, it had taken most of her energy, and she was recovering her strength in a room at the same corridor where the couple was staying on.

The hot and relaxing vapor of the warm water filled the bathroom and covered the shower's walls made of glass, adding a stronger sense of coziness to the two Parkers located inside of it.

Peter leaned his soaked forehead against Gwen's as she covered her hand with the soap's foam and massaged her husband's chest. He snaked both arms around her naked waist, feeling traces of water landing against his shoulders and sliding down his back.

Her hands eventually moved up against his skin and reached his neck, her eyes accompanied the movement until she looked up and locked them with Peter's. She broke the comforting silence that evolved them, "I''ve missed you." She placed the tip of her finger over his lower lip.

He closed his eyes at the affectionate touch, before whispering closely, "I'm so sorry..."

Gwen wrapped her left arm around his neck while her right hand rested on his shoulder. She asked softly, "What are you apologizing for?"

Peter replied, "For dragging you into this confusion, for making you search for me and getting in danger; it's not right, you and the kids deserve more." He slightly opened his eyes and gazed her green orbs.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, it's not your fault, it's nobody's fault." She affirmed kindly. "What matters is that I've found you."

He exhaled deeply. "My job is to keep _you_ safe..."

Gwen caressed the back of his wet hair. "And what do you think my job is?" He stood quiet, taking in her words. "You sacrifice everything for me, for us, don't you think I'd do the same for you?" She continued, "You're my husband, Peter, there's absolutely nothing I wouldn't for you."

If there was something Peter always knew Gwen wasn't, it was weak, but pretty much the contrary, a strong willed woman who would always pursue her goals until they're achieved. He couldn't go against her wishes, he couldn't simply lock her away from his problems, no matter how much he tried to, it's what she wanted after all.

They're a team.

Peter gently placed his left hand on the side of her and brushed a lock of her golden hair past her ear. "I've no idea what I have I done on this life to deserve you." He confessed. "Anyone else would probably just leave me due to who I am, and I'd understand."

"I know what I want," Gwen kissed his soaked pulse and gazed him once again. "And I want you, always did." She leaned closer and captured his lips, shuddering in delight as more traces of water started to land on her body minus her hair.

"I love you."

Gwen said huskily, "I love you more." She paused. "And honestly? You don't think much high of yourself as you should, honey; you're pretty much else my notion of a perfect man, husband and father." She affirmed and kissed him.

He ran his hands all over her body. He stopped for a second after she kissed him on the lips, staring straight into her passionate filled eyes. It was a similar moment that he had experienced many times before, when he realised just how lucky he was to have Gwen Stacy in his life. She was entirely perfect for him, able to be emotionally strong and comforting him in one minute before being incredibly sensual and playful the next. There was no doubt that he would not have completely made it through the of years without her, and he fully intended to show her how much she meant to him. Not just in that moment, but for as long as they had each other.

She lined herself up against him before he lifted her legs as she instinctively wrapped them around his waistline. His arms immediately went behind her back, lifting her up by the small of her back. She was gently pressed against the wall.

He leaned closer to her neck and kissed her throat through sweet kisses, the responses to his passionate touches were throaty moans coming from his beautiful wife as she closed her eyes and snaked her arms around him.

Gwen was suddenly brought back to earth as Peter groaned in pain while he kissed the smooth skin of her neck. He slowly lowered her down so that she could once again stand on her feet and brought his left arm to his right shoulder. She asked concerned, "What did I do?"

"Nothing, it's not because of you." Peter replied softly. "My shoulder, it's still healing from earlier; I thought it was already done, turns out I was wrong this time."

She nodded in understanding. "You need to rest." She said passionately. "Lie down for awhile, I'll wash my hair for now."

"You're probably right." He gave her a quick peck on the lips. "And I guess we should talk about...everything."

"We do." Gwen undid her ponytail and handed it to him. "Not here, okay?"

"Right." He smiled kindly, before turning on his shoulder but quickly watching her once again after a very special question returned to his mind. She was now letting him face her back. He briefly observed her showering by herself. "Oh, um...I forgot to ask, have you taken the test?"

Gwen smiled lightly. "Of course not; you know I wouldn't do it without you close." She replied. "I'll take it once I'm fully clean."

"That sounds...like a good plan...yeah." He swallowed hard, before shocking his head and brushing off any inappropriate thoughts. He turned on his back and grabbed his towel from the top of the door made of glass, wrapped it around his waistline and slid the door open, stepping inside the bathroom and out of the shower.

Gwen held herself from not giggling. She was very well aware of the effect she had upon him. _God, I missed this. _She thought to herself.

Peter approached the sink and saw it's mirror covered in steam. He placed his left hand against the mirror and later moved it to the side, brushing away part of the steam and revealing a clear view of his exhausted facial expression.

He couldn't stop now. If Harry was indeed alive, he had to find him, and pull him out of the mess he was currently placed against.

_"Honey? Could you please order some food at the reception?" _Gwen asked. _"My credit card is inside your backpack in the bed."_

Peter chuckled lightly. That was more of a request than a question. "Of course." He answered, taking one last glance of her blurry reflection through the mirror before opening the door and walking inside the bedroom.

It was a fine place, well taken at least, but not luxurious at all. One large sized bed, a television in the opposite wall and near to the door, a conservative chandelier fixed on the ceiling and the wardrobe near the bed. He was content with the area. He just needed to rest before getting back to the road towards Manhattan.

After Peter wore his casual clothes such as a black snug t-shirt and jeans, he left the room was entered the illuminated and fancy hallway, seeing many other rooms available or occupied. Sam's was right in front of his. He decided to check on her later.

He eventually arrived at the reception. There was a old grizzled man at the balcony. He adjusted his old glass and checked the guest list while listening to the news from the TV hanging against the wall.

Peter noticed he didn't seemed quite happy, but went foward with the plan to approach him anyway. "Excuse me." He called, but the man remained focused in the book. "Um...I'd like to order dinner and pay our stay for now." Peter placed Gwen's credit card over the counter.

He finally moved his eyes from the book and grabbed the credit card, eyeing it's owner's name and later quickly checking up on Peter. He mumbled something and proceeded to type on the computer.

Peter stood still for a few seconds, and broke the silence. "You...don't look very happy."

"And you certainly don't look like a Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy." He stated without even looking at his costumer.

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "It's my wife's..."

"Whatever." He continued grumpily, "But you're correct on your statement; teenagers these days think they rule world."

"What...happened?"

He groaned in discontentment. "Just had the pleasure of arguing with one of them, a dark haired girl, she's in one of the rooms here."

"Oh, and what did she do?" Peter rubbed his chin, curious about the occurrence.

The old man gave him back the card and looked up to him. "She demanded the password of my internet; can you believe it? It's already slow as it is, and now I should allow them to have it?" He shook his head. "Then she started her speech about how I am keeping her away from her rights and that I was a traitor to the American dream."

Peter snickered lightly but quickly stopped after the man instantly looked up to him. He was pretty serious. Peter scoffed and continued, "I understand, but you know that we live in a world where everyone is pretty much connected to one another..." Peter played the devil's advocate to wins this for Sam.

"Shame on them." He replied conviced. Nobody could take advantage of his internet except for him.

Peter suddenly placed ten dollars which was previously inside his jeans over the table and saw the bright coming from the elder's eye. "You surely have a point, sir." The elder grabbed a small note and started writing the password down in the piece of paper. "But I still can't understand why would you do anything for her, what are you even doing with such young lady?"

"Well...she's - um, my little sister..." Peter cleared his throat.

"I see." The elder handed his costumer the password. "Dinner will arrive soon." He informed, before quickly moving his eyes up and towards the TV after he spotted a very famous figure picture being exposed in the news. "They just can't give him a break."

Pete raised an eyebrow. He turned on his back and looked up as well, seeing the news living streaming an in-flames building at New York. Spider-Man's picture was fixed outside the stream's box with a big font asking _'Where's Spider-Man?'_.

The owner sighed. "They think Spider-Man owe them anything, the man is a human just like us, and after the incident with that freaky robot, they're asking for even more." He frowned. "Selfish bastards."

Peter kept eyeing the screen, paying attention to the firefighters struggle to enter the building. "If not him...who else then?" He mostly asked himself.

"I don't know; these days what we don't lack is heroes." He replied. "People rely too much on him, they have this assumption that Spider-Man should sacrifice everything for them without thinking about the human being inside the suit, he's made of flesh and bones just like the rest of us, he has his own things to take care of, he doesn't owe us single damn thing..."

"Don't you think Spider-Man should be assisting that if he could do something?" One day away and damage had already been caused on his absence.

"Let me tell you this, son; my granddaughter is a big Spider-Man fan, she has his shirts, caps, posters and toys." He continued, "Now, whereas people worship him for kicking bad guy's arses, my granddaughter loves him because of his natural charisma and energy, she hasn't seen him fighting, she only saw him swinging around at best, but she heard the countless stories about him pulling kittens out of trees, assisting old people like me cross the street or simply buying a kid a popsicle, that's his legacy, we can all do something to help the others, raise someone from the ground or even help our friends in need if possible."

Peter smiled lightly.

"Those are the little things that makes him a great person, his small actions and the very welcoming and beautiful suit, not the fists and webs." He gave the young man's credit card back. "I like the hero because the man underneath that suit chose to use his gifts to assist people and never ask for something in return, where do you see that? Where do you see a hero accompanying little kids home? There's no such thing as Spider-Man except for himself alone."

Peter stashed it on his jeans. 'I...suppose you're right." He turned slightly on his feet and gave the man a thankful nod. "Have a good night, sir." He walked away and back to his bedroom, feeling happy for a first time in hours.

* * *

After making sure the only Inhuman he knew closely was okay and was now surfing through the net as usual, Peter sat over the edge of the bed and sighed calmly. He took off his shirt and pants and released them down into the floor, now only wearing his pair of boxers.

He was ready to fall asleep for the rest of the night, but he was still waiting for his wife who apparently had gotten out of the shower. He lied down on his stomach and moaned lightly in contentment. His eyes eventually settled themselves at his phone's sight, it was over the stand near the bed. The single lighten lamp was the only source of light available.

Thanks to being connected again, Sam had emailed him everything she gathered from his kidnappers so far. He was curious. Harry could be closer than ever, but he wanted to clear his head out for a few hours before diving straight back into business once again.

He carefully retrived his phone with his right arm and unlocked the screen, seeing a montage of pictures of Elizabeth, Aiden, David and Gwen, some old pictures actually. Elizabeth's was when they're both walking in a deserted beach and next to the ocean, then sun was already vanishing in the horizon. He held her with both arms when she was three. She rested her head on his shoulder while she caressed his neck with her left arm, she was probably exhausted and wanted to cuddle back then. Gwen had taken the picture from some distance, she told him they're so peaceful that she slowed her pace just to snap them together.

The twin's picture was recent. Last summer. They're playing in the hotel's pool. He threw Aiden into the air, causing his son to grin in happiness as Gwen perfectly captured the moment from her beachchair.

As for Gwen herself, her picture was simply showing her sleeping peacefully. She was lying on her stomach, her back was pretty much naked to him. He couldn't resist the temptation.

All of those pictures were compiled into a single montage, one that constantly reminded him of the good life he has lived so far. He couldn't wish for more.

Peter was so lost in thoughts that he didn't even notice Gwen crawling her way over the bed and towards him, before straddling her husband and putting her fingers to good use on his perfectly sculpted back. She only wore a towel wrapped around her slim body.

She put her hands on his shoulders and started to lightly rub and push at his muscles. She made her way down Peter's back, trying to get a feel for the places he was most tense. "They're quite bigger now, aren't they?" She asked softly.

He moved his phone aside and let out the breath he was holding, shuddering underneath the warmth of her hands. "Yeah; did you ever stop to think that all of this could've not happened when considering a single choice made years ago?"

"Let me guess; the bridge." She pushed harder, digging her thumbs into his skin and going in tiny circles to loosen his muscles.

He nodded. "You were ready to go, move on life." He paused. "We'd probably never talk again."

"What makes you say that?"

He shifted slightly, turning his head to the side and putting his hands underneath his head while his elbows stuck out on either side. "I don't know, we had such a troubled start and end, if you left, it was for good, you're saying your farewell." He answered. "Instead, we fortunately got together, and that gave us our children, a totally different outcome which I'm forever thankful for."

She smiled and looked at his side-profile for a second as she worked on a particularly hard knot. He had a small smile on his face, his eyes closed. She took the opportune moment to study his face and the way it had changed recently, some bruises were easy to find. "So, butterfly effect...?"

"I guess so." He chuckled.

Gwen shook her head and grinned to herself. "You have been playing too much of that game." She noticed a small cut along his jaw, a tiny stain on his right cheek marked his handsome face.

He grinned and nodded against the pillow. "I couldn't ask for anything different; fatherhood taught me I was selfish, now...all I do is for _them_."

She smiled happily and began focusing on small miniscule details, the massaging techniques she used, and the progression of each of his knots from a hard lump to a pliable, but strong, muscle. She went back and forth between a few, so she wouldn't make Peter sore in any particular spot by massaging him in one place for a long time. "I took the test."

He fully opened his eyes and stared the stand in anticipation. "What did it say...?"

"Well..." She exhaled deeply. "I'm...not pregnant, it said negative." She revealed, gently. "Probably something I ate that got involved with my hormones, I'm not sure."

"Oh...that's -um...yeah." He cleared his throat. He was already deep into the possibility.

Gwen smiled lightly. She could see her husband didn't take the news that well. "You're disappointed, aren't you?"

"Just...bummed, I guess." He replied, closing his eyes. "I wouldn't mind another kid."

"I know, honey." Gwen leaned down and kissed the spot behind his right ear. "Just let it happen, then."

He nodded. "Sounds like a good plan."

She giggled, before she remused her previous position above him. She began carefully, "About Harry..."

Peter carefully turned around under her weight. She once again pressed her hips against his thighs while he placed both hands on her covered by the towel waistline. He knew it was tricky topic for Gwen, not only because of she went through because of him, but also due to the latest events. "I know what you're thinking, Gwendy."

"It's not about that night, you know I forgave him." Gwen rested both hands on his chest as she straddled him. "He wasn't the Harry you knew back then."

"Still, you have every right to-"

Gwen cut him off, "Let me at least explain it?" He nodded. "Look, Harry was - or is, your best friend since you're both kids and..."

"You're my best friend." He stroked her hand.

Gwen smiled at his kind words. She continued, "What I'm trying to say is that if you want to find him, I won't say no to you, you know him better than anyone else on this entire world; what worries me is what you're placing yourself against it in order to do that, these people, who knows who they work for? Their firepower? It's dangerous." She paused. "But if you're willing to confront them, then do it, go find your brother." She leaned down on her chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I feel like...I have to do this, but I don't want to put you guys in anymore danger than you already are..." He confessed. "You already fear for me too much, and I'm sorry for that."

Gwen cupped his cheek. She began softly, "I feared for my father every night when he was alive, and back then I also found myself in love with a guy and I knew I couldn't stop him from being who he really is; you're everyone's guardian, Peter, follow your heart...like you always did, we're all together in this." She kissed his jawline and whispered affectionately, "Family don't end in blood, but it doesn't start there either, family cares about you, not what you can do for them, family's there; for the good, bad, all of it. They got your back, even when it hurts, that's family."

"Thank you, you're amazing, for real." He kissed the top of her head and remained silent for a brief time, just taking in her words, before eventually breaking the silence, "You're the greatest councilor."

Gwen caressed his cheeks. "Sometimes that little squirrel has to tell the big spider what to do."

Peter chuckled. "Well...I was going to say I had enough of my share of squirrels for today, but I do like this one over me." Gwen kissed his chest. "I still don't know how to bring him back if he's really here..."

Gwen moved her hand to the lighten lamp's cord. "Well, I do...together." She pulled it down.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

The doors suddenly opened with rays of light coming from the same and barely illuminating the colossal room. A figure wearing some old and black cape and hood slowly walked from outside the door and stepped over the red carpet that formed a straight path toward the other end of the area amidst the darkness that kept almost everything hidden.

As it walked further, lights in the sides were automatically turned on, revealing countless chambers of all shapes in the left and right sides of the room. Some of them contained reliques of an old time, such as - what's left of Rhino's mech-suit, Quentin Beck's helmet, Wilson Fisk's ring, Vulture's wings, the Lizard's serum, Harry Osborn's glider and armor, and also seismic gloves of some sort. Not mentioning the small contained the blue electricity that tried to get out of it's chamber and a destroyed drone of Ultron. All of that were just a small fraction of the whole collection showcased against the walls.

The mysterious figure calmly strolled towards the red tape's end while contemplating the complexity of his tokens which were all connected to a single man in the whole universe, a person nobody had defeated so far.

"Some say that...too be properly judged, you have to die first." It's roughly and emotionless voice began. His face was covered in dark under the hoodie. "For a time I'd think such notion is pure foolishness..." It reached the end and walked the short staircase that led to an altar where an old damaged book was placed over it. Another chamber was also placed next to it, though it's content remained unclear. "Now, after experiencing that by myself, they're more than right."

It opened the book and slowly slid the tip of his gloved finger over the first page. "You meet your own very purgatory, you get your life striped from your body until you become something else." He paused. "All of that is true."

The figure carefully turned the pages. "See, I can't kill you, indeed...you're better than I in most ways, I can't purge the legend, but...I do can ruin the legend from the inside, and that my old nemesis, is something even your powers can't fight against." It paused. "It's not about strength, but will, and that is something I'll take away from you, then...then the legend will dry out through it's own darkness."

It looked away from the book and towards the chamber next to the alter. Inside of it, Spider-Man's torn mask hanged in the center. "The lifetime bill will come to you one day, and I'll be the one there to collect it, that's the price you will pay for being what you're not supposed to be." Two glowing orange dots in form of eyes suddenly appeared from inside the emptiness of the hood as it stared the chamber. It opened both arms at the chamber. "...per infernum non renatus...Spider-Man."

* * *

**A/N : Hello, everyone! I really wasn't expecting an update, but someone very close to me allowed some time with their phone, so I expent almost two hours finishing this chapter for good. Speaking of chapter, this originally turned out much bigger that planned, then I started removing some things away which are noticeable in some areas; I didn't want this to feel too big, but since it's been some time since I last updated, I thought "Why the hell not?", and I just went through with it. I know this chapter was kinda serious, but sooner or later it had to be, this is only foreshadowing Peter's future next challenge, and you don't need to look too far, now that this is out of the way, we can move on to the normal one shots of the Parker's lives.**

**I don't know if I can put another out before 2016. Probably not. Still, I'm already working on the next one and I'm aiming for it to be much shorter than this. There's hope. We'll find out everything about an old friend of Peter, and the truth.**

**I recently received a PM that asked why I don't name who I see portraying some characters. Well, I like to give you guys that illusion of being your character that fits the description of such. I know I prefer this way when I'm the one reading. So I won't ruin that by saying who I see being Sam or any other character when you already do that, but I can reveal via PM, and only there.**

**Besides motivating Peter, the flashback will be very important to the last chapters of the story. And yeah, that was a homage to the comic "Kraven's Last Hunt". Peter went through such thing in my TASM-Verse. Also, the comic-book part is damn good. Might be worth checking it out. Same for "The Other" which is an storyline I'm looking up to in a certain degree.**

**Looks that there's a new baddie in town. More of that later in the story.**

**Chapter named after the song "Save Me."**

**Big shout-out to TheMetalGearZero for recently reminding me how far this story has come to, and to Sebas F for ideas that are being used in the story. Also big love to FireflySurvivor. **

**I want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays regardless, and thank you for another year together. Can't wait to share more tales about these characters we all love. Here's to more!**


	53. Blood Of Broken Men

**July 4th - 2028 **

**Aunt May's House - Queens **

After arriving from her job, Gwen sat down on the small couch of May's living room. She held David with both her arms while he leaned his head against her shoulder and hugged her neck. She massaged his back with her hand which adventured underneath his shirt and observed her other boy lying over the carpeted ground and on his stomach, playing with his countless car toys that once belonged to his illustrious father.

Last time she had deeply gotten used to hold her children was when they're simple babies. She missed doing that, even if they're a bit more heavier to be carried around, but she was thankful for them growing into beautiful and healthy kids.

For someone who initially was rather afraid of failing the task of raising her children as a mother, she was proud of her accomplishments. It still wasn't easy, parenting has _never_ _been_ easy, but after Elizabeth was born, it turned out to be a natural process which she quickly got the hangs of it.

She truly loved being a mother, and she wouldn't trade such occupation for anything else in the entire world.

"Mommy, I'm hungy." David said, lazily. He had been playing around with his twin the entire day until his mother arrived. She instantly saw how much tired David was when he went to hug her and didn't let her go until now.

"Hungry," Gwen turned slightly to his side and kissed his smooth cheek, and nuzzled his brownish and soft hair. She whispered, "I think May is preparing something for my handsome boys."

David now turned on his mother's shoulder to face her, instantly meeting her green and huge eyes. She gently leaned her forehead against his and and smiled contently, gaining a lovingly smile back from her son.

"I love you." She kissed his tiny nose.

He cupped her cheek with his small right hand. "Love you too, mummy."

While the two Stacys cuddled for some time, Aunt May later entered the living room, holding a silver tray containing just - out of the stove - homemade chocolate cookies ontop of it. She carefully placed the tray over the coffee table as Aiden instantly raised from the ground and struggled to choose which one he would take first, despite all of them being the same thing.

His eyes glowed in adoration.

May chuckled. "It's all for you guys."

Gwen looked up to her and smiled in gratefulness. "You're are our savior, this Parker was already complaining about the lack of food."

She sat down in the nearest comfy chair. "I thought they were hungry after chasing one another the entire day; someone had to be the bad sheriff." She took a heavy breath.

Gwen nodded thankfully. She noticed Aiden was already eating next to the table and called, "Hey, sweetie," He turned on his back, his lips already marked by traces of chocolate. "Could you please hand me a single cookie?"

He retrieved a large one and walked the short distance towards her.

"Thank you." Gwen gently pinched his cheek with her free hand, before taking a small bite from the masterful piece of cooking the almost - if not - mother of her husband managed to create like if it was the easiest thing ever. Either that, or Gwen simply didn't fully master cooking at all, it was a learning curve to her. Her husband was always willing to assist her, though. "Hum...it's _**so**_ good." She closed her eyes and slowly savored it.

David turned on her grip so that the back of his head was now positioned against her chest.

She handed the cookie to him as he took it with both hands and experimented the food for himself.

"That's too kind of you; I just assumed they'd like since Peter also did, it seems I was right." May gazed the two twins and their gorgeous mother.

She remembered seeing Gwen and her boyfriend just as simple in love teenagers who began dating more than ten years ago. It felt like that just happened days ago, and now they were married, and the fruit of such love were now three beautiful children.

May smiled. She asked, "Again, why didn't Liz come over?"

Gwen answered, "She's with her _Auntie_ _MJ_ at the hairdresser; MJ recently arrived back from Miami so she wanted to spend some good time together with her while her and Flash's baby child isn't born."

May chuckled. She had heard the fantastic news from Peter before. "Elizabeth might as well become a model when she's older."

"Right?" Gwen herself was surprised her daughter already considered her appearance so much important at her current age. She was already interested in learning new techniques regarding that, but such thing could be said about anything. Apparently, the apple indeed never falls away from the tree. "You would be surprised if I told you she has been invited for a photoshoot for a new clothing store...that's work of MJ, of course."

"Well, not really...your daughter _is_ _beautiful_."

Gwen nodded in agreement. "That she is."

"And I'm guessing Peter will have a hard time protecting the beauty from the beasts." May joked.

Gwen grinned. "I know!' She giggled. "He's already so protective over his little girl, my father was no different, and now I finally get to understand him." She looked down David and gently wiped the trade of chocolate on his lips with her thumb.

May smiled sympathetically. She didn't get to meet Gwen's father, but from what she heard from Gwen herself and the news, he seemed to be a great man, one who also played a big part on Peter's life. "We talked about you and Peter's children, but how are you doing, Gwen?"

She exhaled deeply. "I...I am good, I guess."

"You...don't sound too thrilled; I've lived long enough to know the meaning behind your tone." May affirmed. "You know you can talk to me."

Gwen sighed. "It's just that...well, it's a nightmare on my job, tons of pressure and normally I would handle them like I always did." She paused. "...but it's affecting me, like it never did before, and it's not only that..."

"There's something else, right?"

She hesitated at first. She didn't want to give too much details about her daily problems, May shouldn't go through the trouble of getting aware of them, but she thought maybe May could help. "Yeah...It's kinda, well...Peter, I feel like he's not truly being honest with me since he stopped Avenging, something is definitely going on with him, but he doesn't tell me and I don't want to push him; it's killing me...I want to help Peter, but I just can't do that." She remembered how shaken he was when she found her and rescued him, his expression was built by horror.

She had never seen him like that before.

May rubbed her chin. "I think I know what you mean, Peter acted like what you described shortly after Ben's death, he closed himself and kept me away."

Gwen's eyes shot up in expectation. "So you can help him?" Her hopeful tone questioned.

"I guess I could...but I am not the right person for that task, don't you think?"

"You know him longer than I do, you were there since the beginning."

May argued back, "Maybe, but I'm not the woman Peter has chosne to share his life with, I didn't take the vows, and I won't live forever." She paused. "You need to talk to him, you're his wife, the most important woman on his life, and that's not up to debate, Mrs Parker."

"I...I suppose you are right." Gwen continued, "I guess I should confront him about it."

May smiled. "Just try to keep him alive."

She giggled. She was now much more relieved. "If anything, he's into the doghouse, which is the kid's bed."

"Does it work?"

Gwen shook her head. "Not really, he eventually sneaks back to bed, it's kinda pointless."

May crossed her legs. She loves hearing the many stories of Peter being a dork, even more from his incredibly friendly wife. "I know what you mean, Ben used to do that as well, never could fully reject him."

"I sense some story here..." Gwen teased.

She nodded with an enthusiastic grin. "It goes back to when we bought Peter his first bike, we had to work a lot for that, and Ben was dying to take Peter to test it, even more than the little one, I think." She continued, "The minutes after we gave the gift to him, Ben already wanted to go get Peter to ride it through Queens, he'd teach him how to; thing is, I had seen the weather news, it was meant to rain heavily that afternoon, but Ben told me : 'No, they're wrong, I know when it's going to', so they went out despite my best efforts to keep them at home."

"What happened?"

"Well, it did rain - quite a lot, they both caught a cold, and I had to make them soup for three days." May smiled, recalling such old memories she stored within her heart. "Ben had to hear a lot from me, but as usual, we quickly made peace with each other, the man had too much charisma to resist, and stubbornness."

Gwen noticed David had fallen asleep on her arms. She said quietly, "So that's where _Peter's_ stubbornness comes from, it all makes sense."

"I know." May questioned, "Speaking of _the_ Parker, where's he?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "If he's doing what he told me, he's probably at work."

* * *

**NYPD Station - Manhattan**

"Spider-Man...!" Toomes almost fell off his chair once he saw Spider-Man literally leaning his back against the high corner of the wall after the guards escorted him to an interrogation room and forced him to sat down and remain still. "I demand a lawyer!"

Matt Murdock, sat in the opposite chair in the table, replied, "I am your lawyer." He smiled, conservatively.

"Why is the damn bug here?!" Toomes pointed to the vigilante who now landed back to firm ground and stood next to Matt and with arms crossed.

"I believe an old case is being re-open and I was assigned to assist you." Matt explained. "As for Spider-Man, well...he's one of the interested parties, so I suggest you to cooperate."

"Yeah - that's right, you could say I'm the promoter." Spider-Man affirmed, cockily.

Toomes looked back and forth between the two persons in front of him. "Are you freaking kidding me? I don't believe this crap, and you're not here to help me, are you?" He stared at Matt's pair of red glasses.

The lawyer, sometimes Daredevil, held himself from not grinning. "Of course, I am."

"Look, Toomes, I just have one question, answer it and you'll never see me again until you escape and I put you back here again." He stated.

Toomes scoffed in disgust. "What is it?!"

Spider-Man unfolded his arms and walked around the table. "Harry Osborn."

"So...?"

"I want names, locations, anything." He stopped between Matt and Toomes.

The prisoner laughed. "And why on earth would I even know anything about that spoiled brat?"

Peter contained himself. He had to remain focused. "You worked for him."

"Yeah, _worked_ \- not lived with him, moron." Toomes narrowed his eyes.

Matt interjected, "Mr Toomes, your inappropriate vocabulary is greatly not appreciated during this exchange."

"Well, I don't care, blind boy." He snarled. "Deal with it."

Spider-Man sighed. So much for a successful interrogation. "Maybe it's time for plan B then."

Toomes provoked, "Maybe you should try plan D for dumbass."

_That's it._ Peter fired two web-balls at the door's lock and gently placed a hand on the prisoner's shoulder, then he suddenly moved his hand ovee the back of Toomes' head and quickly pressed him down into the table. "Don't mess with me, Toomes!" He snapped.

Matt was taken by surprise, but he remained still. The plan was to get Peter a meeting with Toomes, and if needed, he'd play a victim if it ever came to that as combined. It apparently did. His friend never appeared that angry before.

"L-Look, I don't know anything about the Osborn guy!" Toomes said desperately.

"You're lying!" Spider-Man noticed some cops urgently trying to open the door and get inside, but if his webbing can carry a plane, then they would have a difficult time to achieve their task.

Toomes continued fastly, "Okay - okay, maybe I heard something about Connors back then, he seemed to have history with Fiers and Harry, but that's it!"

Spider-Man still didn't let Toomes go from his grip. He now wondered what Connors could possibly know. It has been ages since they last talked, and he was probably in Ravencroft. It was almost impossible to talk to him due to the strict security.

Matt tried to bring his friend back, "Pete, you probably should go now." Spider-Man looked at him. He gestured his head to the ventilation shaft above them in the ceiling.

He nodded thankfully, let go of Toomes and jumped inside the shaft, disappearing from sight, and leaving the lawyer and prisoner face to face. Matt exhaled sharply and sighed on his chair. "Well, that really escalated quickly, eh."

Once outside, Spider-Man calmly swung between buildings, seeing the sun disappearing in the now orange colored horizon not far away from the island. Now things were getting even more weird. Harry is being chased for some reason only god could know, and Connors could know something Peter didn't.

_Now they will be saying that Han shot first._

Peter let go of the single web-line be held and dove towards the intense traffic back in the streets of Manhattan. When just a few meters from crashing into firm ground, he fired another web-line just to slow down his speed as he perfectly landed over a police car and crouched just behind the sirens.

"Hey, Spidey!" The driver smirked from his seat. He moved his arm outside the window as they both fist-bumped each other.

"What's up, Bob?" Spider-Man leaned his head down into the window.

"Nothing much, slow day, thanks to you." He replied. "What about you, mate?"

Spider-Man nodded to the cop on the passenger seat and answered, "Same old same old."

"Any victims today?"

He chuckled. "My patience, yes." His phone suddenly fired and played his theme song made by a probably devoted fan. "One second." He unzipped his pocket and grabbed the device_, 'My Beautiful Girl'_ was the name of the caller. He answered it, "Parker's Accountancy, how can I help?"

_"Daddy, it's Aiden!"_

Inside the mask, Peter smiled. "Hey, my boy, what's going on?"

_"Where are you?"_

Peter said, "I'm in a police car."

_"Oh...mommy is asking if you got arrested, did you?"_ He sounded excited.

Peter chuckled. Being arrested is still a thing on his list of things to achieve. "Nope, just taking a ride, what about you guys?"

_"Popsicle, do you want one?"_

"Oh, you bet." He replied. "Look, I have to go now, see you in a bit, okay?"

_"Alright, hurry because Lizzie will start watching Frozen 3 if you're not here."_

"Gosh, we can't allow that to happen, can we?" Peter took a quick glance in the nearest buildings. "Gotta go, love you!" He blocked his phone and placed it back to its original place.

Bob interjected, "Kids, eh?"

"Women, it's driving me crazy." He joked. "Listen-"

The radio cut him off, _"All units, please standby, any sign of Spider-Man is ordered to be reported; temporary arrest is no exception."_

Bob lowered the volume and looked up at the vigilante. "This is your go, Spidey."

"I owe you one." Spider-Man patted him in the shoulder.

"More than one." He grinned. "Now just go!"

"Aye!" Spider-Man suddenly jumped off the car and towards the buildings, causing the vehicle to actually shake in the process due to the strength that was applied against it's top.

Bob checked his wheels through the side mirror. "Son of a mother is now owning me new hydraulics."

* * *

Peter closed the kitchen's fridge once he retrieved an energy drink. He turned around and calmly made his way towards the living room, taking a sip and enjoying the whole serenity of the now dark ambient of his apartment. The whole city felt peaceful during night. He didn't need to leave the cozy area and head after danger.

He approached the window, and took in the view of what he has been protecting for more than a decade now. Such task was something that had become part of his life, it just felt natural. He could actually felt in peace out there.

The sound of the main door's bell ringing brought the Parker back to the reality as he immediately turned on his shoulder. He wasn't expecting any visitors at this hour of the night. Everyone was currently sleeping except for him.

Peter approached the door and turned the knob, before calmly pushing it inside the apartment and widening his eyes once he realized who was standing right in front of him.

Norman Osborn, back from the dead. He stood emotionless. Peter gulped at the sight of the man who ordered the death of his parents and later was the cause of his best friend's death.

"So, that _is_ what your greatest fear." A mysterious and familiar voice broke the silence from behind Peter.

He instantly turned around and saw himself leaned against the kitchen's wall.

"You again?!"

He shrugged. "You mean we, right?"

Peter once again resumed his former position and saw nothing but a closed door and no Norman Osborn. "What...?" He cleared his throat. "Is this one of those weird - fugly dreams again?"

Other Peter continued, "I just needed to know something, but yeah - it's kinda of a dream."

Peter cleared his throat. "Okay...if I'm not going nuts, then what are you?"

The presence tilted his head to the side, confused. "I told you...I'm-"

"If you say what I think you're going to say, I swear I'm gonna throw you out the window." Peter threatened. "Dream or not, I don't care."

He raised his hands into the air in defense. "Your call, bugboy."

Peter ignored the provocation. "What do you want, evil me?"

He smiled. "I won't bug you all the time, but I have something that interests you."

"Such as...?"

"Our old pal, Harry." He revealed. "I know where he is."

Peter chuckled, sarcastically. "Right, and I'm Facebook's founder."

"Well..."

Peter sighed. "Please don't remind of that." _Is this really happening...?_

"I won't take much of your time, after all, our healthy relationship will last even during afterlife."

Peter wondered what he meant with that. His puzzled expression only confirmed his internal thoughts.

He continued, "The first funeral ceremony, go back there, and hurry...he won't last any longer."

"Wait - what?" Peter shook his head. "Is that it? You're not very helpful for a dream." He couldn't believe he was actually engaging with a dream.

"I want to help you, but I'm not going change your diaper." He walked across the living room and towards the large horizontal window. Peter deadpanned. Was he always that mean? "By the way, when are you going to tell Gwen about how you're really feeling? Or are you going to hide things away from the only person you should confess everything about your life to?"

Peter took a few steps closer. "What are you talking about - I'm not hiding anything from her."

"Oh, really?" He slightly turned on his shoulder. "You didn't tell her how you felt in that night when you unleashed yourself over those Hunter something, how...pure...you felt? Ruthlessness can be pleasant, doesn't it?"

Peter stood quiet. He didn't know what to say. His other himself had a point. He wasn't being truly honest with the person he cared the most. He took a quick tired breath. "What do you want of me...?"

"I? I want you to be yourself, just that." Other Peter replied seriously. "Where's the harm of being what you're supposed to be?" He chuckled, sarcastically. "I know all about that..."

"You're full of nonsense."

He shrugged his shoulders. "At this state, do you think you succeed with your daughter, the most important living being in the whole universe, where you failed?"

"What...?" Other Peter smirked. He shook his head once the thought of being manipulated crossed his mind. "Whatever that you might be, get off me and mind your business."

He had accomplished his objective. "Of course, until a certain time, your wish is my command."

_You shall resist, you will always resist, in the end...it matters not._

* * *

**July 8th - 2028**

**Howard's Bulding - Gym Area**

"Honey, are you dead?" Peter slowly opened his eyes, seeing Gwen crouched next to him. She smiled lightly. "Don't be a princess."

Peter groaned as he calmly sat over the floor. He was at the gym. Gwen wore her skin tight tank-top and black shorts. Next to them there was a punching bag. "W-What happened?"

Gwen giggled as she helped him to stand up. "You tell me; you're holding the punching bag, then you suddenly fainted." She explained. "I got super worried but you started muttering my name, it was hilarious."

Peter narrowed his eyes at her in disbelief. Gwen now suddenly appeared more serious. "Your love is undeniable overwhelming."

She snickered lightly. "You okay? Want to see a doctor?" She asked, seriously this time.

"Doctor - of course not!" He sighed. "I'm fine, let's just continue what we're doing."

"Okay..." Gwen nodded, before positioning herself next to the bag once again. She wasn't really buying his talk. She would eventually have her ways of making him talk.

Peter held the punching bag while Gwen shifted back into a fighting stance; arms raised, right foot back from the left, and shoulders square on to target. He gave her a small nod, and she let loose with a series of flurries and blows against her target, all executed with near-perfect skill and precision.

He was lost in thought about what occurred when he was out. Was he going crazy? Could he trust whatever that was on his head?

As Gwen finished her movements and paused to catch her breath, Peter leaned his head around from the edge of the bag. He decided to keep the vision to himself, at least for now. "Not bad at all, honey," he complimented. "Of course, I still maintain that you took the easy way by giving me something while you are more concentrated." He gave a grin, knowing that this would most likely provoke a reaction from her.

She did not disappoint. "Really?" she asked, still breathing very heavily. Without waiting for a reply, she spun around and let loose a sudden backwards kick, her feet digging square into the middle of the bag. Even with his combat-honed skills, Peter was caught a little off-guard by the sudden attack and the strength behind it, and he felt himself being pushed back a little.

Gwen took a few steps back and turned around to face him again. She placed her hands on her hips and continued to breathe heavily, though this was starting to even out a little. "Well, maybe I did that because I wanted to make sure that you didn't need to worry about me from the get-go, I can handle this."

Peter stepped out from behind the back and smiled. "Is that so?" he asked.

Gwen paused again. "Maybe. I'm a little too winded to think of a better excuse at the moment." Peter laughed as she walked over to her bag which rested on the bench. She first picked up her towel, patting away the layer of sweat that had accumulated on her head and shoulders, then put this down and grabbed her water bottle, downing nearly half of its contents to quench her thirst.

As Gwen took a few moments to recuperate, Peter slowly made his way out to the middle of the sparring mats. "You know what?" he said, his voice taking on the slightest hint of a challenging tone. "It seems that while working over the bag is easy enough, you could probably do with a live opponent. I think that would be a more interesting test, don't you think?"

After taking a few seconds to place her towel and drinking bottle back in her bag, Gwen looked over at him. To most people, taking on Spider-Man, even in the controlled nature of a simple sparring match, was decidedly tempting fate or even risking life itself. Perhaps the only ones who could come off mostly intact would be another person like him.

But Gwen was also fully aware that Peter would never willingly hurt her. He would pull his attacks to ensure that he probably never even hit her. His level of devotion to her was so strong that he would willingly allow himself to get hurt, even seriously, if it meant that she would remain unscathed. He always cared about her that much.

Still, if he was offering to help in her training, she saw no reason to turn down his offer. Hell, she might even get lucky and land a few blows.

"Alright, Peter," she said as she stepped on to the mats. With that, she assumed a fighting stance once more.

Peter also assumed a fighting stance, with the ease of one who had been doing such things for so long that they had become second nature to him. Though he wanted to provide a challenge for Gwen, he still did not want to hurt her, of course, and so he figured that he might as well let her take the first shot.

She did not disappoint. Gwen started out with a few jabs from her left fist before following up with more strikes from her right, and continuing on with a series of combinations of the two. So Peter was not that surprised when Gwen gradually increased her pace, and soon introduced kicks to her retinue of moves. She knew what she was doing, for sure, and in a fight against any other person, she probably would have stood a good chance of coming out on top to at least defend herself. But Peter wasn't just any other person, and his years of combat expertise allowed him to block, parry and deflect the blows with little difficulty.

Pausing a moment in her assault, Gwen shifted back, still hopping and moving back and forth like any good fighter would. "You're holding back, honey," she challenged.

Peter remained in his defensive posture, his hands still at the ready. "I thought I'd see what kind of attacks you were capable of, sweetie."

"What?" Gwen said mockingly. "Are you afraid of hurting little old me?"

Peter laughed. "Maybe. I just figured that -"

His comment was cut off as Gwen let loose a sudden strike with her fist, catching him off-guard on the bridge of the nose. She had pulled her punch, so it was of reduced strength, but even had it been full power, the hero would have barely felt it. Still, the fact that she had suckered him in and scored a cheap shot was something of a surprise.

Gwen laughed. "Gotcha!"

Peter shook his head and allowed a feral grin to cross his face. "Oh, now you're gonna get it!"

For the next couple of minutes, the pair circled around each other. One would make an attack against their opponent, who in turn would usually block or deflect it with ease. Despite the obvious size advantage that Peter had over her, Gwen seemed not the slightest bit intimidated by her opponent. This was partially due to the relationship that they had, but it was not the sole reason.

After nearly three minutes of sparring, Gwen launched a kick aimed at Peter's midsection, only to have the him grab the limb and use his strength to push sideways and outward on the knee, causing her to fall to the mats. The plan was to push her down and go down with her, trapping her under his body mass and forcing her to submit. But it seemed as though the joke was on him; Gwen had actually planned this movement and as he went down, she continued the momentum, making them roll until she was on top! Peter suddenly found himself lying flat on his back, and Gwen quickly positioned herself so that she was straddling his chest, with her knees on either side of his head.

She looked down at him with a victorious smirk on her face. "Give up, my dear handsome husband?"

He sighed. "I have to admit, you are good," he said. This only served to widen Gwen's smirk, and he sensed her letting her guard down ever so slightly.

This was all he needed, and he brought his arms up to grasp her on either side of the midsection. He pushed her easily off him, and shifted their positions so that she rolled backwards and he rolled with her. The end result was her lying flat with him positioned over her and using his hands to pin her arms firmly against the mat.

"But I'm Peter." he said with his own smirk.

Gwen knew that the chances of her being able to reverse this particular situation were virtually none, so she decided to let herself relax and allow the residual adrenaline to drain from her system. "Of course you still are," she pointed out breathlessly. "You're Spider-Man, remember?"

Peter regarded her with a smile. "Don't feel too bad, Gwen," he said, with the slightest hint of affection creeping into his tone; one that he frequently took with her. "You handled yourself very well."

"Really?" Gwen asked, raising her eyebrows. "I don't suppose you pulled your punches with them too?"

"Well, yes," he admitted, "And I will also admit that I didn't pull my punches then as much as I did now, but that's because you matter to me much more than the entirety of the universe."

It was a simple comment, delivered in a casual off-hand way, but the very nature of the words was enough to make Gwen's heart flutter with love at the man. She felt his hands relinquish their hold on her arms, and she wrapped them gently around his neck, drawing him closer for a kiss.

When they pulled apart, Peter could not resist goading her a little more. "Of course, I still maintain that you technically cheated by training with Natasha and knowing how I operate when I'm privately 'dancing' with you, my little fragile princess."

Gwen promptly whacked him on the side of the head. "Shut up!" she said in a mock anger that was offset by their matching smiles. Then they locked lips once more as Gwen's grew when she felt the firm muscles of his pectorals pressed against her breasts.

As the kiss deepened, Peter instinctively ran his hands along Gwen's sides, feeling firm and yet feminine body under the layers of her training clothes. He finally made contact with her creamy skin when his hand adventured over her flat stomach. Gwen moaned against his mouth that savored her lips. They were getting carried away in the lustful exchange of kisses.

For a training session at Howard's bulding, they couldn't said the place was uninteresting at all.

Elizabeth suddenly asked, "Dad, why are you lying over mommy like that?"

Peter released her lips and looked up to the main door, seeing his daughter standing with one single eyebrow raised at her parents. He looked back and forth between Gwen and Elizabeth. "Um..."

Gwen tossed her husband to the side, not so gently. She stealthily licked her lips and stood up, before giving Elizabeth a kind smile. "We were...it's something called sparring, you know?"

"Ouch..." Peter groaned lightly on his end, Gwen's shove wasn't so subtle.

Elizabeth remained suspicious. "Isn't that what Uncle Howard watches?"

Gwen grinned. "Exactly, honey!' Peter walked next to his wife, they quickly exchanged a glance.

She hummed something. "But...those grown up boys never kiss during a match."

"It's a new rule." Peter quickly intervened. "They can...if they want..." Gwen turned her head on her shoulder and widened her eyes at him. "But they don't usually do so...um...yeah."

"Oh, I guess that makes some sense." She nodded in agreement.

Peter whispered to himself, _"Thank god it does..." _He chuckled awkwardly and went to pick Gwen's stuff in the bench while she approached Elizabeth and placed an arm around her shoulder.

"What are you doing down here, Liz?" Gwen brushed a trace of her daughter's blonde hair behind her ear.

She looked up and replied, "Uncle Howard told me to warn you that lunch is ready, he said you would be down here and that I could interrupt anytime."

Peter walked past his girls and muttered, "I'll kill your brother, Gwen."

Gwen giggled briefly. Elizabeth didn't fully hear him. "What did you say, daddy?"

"Just...how much I like your adorable uncle." They stepped inside the elevator. Elizabeth stood between them.

She looked to Gwen's belly. "Do you feel Sarah, mommy?"

Gwen frowned in confusion. She gazed her daughter with a suspicious smile. "Who is Sarah, honey?"

She met her mother's green eyes. "My little sister, I named her Sarah."

"Um...come again?"

Elizabeth sighed in annoyance. "Daddy told me you're pregnant."

Peter almost lost his neck as he quickly looked down to his blonde daughter. "What?! I didn't say that!" He protested.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him. Peter continued, "I said your mother might be pregnant, that's not a confirmation."

"No, you didn't." She argued back.

Gwen just stood quiet on her spot - observing the intense discussion happening between her daughter and her husband. She had an expression of amusement across her face.

"Oh, you're one _stubborn_ little princess, aren't you?" Peter gave her a playful stare.

Elizabeth scoffed. "So you've lied to me, daddy?"

"No - no, not again." She was making him appear as the guilty one. He placed a hand over his face and sighed. He uncovered his face and replied, "No, I didn't... I'm sorry if you thought mommy was pregnant.".

"Oh, that's okay..."

"But hey, I'm sure we can arrange you a sister." Peter smiled boyishly at his wife. "Eh? What do you say, mommy? Should we make some experiments?" He frequently and rapidly raised his eyebrows at her.

Gwen tilted her head to the side and gave him a both deadly and surprised stare. "You..."

"Really?!" Elizabeth grinned. She then frowned in deep thought. "But..why do babies stay in their mother's belly? Where do they come from?"

Peter deadpanned. He gulped and whispered, "She didn't..."

Gwen held a smirk. She slowly nodded and mouthed. _Yes, she did._

There were twenty floors yet to go. This is going to be a long trip. He thought. "Well...Liz, you see...there's a time when a woman...um," Gwen stood in disbelief. She didn't approve of his incoming juvenile explanation. "...look, there's a woman, okay...? She wants to have a baby, so she asks this being, its something...let's say..."

"Magical...!" Elizabeth replied, excited.

"Yes, magical, ha!" He laughed, nervously. "Well, this being, called as...it's like a bird, who has the seed for a baby." Gwen rolled her eyes. "...Birby! Eh, a cool name? Right, uh?" He grinned, proud of the nickname he came with.

Gwen shook her head at him in disapproval.

"No...?" He sounded disappointed, his smile weakened.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"No...no, okay then." He wiped his grin off his lips after the failure of his invention.

Gwen sighed. "Look, honey, it's kinda complicated, your father's explanation is half correct, for now, you'll understand when you're older, okay?"

He interjected, "What you're talking about my explanation was spot on."

**Thirty minutes later...**

Peter entered the living room, carrying two mugs filled with hot coffee in each hand. He handed one to Gwen's brother who was sat in a puffy chair and playfully inspected the liquid just in case if there were any poison. He then sat next to Gwen in the couch as he wrapped his left arm around her shoulder and held the mug he shared with his wife on his free hand.

Gwen moaned secretly to herself as she cuddled with her lover. Howard asked, "So, mom told me there's this possibility you're carrying a baby, Gwendy."

She placed a hand in Peter's thigh and said, "Yeah, well - turns out I'm not this time, unlike with Elizabeth, we weren't actually planning one, it just happened."

"Really? What could possibly have changed your calendar?" He placed his mug over the coffee table.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm a woman, depending of what I eat it causes a chain reaction, maybe it's that."

Peter finally interjected, "You're talking about chocolate, honey." He took a sip. "It makes you happy and sad at the same time. Go figure."

Gwen giggled as she pressed herself closer against his torso. She looked up and met his eyes. "You know me too well." They kissed lovingly for a few seconds.

Howard started acting as if he was about to puke. "Oh god, get a room you two." He was aware of the fact that his brother in law also enjoyed pulling his leg, and that his sister would have more effectiveness at doing that.

Gwen smiled against her husband's lips and finally let them go, before turning to face her younger brother and tease him, "Are you jealous, little brother?"

He frowned in return. His ego wouldn't let him slid in front of his big sister. He began seriously, "Going back to the baby topic, are you two even planning to have another one?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders and gently elbowed Peter on his cagerib. "I don't know, are you going to take me to Disneyland at least once in your life, Peter?"

He sighed heavily and looked at Howard, cracking an exhausted expression. "You have no idea how much times your sister asks me that." Howard chuckled. He knew Gwen always wanted to go there someday, and she wanted her husband come as well. "But I don't know, Gwendy...does it take to go to Disneyland to have another baby?"

Gwen nodded, playfully. She began carefully, "Why not? We have been together for fifteen years...we made children together...why can't you go with me on this?"

He moved his eyes away from the siblings and towards the large window on his corner. "Because... reasons."

"Why's that?" Howard tilted his head to the side, curious at his disinterest.

Gwen grinned. "I have his theory; from what May told me, Petey here has fear of clowns, and some living characters, you know, with someone inside." She revealed. "The irony."

Peter instantly gazed his blonde wife in shock. "That's not true!" He snarled.

"Oh, yes - it is."

Peter opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but changed his mind midway through the action and just kept his eyes almost shut, before looking away and standing quiet.

"Aww," Gwen grabbed his arm and leaned closer to him. "I actually feel bad now, honey." She kissed his cheek and rested her head against his chest. "I can protect your sorry butt if we go there."

Peter smiled a tiny bit. If there was one thing he loved about Gwen, just one of the many qualities, it was her down to earth personality. Her snarks were also very welcome to him, most of the time. "Well, Howard, the answer to your original question is yes, I mean - I do plan to have another one, probably, yeah - I plan to." He looked down to his wife who was lost in words, she slowly nodded at him in surprise. What?" He asked.

"Um...I'll admit I have baby fever a lot, but I didn't know you were this sure..."

He held a chuckle back. "Well, it takes...t's a team effort..." Now he couldn't it hold anymore. Gwen stared at the ceiling as her cheeks slowly became red, she smiled lighty. "Like, I can't have a baby on my own." He laughed.

"Oh god..." It was getting awkward. She looked down at Howard and decided to change subjects, "So, yes - probably; speaking of babies, where's my adorable niece?" Peter played with locks of her golden hair.

Howard grabbed his coffee again to take a sip. "She just woke up, Miranda and Liz are bathing her last time I checked on them."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" She stood up.

"Because I knew I'd lose you to her." Howard grinned.

"That's right!" Gwen hurried upstairs.

Peter and Howard exchanged a surprised glance. The Queen's boy asked first, "So...do you have the newest Madden?"

He grinned. "Fire the console while I bring the beers." Howard also raised from his seat and calmly headed towards the kitchen. _"Giants is mine, though!"_

"Why?!" Peter protested.

"Cause you're in my house!"

Peter repeated his words in a dorky way,_"My house - my house..."_ He murmured, "Fair enough..."

* * *

**Parker's Apartment - Manhattan**

**Later in the night...**

Peter patiently waited for Gwen to fully fall asleep on his chest. He had his right arm wrapped around her naked back, keeping her comfortable and relaxing body close to his chest. She always had been a light sleeper while he was the one who slept like a rock. Surely a rather negative factor for man like him who always enjoyed her grip over him, and sometimes to kiss her skin while she was unconscious, so he had to be extra careful as usual.

He stared at the ceiling, thinking about what was going within him. His brain was messing up with him, or something much more serious found it's way to him. It was the fourth time he talked to 'himself'. Surprisingly enough, his other himself had some true points about him.

He _is_ changing.

Ever since the war, Peter has noticed the new way he uses to see the world around him, as if he had no hopes, even Spider-Man had changed to an extent. He now realized he is becoming what once was a distortion of his real personality, when he had the infamous symbiote.

He often took the easy way back then, and history now seemed to repeat itself.

The one time when he actually felt soulless. Was this what he is changing into? Can't he control himself anymore as show in the Hunter's base? Isn't he able to be Spider-Man anymore?

Those were questions that currently haunted his subconsciousness, and with the possibility of Harry being alive, he barely could think about himself, but only about those he'd sacrifice his life for their safety.

And that value was present on his new plan depending of how things go with Curt Connors. Gwen was surely going to disapprove what he had in mind. He didn't even tell her about only person in the entire world who he could say all the things he needed to.

Without Gwen, Peter was well aware that half of what he had so far wouldn't ever exist. He owed everything to her, and now he was keeping things away from his wife.

_I'm going to hell...have I gone too far?_

_"Honey..."_ Gwen moaned before she stirred slightly on his arms.

Peter changed the focus of his attention to his fastly asleep wife. She had her left hand lying over his stomach. She wasn't willing to let him anywhere as long as she had to sleep.

With the arm that was around her, he placed his left hand to her cheek and gently slid his finger over the smooth skin while peering into her calm facial expression.

Peter kissed the top of her golden hair, nuzzled it and whispered amorously in her ear, _"Love you, always." _She now seemed to smile lightly.

He slowly started leaning his torso to his side of the bed and away from Gwen, being extra careful this time. He eventually sat at the edge of the bed, and quickly moved his pillow next to Gwen once she started groping the sheets to reach him. She groaned in disapproval and eventually settled herself next to Peter's pillow which she kept closely pressed against her chest.

Peter sighed heavily at the sight. He raised from the bed and silently walked towards the wardrobe, before opening it, and moving all of his formal suits to the side as he saw all of his Spider-Man suits hidden behind them.

He had four of them - the original one, the redesigned version which Gwen helped him make, the same version with a more brighter blue and raised silver webbing while the last one was the Iron Spider. The bottom one was too much flashy for the long run. He thought.

_Too many option...this is torture._ He narrowed his eyes at them. _Okay, let's go with the classic one. _He grabbed the redesigned version and proceeded to wear the tight spandex over his perfectly sculpted muscular body and only left his head exposed.

Peter took one last glance at his beautiful Gwen and how innocent she looked. He smiled briefly, before using both hands to slid the mask over his face and observe her through the lenses.

_Right, let's close this case once and for all._ He turned on his back and jumped through the open window as he dove into the air.

He looked up the buildings and fired a single webline through his left webshooters as the sudden opposite force coming from above kept him crashing into the ground.

He was now being brought back to high levels as the webbing expanded and raised once again. Spider-Man joined his legs against each other and kept his grip tightly over the web as it reached it's maximum elasticity point and height in the air. He released it, leaned his head and torso down towards the streets, and spun towards his back and in the air just before shooting another biocable and enjoying the momentum that fastly made him pass above all cars by inches.

He saw a truck crossing the avenue right on his front, and instead of doing something to evade it, Spider-Man continued his one time swing down in the streets and managed to quickly pass between the truck and its cargo without actually releasing what kept him alive.

_"Woooh...!"_

* * *

**Ravencroft Institute - Manhattan**

Curt Connors found himself sat on a chair and next to the desk on his cell room. He read a book his now much older son had brought to him during the last week.

While small, his cell had a surprisingly comfortable bed, and it didn't end there, he actually had access to books that were available in the institute and food that was actually better than anything the workers daily give to the common deranged criminals that lived in there.

He had accepted his fate. He'd have to live the rest of his life inside a cell where only a wall made of reinforced glass kept him off the corridors. He knew he deserved it, what got in there in the first place was more than enough to keep him forever locked.

What Connors could at least do is gather more knowledge into his mindset, that was enough for him.

Later on, he caught some movement outside the cell. He turned his head on his shoulder and saw Spider-Man hanging upside down by a single web in front of the glass.

It had been years since they last talked. Peter used to visit him, but his other more important duties kept him away, and he didn't blame him at all, he even considered himself unworthy of his presence. The Parker was a brilliant man and he deserved everything good from the world.

"Peter...what are you doing here?" Connors asked, concerned. "How did you even get inside?"

"Hey, Curt." He answered politely, "Let's say I recently hired a hacker, and I need to talk about you about something."

Connors calmly raised from his seat and approached the transparent wall. "I wasn't expecting a visit from you, not at this hour."

"Sorry about that, I really am." Peter apologized. "Life has been acting like a storm over the past few months."

Connors nodded sympathetically. "I understand." He inquired, "What do you want of me?"

Peter carefully dropped himself into firm ground and crossed his arms. "Do you remember where my parent's funeral were? I can't find an address anywhere, even my Aunt doesn't know it."

He replied, "Oh, yes - it was in one of Norman's mansions away from the urban area, only selected people could be there, all of them were privately brought to the area."

Peter asked, "So you can get me there?"

Connors shook his head. "I honestly can't, even I had to go through such security checks; I believe some of Oscorp meetings happened in there as well, only high personnel, though."

"Damn it..." Peter cursed as he placed both hands on his waist.

The ex-scientist slowly frowned as he came to remember something important. "Unless..."

"What?"

He continued, "There might be a way; I remember digging through Oscorp's network after your parents passed away, my laptop absorbed lots of information; it might still be there."

"It's worth a shot then." Peter affirmed. "Where is it?

Curt sighed in regret. "It's inside the old train station, it's now demolished."

_"Roosevelt?"_

He raised an eyebrow, curious on how Peter did get such information. "That's...precise."

"It isn't!" Peter continued enthusiastic, "I went there years ago...father has one as well, how about yours? Never found it."

"We built that place as our secondary option, we worked quite often with the Venom project in there." He explained. "To trigger both station you had to place two coins in the meter, then scan my retina; your old man wasn't that worried about security, though."

Peter stroked his - covered in spandex - chin. "That means I need to break you out from here..."

"What? You're not actually considering that, are you?"

He eventually nodded.

"You can't, you'll be ruining your reputation, don't you see?" Curt tried to talk his friend out of it.

"There's things more important than my reputation." He pressed his closed fist against the reinforced glass as Connors slowly take a few steps back. "Hold tight; everything will go smoothly." He retracted his arm just to aggressively direct it at the glass once again.

**Half an hour later...**

"Argh...!" Spider-Man grunted in pain and clumsily sat on the first chair he found inside Connors' laboratory, just as similar to his father's, but with more books instead, a lot more. He brought his right hand to the cauterized wound on his waistline.

_Stupid spider sense keeps randomly failing on me._

At least they had indeed found the information. Peter could look for Harry anytime he wished now. If he's really out there.

Connors immediately questioned, "Is that your idea of smoothly? Beating everything and everyone that appears in front of you?!"

Peter took off his mask and placed it over the table next to him, revealing a face covered in sweat while his cheeks were red in heat. He exhaled deeply, "Hey, they attacked first, with an electric baton by the way, hurts like crap."

Connors was shocked at his simple response. "O-Of course they did, you've invaded a restricted area and released a prisoner!" He continued, "I shouldn't even be here."

Peter searched through his eyes for anything near that could help him relive the pain. "I did what I had to do."

"How can you say that, Peter?" Connors was having hard time trying to understand what was going on with the young man. "Since when you started acting like this? Brutally beating those guards and actually freeing a convicted prisoner? You never had been like that, that's not the Peter I used to know."

He hesitated. "It's been years-"

"Yes - it has been, but doesn't justify your action." Curt argued back. "All those cops in the main gate? They will hunt you down; is this how you want to be remembered after everything you've done? A criminal? You saw the news, they're calling you a traitor, demanding more strict control over your kind, not mentioning the whole lunatic part; people are changing their opinions regarding you after tonight."

Peter gasped as he adjusted himself in the chair. He sighed. "Look, you have to understand...this is all about the guy who was there for in the beginning, we're almost like family - if not that; I have to do this for him, and I won't rest until I have all the answers because that's what always has been circling around on my life, questions..." He paused. "This would be no different if my wife, Aunt or children were involved, I'd do anything for them."

"Really? Would you become someone else, corrupt the very kind person you are like you're doing right now in order to achieve something?"

Peter stood in absolute silence. Curt had just confirmed what he has thinking over the last few months. He looked away. "I...I have to go." He raised from the seat, unzipped his pocket and went to grab his thin leather walled.

Curt observed his movements. He only wanted to help Peter. He was heading a path it wasn't meant to happen. He's a good man. Connors couldn't bear the thought of seeing Peter ruining by himself everything he fought and stood for.

As Peter opened his wallet and searched its contents, Connors spotted a small picture of a blonde child set down close to his bank cards. "Your daughter, she's a beautiful young girl; looks exactly like her mother." He smiled sympathetically.

Peter firstly looked up at Connors, then at the picture on his wallet. He smiled weakly as if the weight of the world over his shoulders just had vanished away. "Yeah, I hear that a lot, but thank you; she's... my life to put it shortly."

Curt nodded. "I know."

After retrieving a couple of hundred of bucks from his wallet, Peter handed them to Connors, who hesitated in taking it. "You need this."

"Peter..."

He continued, "Change your name, your appearance, Connors is no more; take it, for me." He gestured his head to his open hand that held the notes.

Connors hesitated at first, but later took his friend's offer and gave him a respectful nod.

Peter groaned lightly due to the injury. He took his gloves off, allowing his bare hands to breath and searched for any kind of civilian clothes around his surroundings, none could be seen.

_Maybe with my father's..._

"Be careful, Peter; the Osborn state is frozen, but what you can find within this family is always a mysterious." Curt warned.

Peter turned at him. He breathed heavily, "I know; take care of yourself, Curt..." He patted him on the shoulder with his free hand, before walking off the compartment while bringing his gloves and mask along.

"You too..." Connors said to himself, "_...and Peter, don't go down a path...you won't be able to come back."_

**Cemetery**

"All of them..." Peter stood in front of his Uncle's grave, hiding his hands inside the black hoodie's pocket. "Everyone I've helped, everyone I've saved...they're crucifying me."

He continued somber, "...and there's this guy, actually myself...that keeps haunting me; I don't know why, I don't know what the connection is - not yet anyways." He paused. "It's like my old life i-is coming back after me or something, like - if it doesn't want me to be happy."

Peter stood in silence for a brief time. "I know what you would say, _go out there, your happiness for other people's lives,_ no room for second thoughts if I can do something, right?"

The Parker followed such dilemma closely over the years and until now. Everyone, no matter where from, race, orientation and anything else that qualifies a person, all souls were worthy. He dedicated his will and body for them, every time, but he didn't know if he could continue doing that or if he's even capable of completing such monumental task anymore, or if he wanted to.

"But why? Why is it my job to save these people? Why do I have to forever be the _grand_ hero?" Peter asked, irritated. "What about us, uh? Can't Gwen live the rest of her life without having to worry about the dangers of being my wife? What about the twins? Do they deserve to be overwhelmed by my shadow when they get older? Elizabeth is not supposed to have a degree, get married, build her own family and give them a peaceful life?"

_I just want to be a good father, and a friend._

He rubbed his eyes to remove any trace of incoming tears as he stared the graveyard. "I...try to keep the city safe, and they're angry; I save their lives daily, and they're angry; I stop a much bigger threat - twice - with my own damn blood!" He snarled and looked up towards the sky. "Can't one single thing on this _damned_ world just stay fixed!?"

Peter exhaled deeply, his hands shaking slightly in anxiety. He returned his gaze to the original spot and closed both fists. "Why do we have to sacrifice everything...I want to...do the right thing...have I lost the definition of what that really means?" A single tear slid down from his right eye and down his cheeks.

"What am I supposed to do...Uncle Ben?" Peter whispered weakly to himself while not taking his eyes away from the stone. He waited for any kind of response, not that he certainly expected one, just...anything.

Peter cleared his throat. He already had vented enough. "Yeah...well, I miss you...I hope you're having a good rest in where you might be...goodbye, Uncle Ben." He placed the tip of his finger over the grave and closed his eyes, paying his respects to such beloved man, before turning on his shoulder and calmly walking way from the area.

It was then when Peter noticed his wallet wasn't inside his hoodie, it was empty. He immediately stopped on his tracks and turned around once more, spotting what he was looking for not so far away, and back into the Parker's resting area down in the grass.

When close enough, he kneeled and went to grab it, instantly seeing that half of the tiny picture of Gwen was midway off the wallet while the other part remained inside. He had framed her sat in one of Midtown's outdoors benches, she wore her black blouse accompanied by a white shirt underneath it and alongside her charming black headband. Although she posed for the photo, she didn't seem happy; in fact, that was after he had convinced her to miss class to hang out together instead. He had been craving her attention for eons back then.

Peter smiled weakly as he picked the small picture with his left hand. _Of course...Gwendy, always you, and no one else._

* * *

**Parker's Apartment **

After precisely landing on the balcony, Peter lowered his hoodie's top and carefully slid the door open. He made his inside while scanning the ambient wih his eyes. _Sneaking inside my own apartment. Just wonderful._ He thought to himself.

Peter walked around the kitchen's countertop and later stopped in front of the fridge, before slowly pulling the door towards him and being greeted by the automatic lights that flared on the second he pulled the door open.

His left hand went straight around the single bottle of water that was set next to the ice cream box. He took the cap out and brought the bottle against his lips, drinking all of its contents until there wasn't a single drop of water inside.

He was dead thirsty.

"Goodnight, _Daddy." _Gwen said from behind, putting an extra emphasis in the last word from her sentence.

Peter almost spit everything he quickly drank but refrained himself from doing so. His lungs - on the other hand, were now an ocean. He repeatedly smashed his chest with a closed fist and eventually turned around, seeing his wife wearing a white bathrobe while standing next to the stairwell, with crossed arms.

Ren could be seen sat down and besides her. A little green tenis ball was trapped inside his mouth. He had his head tilted to the side and aimed towards one of the Parkers.

"Um...hello, sweetheart." The fridge's door closed itself behind him. He cleared his throat. "You...look unsurprisingly astonishing."

Gwen placed a fake plastic smile across her lips. She noticed his suit appearing in the opening of the hoodie's collar. "So, where were you? Cause _mommy_ here...was rather surprised when she found the bed suddenly half-empty."

He rubbed the back of his neck, and that already sold everything to Gwen. "I was...patrolling."

"Oh, really?" He nodded, awkwardly. "Hmm, that's interesting...then why didn't you leave a note like you always do when you have to leave during the night? Better yet, why not bring your not phone along, uh?"

Peter took a few steps closer. Things were getting out of hand. He thought. "I forgot to do that, it was urgent, you know...?"

"That makes sense, obviously." Gwen said with a hint of sarcasm in her tone. She suddenly stared him deadly in the eyes. "Peter Parker, you're one lying moron...!" She stated, angry.

He raised his hands in defense. "Wow...! Why are you calling me a moron for?!" His tone raised slightly. It was the second time someone called him that during the week.

"Shh...!" Gwen quickly placed single finger over her lips. "_Our_ children, are sleeping, so shut the hell up." Peter was shocked. He never had seen her curse that much. It was so unusual for Gwen to act like that.

He tried to place a hand on her shoulder but she slapped his hand away. He whispered, "Honey..."

Gwen shook her head in disapproval. "Don't honey me; instead..." She moved her left hand inside the bathrobe's side and retrieved the small remote controller and pointed it towards the television, activating the screen in matter of seconds. "Explain that."

Peter turned on his shoulder and saw the same talk-show from minutes ago at Connor's place. They're now dissecting the footage gathered from some helicopter's point of view. Gwen knew everything, and he just got caught on his lie.

_"It's been confirmed just now, Spider-Man actually freed a convicted prisoner responsible for the biological attack in New York years ago. Authorities are now on high alert. Tony Stark already commented on the subject by saying that Spider-Man must have a reasonable reason. His words. But either way, Spider-Man committed a crime and he must be legally punished for his actions like any American civilizen."_

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Why would you do that, Peter? Since when do you break people out of prison? Don't you do the opposite?" She asked, concerned about the consequence of such decision.

"Look, I know how you feel about Connors-"

She cut him off, "It's not about what I think of the man, I'm torn by your decision of keeping things away from me, things you would normally share with your wife, not only that - you might just as well destroy everything you built over the years, and that affects not only you but possibly our children!"

"It...it just happened, Gwen, I physically needed him to unlock the same type of compartment my father had." He explained. "I'm one step closer to Harry now; I didn't want...to lie to you..."

She scoffed. "Yet you did; do you know how I felt when I discovered what my husband was doing through the damn television?" Peter gulped at the sight of her hurt expression. "I felt...as if I am some sort of secondary piece on your life, because...the man I created a family and I chose to spend the rest of my life with until the last moments, doesn't seem to think I'm trustable or capable of doing something at all...he didn't bother telling me he was going to visit the man who murdered my father on the first place - not even May, or your daughter."

Peter noticed the trembles on her voice and how deep it was becoming. He began softly, "It's not like that..."

She continued as a single tear slid from her left eye and down her cheek. "Combine the fact that you don't want me to help you nor do you tell me what's troubling you with everything that's happening on my job, I just can't..."

Peter gently moved his hand to her cheek. She didn't protest now. He wiped the trace of water off her skin as his own very eyes were becoming wet. He wanted to jump off the bridge for making his wife go through such pain. "I..I'm sorry...for everything, I'm not truly being honest with you, and you're right, I'm a complete utterly moron for lying to the only woman I'm supposed to count on."

"It doesn't work like that, Peter, this just keeps repeating...you recently don't seem to think I can help you, when I have been doing since the night you knocked on my bedroom window; I can't live like this, it's not healthy for me, having to wonder every time we go to sleep why you're locking yourself away from me." She took a heavy breath. "I'm tired..."

Peter stood quiet so that she could vent her emotions further.

She looked down towards the floor. "I do love you - I love you, but I have other stuff to do on my life besides looking out for you, one of them being three children - there's also my own professional career, and I won't stop pursuing those responsibilities because of you...it's already becoming emotionally overwhelming."

He placed both hands on her hips. "There's so many things I don't want to do, and making you suffer isn't one of them; you deserve to know what's happening, and I'll tell you everything... I just thought you already put up with a lot, and adding more to that pile is unbearable." He slowled pulled her into a hug. She didn't return it at first, but allowed him to embrace her. "It's not you, it's me, and I will...change to make things right."

Gwen rested her head on his shoulder, feeling his left hand massaging her back as he tightened the reassuring embrace. She whispered, "I need some time...to think about everything, and try to...regain the trust **I** placed upon you."

Peter closed his eyes and nuzzled her hair. "I understand." He had damaged their relationship enough. "I won't go against your word, no matter what that might be."

Gwen sighed and closed her eyes. She now had released everything that was trapped inside her throat for weeks. She began feeling lighter, as if part of the weight over her had just faded away during their exchange. There isn't a man as important as Peter is on her life, and she hated seeing him struggle, suffer and lie all at once.

It was obvious that the latest events took a toll over him. Hopeless. He was emotionally shattered. He didn't fully recover, and with the possibility of Harry being alive after all these years, she could only wonder the turmoil of emotions he was swimming through.

That also affected her. Their whole relationship. He was slowly distancing himself from his own family in order to accomplish his goals, and also losing his way during such path.

The break-out was only one of the evidences that reinforced such thought.

As they comforted each other without any words but actions, Gwen started to feel his weight getting heavier and heavier over her. His grip was loosening. She opened her eyes and placed both hands on his cagerib to gain some support.

"Peter...?" She called, but he didn't answer. Her right hand was now suddenly damped by some sort of thick substance.

Gwen looked down to her hand saw her palm slightly covered in blood. Peter was bleeding, and he apparently lost his consciousness since he wasn't answering her and his weight was becoming too much for her to handle.

"Hey - hey, hey...!" Gwen quickly patted his back, hopeful that would bring him back.

_Peter...?!_

* * *

"Wow, easy tiger." Gwen said gently after Peter suddenly opened his eyes and exhaled deeply on their bed. He was now awake but slightly disorientated, she had to push him back down when he tried to get up.

He was laid on his back and with two pillows under his head. His hoodie and the top of the suit were also missing. A bandage could be seen where an electric button did some damage hours ago.

"H-How...long was I out?" Peter asked the woman sat next to him. He still felt dizzy.

"Twenty minutes, and that's long enough to get me worried." Gwen held a white towel and removed the rest of blood strains that were spread on his abdomen due to the hoodie previously trapping the liquid inside him. "Did you know the commissioner has put five hundred cops after you?"

Peter smiled. "Five hundred? That seems a bit excessive."

"Yeah." She smiled shortly, before asking, "Maybe it's time you pay a visit to Dr Adams." She suggested.

"It's nothing serious; I just should have treated it earlier."

Gwen looked up to him. "Is it? That's the second time you pass out this week, since when did you start doing that?" She paused. "You went through worse before, maybe it's time we accept the possibility that you aren't as physically resilient as you used to be."

He sighed. She was right about the topic, as hard as it was for him to accept. Adams once told him to not abuse his powers, he suspected Peter was becoming his own venom, but he could be wrong. "Maybe you're right, that would answer a lot of questions; that time at the gym, when I was unconscious, I had this... dream...one more from a long list."

Gwen noticed his hesitation to talk about it. Maybe that was one of things he was hiding from her knowledge. "You can tell me." She said reassuringly.

He fixed his eyes to her green's. "In my dreams, there's this other me, he seems to be more...I don't know, ruthless? He says I have to change in order to succeed at my goals and protect my loved ones, and that I'm not reaching my full potential and causing more mistakes that he could count; he once told me that sparing Harry at the clocktower, almost backfired years later, and I think he's right about that, even if I wouldn't ever do that."

"Since when is this happening?"

He answered, "Since the war ended." He continued somber, "...and I don't know what's going on with me anymore, if this is simply some type of damn PTSD or if I'm simply going crazy like you told me once I got back from that whole new dimension."

"That's not true, and I wasn't myself that night." Gwen replied. "You're okay."

"You think? Look at what I have done so far, I have made more mistakes than I count...I lied to you, there's this day I sent a guy to the hospital after he robbed an old lady, if Matt didn't intervene, I would have probably lost my way for good, not only that, but you saw what happened when I freed myself from my kidnappers." A moment Gwen thought the worst when she first got there.

Peter didn't mention the one time he went the route he never had taken before in order to save his wife. He still felt ashamed for not thinking about something else, and that was when he began losing his faith on his ideals.

"I actually...enjoyed that moment, for a second." Gwen stood surprised at his confession, but she remained quiet. "Once you touch that darkness, it never goes, and maybe - deep down, that's who I am, a primal example of force that was contained until just now."

"There's _nothing_ dark about you, honey...absolutely nothing." She stated.

Peter shook his head. "There was a time I was a hero and not a stone cold psycho." He affirmed, "These are all the same sensations I had when the symbiote had control over me, but this time, its pure me." He gently placed the palm of his hand over her cheek. "I'm scared...I can't go down that road again, I can't _**become**_thatthing again."

"And you won't, we're together on this, whatever happens, we'll overcome it." She kissed the palm of his head.

He cleared his throat. "I just don't think I'm able to be Spider-Man for much further, not on this state, I have done more harm than good since I stopped Avenging." He moved a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. "I can't wake up with this false hope that everything will be alright and that I'll somehow be that man everyone wants me to be again."

Gwen placed a hand on his chest. "You can't just lose hope, honey; this is just a phase that will eventually go away, you need to believe in yourself." She leaned down ontop of his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

Peter began gently, "I don't want to be remembered by everyone as something similar to what I did tonight, our children nonetheless. They're that important too me." He caressed her shoulder. "If...If I do go down that path, if something happens to me, you need to take care of me, for all of us."

Gwen looked up to him with a shocked expression. "No, Peter, no...I won't ever do that, you don't get to quit on us, this family is all we ever had!" She said firmly. "You can't simply stop, you need to always keep fighting, you need to fight for that man I fell for, a man that wouldn't let anything put him down, a man full of life and love to give, I want him back...you want him back, you can't bail on me now because of some dream that is nothing but a bad - stupid dream; you're not a bad person and you'll never become one."

"I just..."

"Look, you've made some mistakes, yeah - no doubt, I also did, but you're trying to fix them, the fact that you're confessing all of this to me is another step into that direction, and that's not something dishonorable, it's the opposite." Gwen hugged him once again. "We need some time to figure things out...see where we stand; a hurricane went by lately, let's just take our time, okay?"

Peter eventually nodded as Gwen leaned her head under his chin. "I suppose you are right." His left hand adventured down through her covered back, and stopped over her thigh. She once again had persuaded him into accepting new point of view regarding some of his thoughts.

He hoped she was right, and that maybe...maybe he will eventually find himself at peace once again.

It was time to sit down and take a break from everything, at least after the one mystery left is solved, and when that is out of the way, they could be back doing what they love most, without worrying about everything and everyone.

"What will be your decision regarding Spider-Man, Peter?"

"I'm not really sure; we've lost so much...we've sacrificed so much." He replied.

She argued back, "But people are alive because of you, it's worth it...it sure hurts like hell, but it's worth it, and whatever your decision may be, choose it aware that you made us proud." She pulled the lonely lighten lamps' cord down.

It was unbelievable the effect Gwen had upon him. She always made him feel lighter when together, despite all. Peter yawned, he was now holding himself from not falling asleep with his wife lying ontop of his torso, a pleasant weight he didn't mind.

He also noticed Gwen had already chosen her spot for the rest of the night, and while that wasn't his top position, it sure was better than sleeping on the couch, at least Ren would accompany him, probably.

As their breathing slowly reached the lowest levels of frequency, Peter instinctively pulled the single white sheet over their warm bodies. The room embraced a silent present amidst the darkness, although that didn't last long enough after Peter's cellphone started vibrating in the stand next to the bed.

Gwen groaned in annoyance. She moved her right hand towards the stand, grabbed the device and answered the call without opening her eyes to check who was calling. "Yes...?" Her now husky voice inquired. "Sam...? What are you doing this late...?

Peter opened his eyes after the mention.

"No, I don't know what that is..." Suddenly, Gwen rose from her husband's chest. "What? Are you sure?

Peter raised an eyebrow before sitting next to her. " What's going on?"

"I see..."

He insisted, "Let me-"

"Shh." Gwen placed a single finger over his lips. "Hold that info, we'll see what will be of it later. Yeah...he does, thank you, we both appreciate it; no problem, Sam...alright, get some sleep." She moved the phone off her ear and slid the tip of her finger across the screen, turning the call down.

"Talk to me, honey."

Gwen turned on her shoulder, still holding his phone against her chest. "It's...Harry, they're going after him, this time for good."

"What? How do you know about this?"

She answered, "Sam was listening to their comms, they're now going to avoid exposure because of the element of surprise." She exhaled deeply as she prepared herself to the next revelation. "Also, if Harry tries to resist by using his curse to his defense, that will only increase its damage, meaning he could die; she read his file they apparently had."

Peter was lost in words. Once again, things were taking a spin he barely could follow. "What do I do, Gwendy...?"

She said calmly, "Go, I'm not going to stop you."

He sighed, and later nodded respectfully. He leaned in and kissed her lips deeply, caressing her cheek as he did so, enjoying the taste he would unfortunately miss for some hours.

Peter released her, gazed into her dark green eyes for a few seconds and quickly kissed her lips once again, before walking way from the bed and crouching to gather his Spider-Man chest set that was spread across the floor.

He fastly moved the single part down his head and then proceed to fit both arms inside their respective sections, and finally lowering the rest of the suit towards his waistline and adjusting the tiny hidden locks between his pants and the rest of the suit.

Noticing something flying towards his head from behind him, Peter quick turned on his shoulder and grabbed the incoming mask Gwen had threw from the bed.

She smiled contently. "Good luck, and bring him back."

"I will." Deciding to not discard the possibility of having to blend in, he gathered his clothes and dressed them over the suit and pulled the same hoodie over his head. He hid the mask inside his pants.

Better safe than sorry.

Gwen nodded to him as he slightly jumped across the bedroom and into the open window, leaving her alone to her own thoughts. She dropped her head over the pillows, exhaled deeply and stared at the ceiling.

She needed to just stay in silent for awhile, it's not like the recent days were relaxing days at all.

_Oh boy...I'm still in trouble._

* * *

**Upstate New York**

After driving miles away from Manhattan island and towards Upstate New York, Peter got off the main road and entered the path that cut straight through a dense florest. It was type of location he wasn't really used to it. His suit was rendered useless, unless if he wanted to protect his face from the squirrels he spotted running out of the road.

At least one useful thing was finally coming from it, memories. He now remembered being inside one of the cars given by Norman Osborn, they're meant to escort the guests to the manor, one of many in the Osborn empire.

Ben and May accompanied him that day. They had agreed in executing the funeral in such a distant area. They thought Norman Osborn was Richard's friend and that it was an honorable idea doing the event far away from the city and the press. His father did have a reputation, and his funeral would surely bring some important persons, one of them being Norman himself, a man that constantly lived with cameras directed at him.

Peter eventually reached a large gate. He could already see the enormous garden and straight path made of stone that led towards the main entrance of the manor. Surprisingly enough, the place was well taken care of, meaning someone was living inside there.

Either it was because of another Osborn Peter wasn't aware of, or Harry himself had really found some isolation.

He parked the car in front of the gate and gazed what kept him from entering the other side. It seemed so much easier on paper - get inside, talk to Harry, and bring him back. Now he struggled to come up with a plan or something to say in case he met the Osborn.

_There could even be any words?_ He wondered. _This is the man you grew up with, the only sort of friendship you had for years, he was there for you, Parker._

Peter sighed. He opened the door and stepped back to firm ground. He noticed the gate was actually half open, the locket that was supposed to keep it closed was broken and spread over the ground.

He raised an eyebrow in suspiciousness. It didn't take long enough to realization to finally kick in.

_Damn it...!_

He began sprinting from the gates and towards the mansion. His special sense was going crazy. He rushed to the front door, crouching to the right of it, before leaning his ear against the door with the goal of trying to hear something or someone he could surprise if it ever came to that.

_Nothing._

Peter turned the knob and got shocked by the fact the door wasn't actually locked. He only hoped it wasn't too late.

As he went inside he noticed several bodies of some type of special troopers lying in the ground of the enormous room which was now a completely wreck. Harry must have delt these ones by himself, the mess only reinforced the notion that a big confront just went down.

Such group wasn't an ordinary one. Their gear couldn't be found anywhere else, unless if they worked for the government.

_...would answer a lot of questions. They're probably aware of the inhumans by now, and were trying to contain - or study them. _

The only question was why they were after Harry.

Peter wasn't sure if they're dead, he could actually hear some painful low andisolateds groans. He approached one of the attackers who was lying on his stomach and carefully turned him on the ground.

The man coughed heavily under his mask and helmet. Peter asked, "Where is Harry Osborn?"

He slowly pointed with his hand at the stairwell that led to a new closed door at the end of it.

Even if he didn't needed to, Peter nodded thankfully and rushed straight forward towards the stair. He didn't stop his pace when he was about to reach its end, instead he propelled his shoulder against the door and stormed inside of what would have been an exquisite living room.

He immediately stopped on his tracks and looked up to the only two persons present in the room. He couldn't believe his sight. His eyes were surely playing a piece on him.

Harry was only some small meters in front of Peter. He held the same person who interrogated him days ago by the collar of his klevar vest since the man was kneeled next to him, clearly beaten up. They didn't even notice Peter's arrival.

The skin of Harry's arms was rather hardened and greenish, his hair was also slightly different, more conservative and a bit tad messy due to what he just went through, aside from that, he looked pretty much like the Harry he used to know, only this time he appeared exhausted and hurt. He gasped heavily as he prepared himself for the final blown towards the man.

Peter shouted, "Harry, stop...!"

Harry jumped at the familiar voice's call. He was startled as he turned on his shoulder and at Peter's direction, without letting the man go. To say he was shocked would be a monumental understatement.

His tired and painful voice asked, "Peter...? W-What are you...doing here?"

Peter took a single step forward. "You need to stop right now, if you keep using your disease, it will.._.kill_ _you_, for good." He wasn't even thinking about how Harry survived, he deemed it impossible, but such question wasn't important right now.

Harry's puzzled expression showed he wasn't really worried about that. _"And...?"_ Peter widened his eyes at the reaction. He wasn't expecting that. Harry continued, "You think...you **think** I deserve to live?"

"Don't do this to yourself..." Peter loosened his expression. He was feeling the pain and guilty his friend showcased through his physical expressions.

"After everything...everything I have ever done, you think it's worth saving someone who caused more harm than good on his entire life...? Why do you think I stayed away from you all these years...?" His eyes began to get wet.

Peter interjected, "It doens't matter now, we all make mistakes."

"Of course it matters, all of that matters, you just can't ignore your past." Harry said, desperately. "I also have this thing on me, and I've tried to fight it, I've tried to beat it on my own...b-but I can't, I'm...done."

Peter shook his head in negation. He said gently, "What the hell...man? You'll just walk way...?"

A single tear slipped down from Harry's left eye. "It's the best option... I'm tired of living like this, I really am; this dark...way, a shadow of the monster I once became, you know that better than anyone else!"

"Wait!" Peter continued sounding as if Harry had just said the most absurd thing ever, "I don't believe you...look - you are not evil, listen...you and me both are far - far from perfect, but we are **good**." He said reassuringly as he slowly took another step forward. "I have lost the count of how many times you tried to come up with something to help everyone since we were both kids."

Peter softened, "You aren't done, otherwise you wouldn't send me my father's will, you did that because you _need_ me, you're trying to be heard - looking for another way out; that's not an _evil_ _person_, Harry, that's a _good person."_

Harry sniffed as countless painful emotions filled his mind. "I wish I could...could believe that."

"You can, and I...came here to save you, to help you, because I just...can't do it...no without you, not anymore."

Harry began hurtfully, "You can _**barely**_ do with me! Last time we tried something I screwed things up and I almost killed the person you love the most, I can't do something like that again." He panted heavily. "And that's not even what I consider my greatest mistake in such a long list..." Peter couldn't see his friend on such state for any longer, it was painful to think Harry considered himself the worst factor on his life. He finished, "...it's the countless times I have disappointed you...I can't bear the thought of letting you down again."

Peter moved his eyes towards the ground. "Harry..."

"What if you think I'm not trustable again...? Who are you going to turn to this time around? Another Avenger...? Another_...Mercenary_...?" A second tear found its way down his cheeks. "You can't even imagine what's like to hurt the only person who you consider to be your family-"

"Okay - okay, just hold on!" Peter was aware of their dysfunctional relationship, but Harry was saying things that were not true regarding them. They're both making the same mistakes they did before.

He continued, "When are we going to change, man? We need to trust each other, we can't keep making the same poor decisions over and over again; listen - I can't believe what you just said, man...I-I refuse to...but Harry, come on...I left my wife alone, when she needed me the most, to save you...I'm willing to let this moron..." He pointed at the unconscious man without taking his eyes away from Harry's. "...and all other son of kittens who messed our lives up to **walk** away because of you! So don't you _dare_, think that I would scrap everything we ever had because of something that happened eons ago!"

Even durig their last encounter, Peter had realized that Harry was suddenly put in a situation he couldn't deal with it by himself, instead - he was forced to do things he would never think about in order to survive. That was the moment things fell apart, the second they decided to not rely on each other to overcome together any possible barriers. Harry thought he could handle everything by himself. He wasn't himself during that night, and Peter took the worst decision he could think of when he refused to properly help his friend in need.

Harry didn't remove his eyes away from Peter's. He was dripping in sweat, his body screamed in agony, but he wouldn't ignore him, not again.

Peter continued, "It's never been like that, ever...! I **want** to help you, and I need you to see that, I'm begging here."

Harry stood motionless, trying to assimilate everything Peter had just said in front of him. If there was someone he should listen to, it was him. Peter provided him what he lost when his mother passed away, affection.

He released the man into the floor and gasped in pain. He looked up at Peter. "How...can I stop this?"

Peter slowly approached him. He didn't have an accurate answer for that. He replied, "Just let it go."

"It's burning inside me, Peter, I can't..." Harry allowed the Parker to hold one of his arms as he checked them.

He squeezed his hand carefully and smiled reassuringly, "We'll find a way, okay?" Harry nodded. "Come here." Peter pulled him into a firm hug as he wrapped his strong arms around his shoulders, providing him the shelter he needed.

Harry groaned in pain and hugged him back and rested his chin over his shoulder. He slowly began to feel at ease. It had been years since he last experimented such act of affection, unsurprisingly, Peter was the last person he ever embraced until just now.

Peter said gently, "Just forget it..." He stroked his back and briefly closed his eyes. "Just forget it, brother...you're family and I'm here to bring you home." He whispered.

They stood in silence for a few more seconds. No words were needed.

Feeling the burning sensation suddenly fading away, Harry slowly pulled back and offered the sight of his arms to Peter. "Look." He said, surprised. The green marks were retreating, revealing his bare skin once again.

Peter smiled contently. "See? It will be alright."

Harry weakly smiled back, but his smile's duration was immediately cut short as he violently gasped in pain and fell on his knees. He felt as if his head was about to explode in tiny pieces. His face was heating in redness.

"Harry...?!" Peter grabbed his left arm, made him stood up once again before placing his arm around his neck. "No - no, come on, Harry!" He started hurrying towards the door and eventually walked downstairs in fast pace.

"I got you!" They stopped at the front door. Peter was about to open it but strong centralized lights coming from outside were instantly aimed at the windows. He could hear a commotion of people out in the yard. A helicopter now appeared to be flying over the manor.

_"You're surrounded, there's no escape!"_

Peter cursed, "Damn it...!" Hunters had arrived.

He held Harry tightly against him. He seemed to be losing his consciousness. "Hold on, buddy, hold on." He took a peek through the curtains and saw a barricade of black SUVs stationed next to other while the special forces used them as covers. Red dots coming from countless weapons were now directed at the entrance.

That wasn't even the most shocking sight. Peter spotted a tall and strong figure standing next to one of the cars. It had it's arms crossed, and it was covered by a very familiar black substance, one that formed a white spider that began on its chest and was connected with one on the back through its legs.

_Another one...? It can't be Flash. The suit is not with him anymore._

They suddenly started slowly walking towards the manor. There wasn't anywhere to go. They're trapped.

Peter looked to his side and at Harry. He was struggling to breath and to see anything. Peter might lose him if didn't bring him home.

_I didn't come this far to lose you again..._

Peter felt a quick disturbance in the once empty space of air behind him. He turned on his back and brought Harry along. His eyes widened. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, it wasn't Harry's, but the presence's. "You..."

* * *

**A/N : Hey everyone! Hope you all had great holidays :) After losing half of this chapter and having to rewrite it once again, it's finally done. I also spent some time writing my new story during the disappointment of having bits of this chapter lost.**

**This is a piece I am really proud of how it turned out, also difficult. Just one more chapter until the conclusion of the aftermath and its side plot, the next one won't take much longer because most important stuff were written here.**

**As you can see, Harry is back. His return is something I've been meaning to write since chapter 31. I was just waiting for the most appropriate time. The character has never been forgotten throughout the fic. Harry had so much potential in the movies, but his personal story was tossed aside to get to that point we all don't really appreciate. I always liked him, until that part.**

**I wanted to write these two character, Peter &amp; Harry, as friends who obviously have a lot common, so here, they are going through basically the same problems, both mentally and physically, and bonding once again is something that helps them both, first at childhood, now during adult life. It was really challenging writing that, and in the end, I hope I succeeded at it.**

**Another factor I wanted to highlight, is how much important the strong women of Peter's life are to him. They're there to pick him up, chastise him and teach him a valuable lesson, while having to deal with their own issues aside from him, building the Peter and Spider-Man we have grown to love.**

**Some throwbacks were added to the chapter. You can't build the future without looking at the past. So yeah, Peter's delusions were addressed, and that will help build the most wise and capable Spider-Man he can be.**

**Richard and Mary's funeral actually happened like that. TASM2's Blu-Ray (Commentary) says that. Some creative liberties were taken.**

**One last chapter before the inevitable time jump. What I consider to be the most important character on the story, will gain a great focus later on as she grows. We'll get back to those random one shots of before, with all humor and fluff this originally began with, while absorbing some elements that I think will improve and refresh the story.**

**Big thanks to Sebas F and Firefly Survivor.**

**I hope you guys enjoyed it, and if it's not too much to ask for, please review.**

**PS : The Force Awakens was awesome...!**

**PPS: Rey, though.**


	54. There's No Place Like Home

**July 9th - 2028**

Harry shot his eyes open with a quick and desperate exhale of air. He stared the ceiling of some dark room, feeling a comfy and soft material under his back, a bed.

Confused, Harry raised his chest and checked his surroundings. Next to the only available wardrobe, there was a half open window and white curtain that allowed the sun's early morning rays adventure inside the place.

He groaned in pain and rubbed his eyes, before carefully moving his feet down into the floor and eventually standing up.

A small digital clock was placed over the stand and besides the bed he was previously on.

_06:47_

Harry sighed. There wasn't much he remembered after Peter stormed inside the manor he used to hide himself from the world for years after his presumed death, even him didn't fully know he made it.

He reached for the only door, opened it and entered a half-dark corridor of some sort. It seemed like he was currently located inside an apartment, lights weren't triggered due to the sun slowly returning from the other side of the planet to give life where darkness once prevailed.

At the far end of the corridor, a spiral stairwell could be seen. Harry held the handrail and began walking downstairs. He spotted a tall and strong masculine figure standing in front of the large horizontal window as he observed the city being filled with dark shades of orange that came from the star far away from them.

A golden haired and fastly asleep young girl had her head laid against the man's shoulder and arms around his neck while he kept her safe with his own arms. He had never seen her before.

Noticing incoming movement from behind him, Peter turned around and saw the Osborn looking at them from the stairwell. He caressed Elizabeth's back with his left hand underneath the shirt of her pajamas' set which was completed by a pink short.

He nodded for Harry to get closer.

"How are you holding up?" Peter asked after Harry approached them.

He rubbed his shoulder. "I'm okay," He smiled at the sight. "I'm guessing she's... your daughter, I mean - she reminds me of Gwen."

"You're right, Elizabeth is her name." Peter kissed the top of her head and briefly nuzzled her hair, feeling the shampoo's scent all over it. "She woke up some minutes ago and went to my bedroom."

Harry smiled, surprised. "Elizabeth? You always had a thing for the name if I remember right." He now realized how different things became since they last saw each other.

Peter explained lowly, "My mother used to tell me that if I ever had a sister, she would be called Elizabeth, so I guess this is my way of honoring her memory, with my _'baby'_ girl; she's pretty my everything.

"I get that." Harry crossed his arms. He watched Peter lower Elizabeth down into the couch before carefully bringing a satin blanket over her small frame, the air conditioner was succeeding in doing its job by keeping the whole apartment safe from the summer's warmth.

Peter gestured for Harry to tag along. He said friendly, "Kitchen."

Harry nodded. Once they arrived to the chosen area, Harry respectfully sat in one of the seats next to the large countertop in the middle of the room and observed Peter as he opened the many cabinets in search of something. "Where is Gwen...?" He asked.

"She's sleeping, gotta enjoy the little time left before the kids are up and running around." Peter answered, before opening the fridge and taking a peek inside.

"Wait... kids?" Harry frowned.

"Twins, quite the figure my boys are." Peter slightly turned on his shoulder. "Do you want some non-alcoholic beer? I thought there was some coffee left; I didn't get to sleep at all so this is not so weird."

He nodded. "Wow... you have a big family then." He smiled happily. "Living the dream, uh? This is something you've always wanted, and I'm happy for you."

Harry tried to forget the forget the fact he almost took everything Peter currently had away from him, at least the present he created with the woman he loved the most.

"Thank you," Peter sat down next to the counter and opened his beer.

Harry took a sip, trying to shove aside such thoughts for a moment. "So, aside from... you know, making babies, what have you been up to?"

He laughed at the tease and shook his head. "Well, where do I start... I began working at Empire State as a bio-scientist; I still take some pictures for Jameson, just to protect my identity a little more, and some years ago I've joined the Avengers."

"I've heard about that;" Harry interjected. "The best of the best."

Peter nodded in agreement. "You could say that; thing is... while it was great and the paycheck was anything but small, it was taking me away from my family, and after Ultron, and the whole crap I went through to defeat the bastard, I just needed my wife and kids."

"I can only imagine what it was like, those drones never really reached the zones outside the main cities."

"I know..." Peter paused. "... dying, or at least almost, it really opened my eyes, it told me how I could lose everything in matter of seconds." Peter affirmed. He was ready to sacrifice himself back when he had to activated the Breach by his own. "Harry, I saw... you _die_, I remember that night as if it was yesterday."

_Peter's blood froze in shock as time slowed down. He couldn't believe his sight. __"No...!"__ He screamed and began sprinting towards them. _

_Harry activated the bomb he was hiding and threw at his father as his last attempt to make things right. The blast made him fly out of his father's hand and backwards until he collided against his friend._

_Peter recomposed himself and moved besides his Harry. He was struggling to not close his eyes "Hey - hey," He sat down and made Harry stand on his knees. He cuppped his cheeks with both hands. "It's okay, it's not even that bad, right?" He moved his hand to his back and felt a thick substance coming from inside the armor. "You're fine, May will patch you up, you will be as good as new, okay?"_

_Peter observed him slowly lose his consciousness on his arms. His mind was now getting filled by panic. "No... Harry! Hey..." He gently patted his cheek in order to wake him. "Hare, hey...! No - no... no," He made Harry rest his chin over his shoulder. His eyes were half closed. "Harry...?" He called lowly. "I got you, I'm gonna take care of you..." A single tear moved down his right eye. He suddenly shut his eyes and tightened his grip on his friend. "Harry...?!" He shouted as harder as he could._

Harry cleared his throat and broke eye contact with Peter. He started lowly, "I don't know how to explain what happened, hell - I still don't understand..." He paused. "I remember waking up at that one manor, there's this scar on my stomach, and my loyal Butler was watching over me; he took care of me for days after he told everyone Harry Osborn had indeed died, he passed away of old age some years ago..."

"I'm sorry, he was a good man." Peter said sympathetically. He recalled the friendly treatment he received from the man whenever he went to visit Harry during their childhood.

"Yeah, well... for some reason, of all people on this world, I somehow cheated death, Peter." Harry looked up at him. He tightened his grip over the bottle. "So, I don't know if it's really me, or if I am some sort of stupid clone... but... I am alive, _me_..."

"I'm... glad for that." Peter continued, "If I wasn't aware of these stupid Inhuman Hunters, I'd probably never find you, or worse, you would die there... but you didn't, you're here now, that's all that matters."

Harry cleared his throat. "Inhumans?" Peter shrugged his shoulders. He still knew little about the whole picture. "They think I am one of them then; I don't really know what I am, I'm not even supposed to be here after everything I've caused."

"I know what you are, my friend, that alone is _enough_."

Harry exhaled slowly. Peter was too much good of a person, someone who didn't deserve all the bad things that were throw at him, and he was part of those things. "It had been such a long time since someone looked at me the way that man I was about to kill did."

"You successfully stood against all of them, he had more than one reason to fear you, Harry."

"That's not what I mean, it wasn't fear, but pure horror." Harry gulped. "When I was breaking out of Oscorp, those who survived, stared at me exactly like he did, and they were seeing a monster back then, and yesterday it was only me."

Peter affirmed firmly, "Not the same thing."

"Either way, I was somehow given a second chance - despite everything, you know?" He questioned. "And my curse still remains, the thing that destroyed everything I ever had on the first place."

Peter interjected, "Look, all of that, what happened years ago, everything - that was _then_..." He moved his bottle towards Harry and waited for him to do the same but towards him. "...here's to _now_, okay?"

Harry hesitated at first. He set his gaze to Peter's hand, maybe it was time to finally move on, and start fresh, this time with the help of someone dear to him. He grabbed his own bottle and gently bumped it against Peter's as they shared a drink amidst the quietness of the area.

The Osborn eventually broke the comfortable silence, "Peter... how did we get out of the manor last night? What happened?"

He scratched the back of his neck, awkwardly. "Um...okay, hear me out..."

_**Past Night...**_

"You again... " Peter muttered as he leaned himself against the rooftop's handrail and watched the city with tired eyes. He had to caught his breath after somehow getting home and placing Harry into bed while hoping for the best. "I remember you, Cassiel; thank you for taking care of you.

"I thought so." He said neutrally. "Although that wouldn't be my real name, and you're welcome."

Peter turned his head slightly on his shoulder and stared the man's feet. He still wore the same outfit, a trench coat, with a darker color this time around. "Then what's your real name, if I may ask?"

"Ezekiel," He replied, reluctantly. Too much information was being given by him. He proceeded, "Cassiel would be... a great hero of my kind, I believe."

Peter rubbed his the back of his head. He sighed. "Couldn't you simply say that when we first met?"

"I needed to preserve my presence, failing to wipe your memory wasn't intended, and I still wonder how you managed that." Ezekiel explained.

Peter nodded to himself. "Hmm..." He fully faced him. "But why now?"

"If not for me, you've taken by those men and your family would never see you again."

He chuckled, sarcastically. "I find that hard to believe, you don't seem to know who I am, nobody overcomes me now."

"It is the truth, I've seen it." Ezekiel said, confused at Peter's lack of faith on him.

"Okay, so you're basically saying some powerful and ancient alien-"

He interrupted him, "I am not an alien." He replied, offended.

Peter couldn't tell if the man was being serious. "Whatever... you once told me you're the first of the Inhumans."

"I guess you could say that, yes." He nodded.

Peter continued, "Right, and somehow, you appear on my life not once but twice, claiming to have seen what the future might have been."

"It's a matter of choice, while my kind can see what may happen, we can't change that." He revealed. Peter smiled, not believing him. "What's the matter? You don't think I'm being truthful?"

"Not really, and I don't get why such powerful being would waste his time with me, what's the catch here?"

Ezekiel eventually nodded in understanding. He began, "One thing at the time." He gently grabbed Peter's pulse.

The scenery around them instantly changed as the pair were now located at some fancy apartment. Peter fastly spun on his feet and tried to make sense of what happened and where he were.

"What have you done?" He inquired.

Ezekiel replied, "This is a mere projection of what could have been if you made a different decision years ago, this is the outcome of it, and my way of proving my word to you."

Peter was about to ask something if the sound of a recognizable baby's cry wasn't heard by him. It came from the unfamiliar apartment's hallway. He carefully followed the sobbing, it led him into a bedroom. He immediately spotted Gwen sat over a bed and with her back leaned against the bed's headboard. She held an infant with both arms.

_"It's okay, sweetie."_

He took a few steps inside. "Gwendy...?" He stopped next to the bed, but she didn't seem aware of him at all.

Ezekiel leaned his shoulder against the bedroom's entrance and crossed arms. "She can't see you, this isn't real." He began feeling dizzy, but remained his position nonetheless.

"What is this? The past? I don't recall any of this." Peter looked at the baby. She looked exactly like Elizabeth when she was born.

"Like I said, this a single outcome, this is what would've happened if you had given Harry your blood shortly after you two met again."

Gwen looked up to the TV on the other side of the bedroom. "_That's your daddy, Liz."_ She spoke. _"He's a good man, too good - actually; grandma should be here soon."_

Peter followed her gaze, seeing Spider-Man at New York through the TV. It was the news, England's, and he appeared wearing the infamous black suit. "I don't get it."

"Peter, after giving Harry your blood, you've accompanied Gwen to England. You both would stay together for the first three years, truth is - you never thought of England as your home, you felt like you were not doing what you should do by staying with Gwen, which is helping people against those who can't be stopped by anyone else." Ezekiel continued, "Things weren't working out between you two, Gwen knew you were feeling a stranger here, and it began affecting both of you, and after countless arguments, you both decided that sharing a life together, might be too much when you two have different goals in mind."

"I wouldn't leave her alone with my child." He said incredulously.

"You didn't know, she never told you."

"What?" Peter asked, aghast.

"Gwen knew you were needed as Spider-Man, she didn't want to stop you from doing what you wanted, she chose to grow Elizabeth by herself after you parted ways for good." Ezekiel exhaled deeply in exhaustion.

"So, without clocktower, I wouldn't realize this Gwen is the one I should care the most since she never went through with my Gwen did?" He speculated.

Ezekiel nodded. "Something like that." He said softly.

Peter kneeled next to the bed. Gwen affirmed gently, "_You have his cheeks." _The baby squealed on her arms. She smiled both happy and sad at the same time.

He buried his head over his arms over the bed. "Is this real?"

Ezekiel hesitated at first, but he shook his head. "No, it is not."

"Is there... anything else you can show me?" Peter rubbed his eyes and stood up, noticing Ezekiel's fatigue.

"Yes." He snapped his fingers. They were now located in some empty street.

Peter instantly recognized the place, Oxford. He felt some moment behind him. He turned on his back and spotted two twins walking across the street and towards the other side.

_"Dude, you should be kissing my ass!"_ The one with messy hair spoke first.

"Dave..." Peter followed them closely. They appeared to be seventeen years old, if not more.

Aiden rolled his eyes, annoyed. "_What you're talking about - I solely handled them just fine, and those douchebags were the ones who started it."_

Peter smiled in adoration. "You guys... are looking good!" He chuckled happily. They weren't aware of him as they apparently headed towards home.

David teased, "_Yeah, right... look what at any girl can do to you."_

_"She wasn't any girl." _He retorted. Peter walked behind the pair, quietly.

David snickered. _"That's what you said two weeks ago!"_ He carefully elbowed him to the side and slightly into the road.

Aiden stepped back to the sidewalk. _"And that's your problem man, you can't get any girl, and you deposit your frustrations on me, stop being such a nerd will ya?"_

_"I'm just not a dog like you."_ He countered, noticing the small cut under his brother's lower lip. _"Mom will have a field day with you, and Liz will most likely kick your sorry and ugly-butt once she knows."_ He grinned.

_"Come on, Dave..."_

Peter laughed. "They sure will."

Ezekiel interjected, "We have to go."

He stopped on his tracks and turned on his shoulder to face him. He eventually nodded and took one last look at the twins who were now a few meters away from him. "Was this... not real as well?"

"It could be." Ezekiel affirmed. "It's up to you."

"Then...I guess I believe you, just take me back."

He calmly approached Peter and placed his right hand on his shoulder. They were now back where they left on. Peter breathed relieved and slowly stood up. "Okay, I get your point now." Ezekiel seemed stunned. He suddenly fell towards Peter who quickly held him with both arms. "Buddy, what's going on?"

"I...I..." He touched his own forehead and then looked up to Peter. He slowly recomposed himself and stood back on his feet. "I just suffered from Inhuman sickness."

"Is that a thing?" Peter raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm not adapted to long exposure on Earth, it's been like this for millenniums... the more I stay here, the more weaker my powers get, and I just used them a great deal in order to show you all of that." Ezekiel revealed.

"Wow... I-I...just ..._wow_." He paused. "So, in the end, helping Harry back then wouldn't have brought much happiness instead of what I got now?" At least his boys seemed happy along with Gwen and Elizabeth, the last part was more than acceptable.

"Maybe." Ezekiel sighed.

"Hmm..." Peter mumbled, in thought. "Will you... remain in touch?"

Ezekiel nodded and smiled truthfully. "I think so, most likely."

Peter crossed his arms. "I have... so many questions."

"I'm aware of that, but I really need to recover my strength."

Peter focused on his blue's eyes. "Just one then... where do you come from, where's your whole kind?"

He replied, "What's left of my superiors are far away from this planet, some of us balance the world from unnatural forces when needed."

Peter insisted, "Okay... but, from all people on this world, why me? What makes me so important for you to stop to help me?"

Ezekiel fixed his blue eyes straight at Peter's as he remembered a memory from not far ago. _"Peter did everything right, more than we could ever hoped for, but he still is just one man. If we lose him, all is lost." Ezekiel affirmed. His superior argued back, "Then do what you can so that we don't lose him."_

He walked closer and answered politely, "Because... while you don't think you deserve to be saved, you still have work to do, such work is always close to you, and I'm here to guarantee the possible fruit of your task when needed, no matter what it takes."

* * *

After waking up and finding the bed empty - as usual, Gwen went into the fancy bathroom and took a heavy breath as she stared her reflection in the rectangular mirror.

_What a night..._

She shook her head and began carefully brushing her teeth and later fixing her golden hair. She washed her face and opened one of the drawers next to the sink, looking for a towel.

The door of the bathroom was slid open with Peter slowly stepping inside. He met her deep green eyes through the mirror. "Morning, beautiful."

Gwen smiled contently as she searched for the proper lotion. "Hey," She felt a single hand gripping her waistline.

He fully stood behind his wife. "I hope you slept well." He planted sweet kisses on her shoulder.

"I did." She placed the lotion next to the wrapped towel. "How is Harry?" She asked gently, curious.

Peter snaked both arms around her and rested his hands over her toned abdomen. She always looked lustful, even more after their children, she quickly got back into her original shape, and Peter admired her determination regarding her body. "He's much better; he went outside to buy some breakfast and search for a job, he'll probably be away for a few hours."

"He's staying then?" Gwen slightly turned her head to the side. He nodded. "That's great, honey."

Peter's lips reached the side of her neck. He closed his eyes at her natural scent. They're together for more than a decade and he still couldn't spend a day without feeling her scent. "I know..." He kissed the smooth and delicate skin and moved the shirt's lock over her shoulder down her arm with his lips.

"What are you doing...?" Gwen questioned playfully and smirked at the intimate and welcoming closeness. "I'm still mad at you."

"I already apologized for my dumb action." He muttered and tightened his grip around her, fulfilling his desire of just feeling Gwen's warm body pressed against his - to simply feel her, nothing else. "I've missed you... we barely get to spend some quality time together for a some days now."

"I see," She placed her hands over his which were ontop of her abdomen. "Everything will be alright, we can finally catch our breath.'

Peter confessed, "I hope so, I really do... things are finally getting back to their places, I already feel better." Gwen looked up to him and kissed his clean jaw, before proceeding to wash her hair on his arms.

"I am glad." She said sympathetically. At least she could get Peter's health out of her head knowing he is doing well.

Peter moved his left hand up to her chest and drew soft circles over the skin. "Honey..."

"Yes?" Gwen focused in washing her hair.

He rested his chin over her shoulder. "Have you ever wondered... if something we experienced together would have turned out differently?"

Gwen frowned. "Hmm... a couple of things, indeed." She inquired, "Why do you ask?"

Peter looked into her eyes through her reflection. "Remember Ezekiel, I told you about him after getting home."

"The weird Inhuman, right?"

He chuckled. "You shouldn't say that, he would probably get offended, he's quite a nice - sensitive guy, just different." She shrugged on his arms. "Anyways, he showed me different versions of certain moments of our lives, and yeah - Ezekiel can actually do that, and I'm really sure he wasn't lying."

"Only the fact that you trust him makes me believe him then." Gwen replied. "What did you see?"

Peter cleared his throat. "England."

"That was ages ago." She smiled, nostalgic. Lots of good memories from the country, especially their romantic escapades. "What about it?"

"Well, I saw what would've happened if I had given Harry my blood, it's not that different, I mean - there wasn't any Clocktower, only Max; we traveled together, just like it really happened."

"You think you took the wrong call then?" She peered into his eyes.

"No, no... after seeing that, I don't think so, sure, I should've assisted Harry in some way, that's not up debate." He paused. "It's just that... apparently I didn't think anything could happen to you, I didn't realize how much important you are to me and how fast I could lose you, so England never felt like a place I could be happy, that's what Ezekiel said, and it can make some sense."

Gwen didn't reply at first. She took a few seconds to digest what he was trying to say. "Okay... go on."

"Right, this will be unexpected, but we weren't getting along during the last months, so we decided I should do what's best to me, I left you, we thought that parting ways for good was the best option..." He continued somber, "I left you... and, well - you had Elizabeth by yourself after I was gone, you would never actually tell me."

"Really...?" Gwen stopped washing her hair. "That's... um, really unexpected." The idea of having Peter's child and never telling him about it was something she deemed impossible to happen.

"I told you," He affirmed. "It's crazy, thank god that never happened."

Gwen placed the comb back in the sink and turned on his grip. She rested both hands on his shoulder. "It didn't happen, okay? The important thing is that we are together and here now."

"I know... I know, Miss Gwendy." He smiled and leaned forward and kissed her lips, before speaking, "I just want you to know that I love you so much."

She now realized why he had dropped by. He was insecure after the vision. She affirmed lovingly, "I love you too, baby."

Peter smiled happily and brushed a golden fringe to the side. "You had to see our boys, though."

Her eyes beamed in expectation. "He also showed you that?"

"Yup, they're as handsome as you could think." He grinned. "Also, they are close to each other, I can guarantee you that."

"That's all I ever wanted." She replied. "What about Liz?"

"Didn't see her, but they talked about her as if she was their second mother." Peter chuckled happily.

She brushed the tip of his against hers. He reciprocated the Eskimo kiss. "That seems very accurate, we Stacy women are always taking charge."

He smiled smugly. "I can't say if that's true about all of them, but I know about the Stacy in front of me, specially when she's ontop of things."

"That's what I love about my mainly yet adorable husband, he's always delicate and very romantic." Gwen played along, wrapping her arms around his neck.

His right hand lowered to Gwen's buttocks as he groped them. He so wanted her. "I can be gentle if you ask nicely."

She giggled. "What's up with you on this morning?"

Peter suddenly grabbed her legs and lifted her over the sink. Gwen squealed lightly as she quickly kept him close by moving her slender and naked legs around his waist. "I'm just happy, and even more happier after seeing you."

"I can **literally** feel that!" Gwen grinned. They were inches from each other's lips. She could feel his hot breath and dark eyes filled by desire. "So, Harry is away..." He nodded. "...and the kids are sleeping..."

"And it's very early..." Peter once again kissed her neck, slightly sucking the skin in a single spot. Gwen caressed his hair and moaned shortly. He finished huskily, "... and you're so absolutely gorgeous and comfy in a way that you could be my pillow..." He began pulling Gwen's shirt up after she raised her arms to help him.

He tossed the shirt aside and into the floor and kissed the valley between her bra-clad breasts. Gwen giggled and helped him take his own shirt off, revealing his muscular and toned torso. She loved the magnificent sight of her pure man.

"You little minx," Peter said amused and unabashed watched her covered breasts.

"I always have been a very nice girl," Gwen protested playfully. She reached with her hands to adjust an imaginary halo with a giggle, "The horns are just there to keep the halo straight!"

"I know, " Peter chuckled and his hands slid down to her hips, holding her shorts tightly, holding the urge from not ripping it off her body.

Gwen sucked on his lower lip and released it, she opened her eyes and looked into his eyes and she said lustful, "You must impress me after your latest behaviors, a bad little boy you have been."

"Sounds good to me," He winked amorously.

"You better handle me thoroughly," Gwen purred and wrapped her arms around his neck. She taunted, "But if you don't I'm taking charge."

"Famous last words, Gwendy," Peter taunted back before he pressed his lips to hers and they kissed long and passionately.

* * *

Gwen collapsed over Peter's chest and kissed him deeply as she tried to express exactly what she felt for him through her lips after they hit their limit. Peter pulled the covers over them and wrapped his arms around her and reciprocated the kiss. Gwen felt happiness overcome her in his embrace. It was only them, nothing else was present; no problems. It was just that moment.

"Oh my god..." She breathed heavily, trying to catch her long lost breath as her left hand caressed his six pack.

Peter exhaled deeply. "You called...?" He teased, breathless. Gwen laughed and swatted his chest. "That was... awesome, wow."

She began kissing his warm neck and slowly descended down to his chest. "You say 'awesome' a lot, don't you?"

He countered playfully, "That's nothing compared to the squeals I hear from you." He placed a hand over her sweaty back.

"You're lucky I'm euphoric now," Gwen said mirthful. "You're in so much trouble later."

Peter chuckled. "Are you okay?" He cupped her flushed cheek.

She looked into his eyes and beamed, "I feel amazing, Peter." She took his hand in hers and squeezed lovingly, "I want to cuddle so bad."

Peter's heart surged, feeling pretty good about himself having made her finish the way she had.

Gwen lied down in the covers and next to him and snuggled close with arms around each other and intertwining their legs.

Under the sheets, Peter began caressing and fondling gently one of what Gwen sometimes called 'twins' while his other hand drew soft circles on her spine. Gwen reciprocated and enjoyed caressing his chest and stomach. She leaned in and they shared a lingering and deep kiss.

Gwen stopped kissing and teased regarding his unabashed fondling, "You're such a pervert."

"Come on, Mrs Parker, I'll be a pervert all I want," Peter teased. "Having the sight of you laying naked next to me makes me appreciate life. You're a work of art."

"Naw, you really know how to make a woman feel good about herself," Gwen retorted playfully.

"I guess it's a gift I have," Peter chuckled proudly. He teased childishly, "Are you going to stop me?"

"Child," Gwen retorted snarky. She said dryly, "Peter is so mature, is he not? Just like your teenage crush on that Cleopatra movie or something."

"My first love," Peter quipped.

Gwen rolled her eyes trite. "Casanova Peter must have been something to see."

Peter began rambling, "Not really, I've been shot down more times than I can remember, I was awkward; Spider-Man on the other side could have been with all sorts of women and I can count super models on one hand-" He stopped rambling when he noticed Gwen's eyes narrowing at him and glaring.

She chided, "Are you trying to establish your credentials?"

"Uhm... no," He protested cautiously.

"Ugh," Gwen uttered annoyed and rolled to the side and swatted away his hand from her chest and looked up in the ceiling. "Such a mood killer, Peter."

Peter winced a bit at his inadvertent blunder. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her close and started to tell a story of his past, on his expense, to ease the tension, "When I was in kindergarten I liked this girl, you know, the childish way of liking a girl. So to show her I liked her I grabbed a handful of sand and stuffed it in her mouth."

Gwen burst out laughing and turned in his arms and wrapped around him again.

"Silly," she teased.

Peter deadpanned, "So maybe I was a real Casanova even back then." He grinned, "And I know some great pickup lines." He acted over the top smooth, "Have you fallen into sugar, because your butt is sweet."

Gwen giggled. She quickly refrained herself from doing so.

"So… you're telling me Gwen Maxine Stacy would have fallen for that pickup line?" He prodded with a grin.

"No, she wouldn't," Gwen shook her head, containing a kind smile.

Peter kissed her lips and said softly, "I'm just a dork who have been incredibly lucky to find an amazing perfect girl I will always want to spend the rest of my life with."

Gwen melted into his lips in adoration. They eventually broke the kiss to recover their long lost breath. "Who told you that pickup line?"

He said disappointed, "_Honey..."_

"I'm sure you didn't create it, I know you."

Peter scoffed. "Okay, Flash told me." He rolled his eyes. She smiled, contently. "Changing topics, this is more serious; during the moment back at the manor, among all the troops, there was... another person wearing the symbiote, like another Spider-Man, really similar to the black suit."

"Again?"

He nodded. "Yeah, something is going on, it didn't seem like an ordinary baddie." He paused. "I'll keep an eye open."

"You should, because with this Spider-Man outbreak, how do I know you're the real one?" Gwen caressed his hand over her bare belly.

He shrugged. "I'm the only Peter Benjamin Parker there has ever been."

"Hmm, good point... I guess I'm stuck with you." She had been long desiring just a lovely and playful moment for them both, and even if it was shorter than what she had in mind, it was worth it.

Peter leaned in next to her ear and whispered flirtatiously, "Would any other cheap Spider-Man knock-off besides the real one know about that spot just above your..."

Gwen smiled. She swatted his hand. "Stop, I believe you." She turned around and began kissing his lips while Peter brought her closer by pressing her back towards him. She whispered amorously, "Thank you for the morning wake-up call, and what you saw regarding our boys, that will happen."

* * *

"You took your time." Peter opened main the door to Harry.

He handed Peter some plastic bags and stepped inside. "Sorry, I was looking out for some jobs... it's not like part of my bank account didn't get frozen."

Peter replied, "Too bad," Harry took off his shoes and respectfully placed them next to the door. He offered, "I could get you something at Empire, Hare."

He smiled thankfully, "I rather start again by my own, but thank you, if I need something, I know who to call."

Peter nodded and gestured for Harry to follow him into the kitchen. "I just can't deal with ghost problems, but anything else might be on my reach." He referenced one of their favorite childhood movies.

Harry chuckled as they calmly walked towards kitchen, passing by the living room. "You seem more relaxed."

Peter held a smirk back. "I'm just relieved now that things are calmer once again." Harry bobbed his head in agreement.

They finally reached their destination, but while Peter fully entered the large and decorated area, Harry stopped on his tracks just between the limit of the kitchen and the living room.

He saw the golden haired woman he put into serious danger fourteen years ago. She was facing the stove and appeared to be preparing some coffee. He didn't know how to react and what to say.

Peter instantly noticed his hesitation. He placed the bags over the countertop and tried to gain his attention, "Harry..."

Gwen slowly turned around at the mention. Her eyes landed at the Osborn. She said gently, "Oh, hey..." She clenched her fists. "Are you feeling better?"

Harry went to reply but quickly ceased, lost in words. "Y-Yeah... um, yes - I feel better." He gulped. "Gwen, I... I am-"

Gwen interrupted him and smiled softly, "I know, Harry, I know." She hugged herself. "That happened such a long time ago, we all have moved on."

"I just want you to know that I forever regret causing the harm I did to you, I wasn't thinking straight, but that's not an excuse, there isn't one, and I understand if you probably want to never see my face again." Harry confessed.

Gwen took a step further. She stood besides her husband. "Hey, it's alright, okay?" She didn't hold any grudges against him, not anymore. "Just let it go, I know I did; you're my husband's dearest friend, so you're family."

Peter looked at his wife, thankful for her accepting Harry into their lives once again. She had every right from not doing so.

"Oh, I... I truly appreciate that."

Gwen nodded. "You should wash your hands then, my coffee is almost ready." She placed a hand against Peter's back and looked up to him. "You too, Mr Parker."

"I will go shortly." He replied.

Harry inquired, "Where's the bathroom again?"

Gwen answered, "Under the stairwell, you shouldn't miss it." Harry nodded and walked out of the kitchen, leaving the couple alone.

Peter turned to Gwen's side and placed a single hand in the side of her waistline. "Thank you, Gwendy." He gave her a tiny peck on the lips as she closed her eyes. "I should just fill you with kisses, you're the best wife ever."

Gwen winked, playfully. She allowed him to hold some of her weight as she loosened on his arms. "I try to be, but all of that, I seriously mean it."

"I know, and thanks again." He kissed her forehead. "Are the kids up?"

"Hmm... just daddy's little girl." Gwen teased.

His eyes didn't moved away from her. "Where is she? She's not in the couch anymore."

Gwen leaned her head to the side. "You mean that stellar blondie over there?"

Peter followed her gaze. He spotted Elizabeth already sat over one of the stools. She had both arms resting over the table while she supported her chin with her hands, a black ponytail held her hair. She narrowed her deep green eyes at him.

"Why did you leave me on the couch, dad?" Elizabeth inquired.

Peter let go of Gwen. He said calmly, "You feel asleep on my arms, the living room was much more refreshing than your bedroom." He slowly approached her. She seemed mad.

Elizabeth continued, "It's not fair!"

"What is not fair?" He tilted his head to the side.

She countered,"I was with you and mommy!"

He smiled. "Yes, in _our_ bed... aren't you a little old for that?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders and began placing plates and cups over the table.

"But I didn't make a noise..." She frowned.

Peter moved a lock of her blonde and short hair behind her ear. "Still, me and your mother want some privacy here and there, you aren't a little baby anymore, I mean literally cause whether you like it not, you still are my baby."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, an action she learned with her mother. "I think you don't want me near you again." She said hurtfully.

Peter's heart rose. She got it all wrong. He didn't want her to think of him like that. "No, no... Liz, that's not true-" He was cut short when Elizabeth began giggling to herself. "Oh, you little trickster!" He grabbed her from the seat and raised his daughter into the air, holding her upside-down. She squealed happily.

Her hair fell down her forehead as she stood face to face with her father. "I got you, again!" She affirmed in victory.

"You've been spending far too much time with your mother!" Peter repeatedly kissed her flushed cheek, receiving countless fits of laughters from his daughter in return.

Gwen watched them with eyes filled in adoration. They were always incredibly cute together, and she was glad they had so much love to give to one another.

Peter gently turned Elizabeth from her previous upside-down position as he wrapped both arms across her legs and held her closely against his torso. "You're my life, you know that, right?"

Elizabeth circled her arms around his neck. She looked up to the ceiling and frowned in deep thought. "Hmm... dunno." He narrowed his eyes at her. She smirked, "I'm just kidding! Yes, I know."

"Good." Peter kissed her tiny nose. He noticed movement on his corner and saw Harry approaching them. "Hey, Hare, as you know, this is Elizabeth, or Liz, or just trickster."

She swatted him on the shoulder and turned slightly on her father's grip, also seeing the stranger yet rather familiar person due to the tales Peter tells when she asks. "You're _the_ Harry?"

Harry smiled and rubbed the side of his left arm. "Yeah, nice to meet you, Elizabeth."

"Wow, daddy told me a lot of things about you!" She affirmed, surprised. "We thought you weren't with us."

"Well, some stuff happened, it's a lot to take in," Harry said gently. "But hey, I got something for you." He walked past them and reached for one of plastic bags over the counter that spanned around every wall from kitchen, minus the fridge's which wasn't integrated within the formation.

"What do you mean?" She eyed the sacks, curious.

Harry retrieved a white teddy bear he bought during his little trip to the store. "Your father said you collect these ones, so I hope you like it." He handed her the plushy, and stealthily cleared his throat in anxious expectation.

Elizabeth took the plushy on her hands and hugged it against her chest. "Aw, that's too kind of you, mister." She smiled thankfully. "Thank you."

Harry exhaled quickly, relieved. "You're welcome, Elizabeth." He smiled back.

Peter chuckled solely to himself. "Well, now that everything is settled, there's only thing missing on this kitchen."

"What...?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

Gwen grabbed a box of cereal from the space under the counter. "You don't want to know."

Peter finished, "The Almighty and Fastly Asleep... _Twins_."

* * *

Hours later after getting his boys to a summer only school and dropping Harry at some clothing store so that he could buy him some new clothes, Peter calmly strolled in the convoluted sidewalk as he headed towards Aunt May's meeting location. She wanted to talk.

He could see the enormous Central Park in the other side of the street. It even wasn't fall and it already looked beautiful enough solely by its shiny green leaves that filled all trees. He considered himself lucky for living close to such stunning view full of life amidst the greyness coming from the rest of the city.

Taking a glance at the traffic and seeing it was good enough, Peter crossed the street and reached for the old magazine shop in front of one of the many entrances to the park. He could count every single time Ben brought him all the way from Queens just to buy a specific comic book they only knew that sold there.

Peter stopped in front of one of the many stands outside the small shop and began searching for such comics, but later realized they weren't being sold anymore. He sighed, those were issues he wanted to show to his children while they still were kids and before they become teenagers.

Peter made his peace with the fact they weren't circulating like before. As he turned on his shoulder to leave, he noticed a father and his son arriving at one of the stands in the right side of the store. He picked the Daily Bugle and frowned once he read the main news. _"And here I thought he was a good man during all these years."_

_Spider-Man's true colors revealed, and they are darker than you could imagine. _Peter read the newspapers's title from the small distance between him and the man holding the compilation of many single papers.

_"Isn't that Spider-Man, daddy?"_ The child asked. Peter observed them with guilty eyes.

He placed the paper back into the stand and replied lowly, _"He used to be; come on buddy, mommy's waiting for us." _He held his hand and slowly began resuming his way inside the park.

Peter rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down to the ground and took a deep exhale of air, feeling on the skin the consequence of trying to solve things all by himself.

"You did what you had to do." The familiar calm and serene male voice affirmed from his side.

Peter turned to the source, and saw Ezekiel standing next to him. He now was getting used to his sudden appearances. "Yeah, that's what I used to tell myself, but now... I'm not so sure."

Ezekiel tilted his head to the side. "Why wouldn't you be? The choice was simple, you didn't hesitate." He continued, "It's the same with my kind, we do what's needed."

"I haven't been 'hesitating' recently, and I almost lost everything I ever had." Peter replied somber. "Maybe willing to see a new perspective instead of rushing can be more appropriate." He took a few calm steps towards the park.

Ezekiel followed him closely. "Even if those perspectives sometimes can be impracticable?" He questioned.

"Even then," Peter nodded. "I guess the best route can be the most difficult one."

"Sometimes you don't have the luxury of time, so you must act as fast and precise as you can." Ezekiel argued back.

Peter asked, "Are you one of these guys that are moved by 'the end justifies the means' cause?"

Ezekiel suddenly walked out of the path and stepped over the grass.

Peter ceased to walk and saw him approach a large and tall tree. He placed his finger against it and looked up to the dense formation of leaves. "This merely existence, this single living being, is allowed to exist and serve its natural purpose after a great sacrifice made by someone who didn't stop despite all the circumstances and the fact that her kind had to leave for something else to flourish - for this mere tree, all for life." He looked at Peter, "So, yes, you should know what you stand for, because if it ever comes to it, you must fully know how to act, and the forgotten ones are the closest example to that."

Peter silenced, understanding and realizing there's some sadness hidden within Ezekiel's tone. _"Forgotten ones?" _

Ezekiel answered politely, "People like Sam, long descendants from our time; I'm aware that you have the power to reveal their existence to your world."

"Is it really my decision, though?" He questioned. He didn't want to cause a possible conflict between any kind of groups, even if some already existed behind the curtains, but he thought that hiding the truth was just as bad. "What would you do?"

"It's not up to me, the greater council would decide, and I would act based on _their_ decision." Ezekiel said truthfully.

"Right." Peter was rather shocked at his lack of self free will. It appears as if he was a merely dispensable object who only obeyed orders. He inquired gently, "I still don't know a whole lot about you."

"There's not really much to know about me." Ezekiel leaned his back against the tree and crossed his arms.

Peter chuckled, amused. "One wouldn't say that about what some ancient pokemon of some sort." He quipped.

He frowned in confusion. "I... I didn't get that reference."

Peter deadpanned. "It's not a... a reference, but more like - um, a joke." He gulped.

"Oh, okay." They stood quiet, just awkwardly gazing each other. Ezekiel innocently broke the silence, "Was that supposed to be... funny?"

He said aghast, "I can't believe it... yes! It's supposed to be _hilarious_, for god's sake what's wrong with my jokes nowadays." He sighed heavily. "Just tell me, what are you doing, like - what do you want of me? You never really answered that."

"You've discovered a new way to see the world around you, and I'm basically here to protect you from possible challenges you might face, those are my orders." Ezekiel explained.

Peter scratched his chin. "Who gave them?"

He countered in disbelief, "You're reaching now."

"So you want to be my bodyguard but you're not willing to share?"

"Guard your body? That's ridiculous." Ezekiel snarled.

Peter let out a stressed smile. "We need to improve our communication skills that's for sure." He paused. "Listen, my Aunt is waiting for me and I-"

Ezekiel nodded. "You want some free time with her, I understand."

"Um, yeah - I guess so."

He informed, "I should also get back."

"How do I reach out for you if I need?" Peter asked.

Ezekiel smiled sympathetically. "I'll know, Peter." He suddenly disappeared in the thin air, leaving the Parker wondering how he managed that.

_Well, that was interesting... I still feel like a dummy, though._

* * *

Gwen let out a frustrated sigh as a billowing cloud of black smoke rose from the open oven on the cooking island. That was the second sponge cake in as many hours that she had managed to utterly ruin. The smoke was so thick she had to wave one of the oven mittens in the air to clear the smoke away. She put on her oven mitt again and pulled out the cake pan, the cake itself was a burned black crust of a failure.

"Gets free day from work and spends it ruining the kitchen." Gwen said dryly to herself and looked down on the cake. "Another cooking masterpiece, Gwen Stacy..."

At least this time she had turned off the smoke detector and alarm which she hadn't when 'baking' the previous cake.

_"Mommy, is everything okay?!"_ Elizabeth asked from the couch. She calmly watched TV thanks to school's summer break.

"Yep, honey, don't worry!" She turned around and threw the pound cake into the sink to join the other black, crumbled mess. Gwen placed the now empty cake pan near the sink.

Once the new and monthly order of food had arrived, Gwen had wanted to do something kind for Peter_. God - he needs some time off from everything_. She wanted to surprise him when he came back from his day. She wanted to sit in the sofa, cuddle and watch the flames in the fireplace and eat a cake together.

_Was that too much to ask for?_

Gwen bitterly concluded that the recipes, instructions videos and online baking books hadn't helped her much.

She glanced at the laptop on the nearby counter and sighed. There was only one solution left. She threw away her oven mittens near the cake pan and quickly approached the device and checked the time on Miami. Her shoulders sagged a bit, MJ was probably busy.

But Gwen wasn't going to give up yet. MJ was like her only sister and she would help her.

_Probably…_

She patiently waited for Mary to accept the call, but as the minutes ticked by she began to impatiently pace around.

The laptop beeped and Gwen turned to it and on the screen a clearly drowsy MJ sat propped up on her pillows in bed. She wore a black nightgown.

She yawned a rubbed her eyes and managed a bright smile when she greeted happily but surprised, _"Gwendy!"_ She scrutinized her friend concerned, _"You look… well annoyed, actually. Everything okay?"_

"You were sleeping...?"

MJ shrugged her shoulders. "_You know, pregnancy can be tiresome._" She smiled. "_Flash is actually taking a nap as well and next to me."_

Gwen grimaced apologetic, "I apologize for contacting you at this hour but I require... assistance."

MJ shrugged and waved dismissively. She was clearly curious and had no problem being awoken by Gwen._ "It's fine. You're family. You get to call at weird times in the night for stupid things. "_ Gwen smiled. MJ suddenly narrowed her eyes at the screen. _"Is that... a hickey on your neck?"_

"What..." Gwen blushed slightly as she quickly adjusted the blouse over her neck. She cleared her throat. "It's nothing."

_"Wow! A love bite! Oh you naughty little..."_ She laughed. Gwen stared her deadly on the eyes. MJ giggled. "_So, what's up?"_

Gwen cleared her throat and began babbling, "Yes. I-was-thinking-of-doing-something-nice-for-Peter-seeing-as-how-he's-been-stressed-by-some-things-and-I-thought-perhaps-a-kind-gesture-on-my-part-would-help-alleviate-"

MJ interrupted,_ "Okay! I get it. So you need help with doing something nice for Peter?"_

"Precisely," Gwen said relieved and nodded.

_"Well, sometimes when two people really, really like each other they get butterflies in their stomachs." _MJ replied faux serious_. "This is normal and nothing to be ashamed of. And remember, for men, lingerie is what flower is to us girls."_

"How amusing," Gwen said and glared. She paused and contemplated concerned, "Was that the speech you were given about sexual relationships? I can provide some educational vids and diagrams-"

MJ chuckled. She always enjoyed teasing the heck out of her friend. _"I am fine, mother."_

Gwen was nonplussed but nodded, "Well... It pays to be prepared. Knowledge is power." MJ giggled on the screen and Gwen uttered uninspired, "I know you're saying these things specifically to get a rise out of me."

_"Guilty,"_ she said with a very serious nod and a wide grin plastered on her face.

Gwen folded her arms under her breasts. "Childish discussions on sexual escapades aside, I've contacted you for help with cooking."

_"Cooking…?" _MJ asked in disbelief.

"Baking, to be precise," Gwen replied anxious.

MJ narrowed her eyes and asked dubiously,_ "Baking? Is this payback for all the teasing I've done?"_

Gwen huffed defensive, "I can assure you this is not an attempt for retribution. I genuinely require assistance."

MJ was genuinely shocked, "_Okay. You do know there are plenty of vids to help you out on the Internet, and you have a handsome husband whose techniques are flawless in the kitchen."_

Gwen dropped her arms and fidgeted with her fingers embarrassed, "And I've been using them to no avail."

_"Well alright," _MJ nodded helpful. _"But you are one talented woman, Gwen, you can pull this off whenever you want."_

"I appreciate this, MJ." Gwen sighed relieved and grateful. She stopped fidgeting with her fingers and explained softly, Pete said something similar last week when I told him I couldn't really bake. He said that he couldn't be with a woman if she couldn't bake. Of course he was only joking and takes me as I am, but I want to do this for him."

MJ giggled, "_How cute._" Gwen blushed a bit. She smiled enthusiastically_, "So what have you got?"_

Gwen cleared her throat and picked up the laptop and turned it around as she approached the sink. She gave a glum running commentary, "As you can see my results are less than satisfactory."

A stunned MJ shook her head,_ "Did you... and... how...?"_

Gwen turned the laptop around and walked to one of the stools at the cooking island and sat down and placed the laptop on the table end in front of her.

She explained sheepishly as she looked at MJ, _"_It seems you might want a refund on the entire perfect and talented friend argument."

MJ grinned_, "I'm pretty sure the US has laws against this sort of treatment against baked goods."_

"MJ!" Gwen looked up and glared.

She nodded cheerful, "_Okay I'm done." _She blew out a breath, "_You so owe me for this one if I'm helping you getting laid... _againnt

* * *

May found herself sat in a bench where she could see a huge portion of the park and also the kids running around trying to catch the frisbee not far away from her position. She smiled at the sight. She loved being where she was to gather her thoughts and relax while the sun slowly descended in the beautiful horizon.

She later noticed some moment in her left side. She turned slightly on her shoulder and saw her nephew standing next to the bench with a big and kind smile spread across his lips. "Sit down, I'm not going to bite nor chastise you for everything." She said softly.

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "Okay," He sat down next to the other most important woman on his life as they both stood in silence and gazed the sun between the large portion of the trees.

"I've never had this view from the house." May looked at him.

His eyes didn't move away from the bright star. "Humph, it's not bad."

"Not bad...?" May smiled in disbelief. "Honey, it's almost as gorgeous as your family."

Peter chuckled, before asking, "So, I think you've seen the news..."

May nodded. "I did, and I think that while it was one impulsive decision to take, you had yours reasons."

He sighed. "Yes, I got a lead on Harry, and now he's back."

"I am aware of that." She crossed her legs.

Peter deadpanned. "Gwen told you...?"

"She texted me early in the morning." May revealed with a cocky smile.

He teased, "Look at that, the Parker women are always up to something among themselves. "

She laughed briefly. "Indeed, but hey, I'm happy that you got your friend back." She paused. "Even if that came with a price."

"I know," Peter gulped. "I honestly don't know what to do regarding Spider-Man, Aunt May; I may be very well destroying what I took years to built." He confessed

May nodded sympathetically. She again looked up to the sun. "Tell me something, Peter, when was the last time you watched the sunset without waiting for something to happen in the world around you?"

Peter tried to remember any occasion, but he ended up smiling as he shook his head at her question. May began, "Hmm..." He turned his head to her side. "You should try some time." She said gently.

"Yeah..." He didn't think of things that easily.

She continued, "Since I'm retired, I just hope I get to see more; I mean - how does it work? Fighting with your own very fists the ones who threatens people's lives, how do you feel? What's it like?"

Peter hesitated. "It feels... like a means to end." He replied. "It hurts very much, but all that pain seems worth it when I succeed at making someone smile, or just proceed with their lives, that's what I always thought." She smiled. "Now, you tell me something, Aunt May, before the retirement and the hospital, what did you used to do back then?"

He always wondered that. The many stories Ben and May used to tell him when he was a kid were something he always stashed next to his heart. Those were the couple who raised him when no one else could, two persons that always placed him above anything else, and he would never say no to them.

She chuckled. "Fair enough." She answered, "Before I met Ben, I used to sing with a band primary consisted of girls."

"No way..." Peter sounded surprised, and proud.

May affirmed, "I'm super serious."

"You ever miss life on the road?

May smiled back. "Nah, I had my fun." She paused. "Do you want to hear the secret to living a long and happy life?"

Peter replied truthfully, "Actually, yes - I do."

She patted his heart gently, "Follow your heart." He locked his eyes to hers, fully paying attention to her answer. "You do that and all the rest just figures itself out; I did that, I followed my heart, traveled the country, also made people smile, forget the problems for a while and then my heart said, 'Oops, you're done,' and I retired, and I **love** it."

He smiled thankfully and looked at the children in the open field. They're now playing football. "You know, I didn't expect you to be here, Queens is kinda far away."

"Oh, this place is great, the serenity makes the travel worth it." She replied. "I just hope I can get to enjoy it for a few more years."

Peter immediately said, "And you will, I promise." He leaned closer and kissed her forehead.

* * *

Even after being awakened in the middle of the nap, MJ was happy and laughed carefree on the screen. Even across the country over a communications feed, sharing a moment with her best friend baking was great. Her only wish was that she could be with Gwen in the same room. And while they had waited for the sponge cake in the oven, the pair got to catch up with everything as they chatted.

Gwen returned to the kitchen with the laptop beaming live over the internet, and just a few minutes later, after the cake had been 30 minutes in the oven, a gentle ping was heard.

MJ's jovial and impatient voice was heard from the laptop's speakers, _"I want to see!"_

Gwen rose from the chair and said calmly, "Just wait and I'll take it out." Even if she was calm, she was excited with anticipation, and a little dreadful because there was still a possibility the cake would be ruined if her baking skills were any indication.

Gwen walked around the cooking island and fetched her mittens and opened the oven. Instead of black smoke emerging, she could smell the delicious sponge cake. She pulled out the cake pan and closed the oven. Gwen smiled wide at the sight, the cake was golden in color and looked delicious.

It was perfect.

Gwen walked around the cooking island and presented the baking masterpiece to the laptop and MJ smiled satisfied.

_"That looks great, Gwendy."_

Gwen said very grateful, "Thank you so much for your help."

Gwen put aside the cake on the table end and removed her mittens as she sat down in front of the laptop.

_"Anytime,"_ MJ said. She smiled slyly,_ "So… now you owe me a favor."_

Gwen rolled her eyes, "You can't help your old friend from the goodness of your heart."

_"No," _MJ giggled. She tapped her chin with a finger and looked like she was thinking hard,_ "Wonder what I'll ask."_

Gwen mumbled, "One question. That's it." She already knew where this was going.

MJ looked at her best friend faux shocked, _"Have you seen the celebrity tabloids?"_

"Uh…no, I don't follow such things," Gwen said nonplussed.

_"Oh… look what I found,"_ MJ continued as she tapped her keyboard and sent a link to her friend. A portion of Gwen's screen was taken up by a browser and an 'article' from some random blog next to the vidchat feed.

Gwen's eyes widened in shock and disbelief, "Really...?!"

In big, bold letters it read _'Spider-Man biggest aliase and friend of Tony Stark on date with a very well know woman in the scientific community,'_ and there were several pictures taken from when Peter and Gwen walked outside the restaurant during their date.

MJ gushed, "_You two look so adorable and in love. It's so romantic the way he looks at you."_

Gwen gritted her teeth and scrolled through the page which was riddled with images. She had dreaded this moment for so long, but knew it was bound to happen. Several dinner guests at the restaurant had taken pictures. She took a deep breath and shook her head.

MJ looked confused and concerned at Gwen's reaction, feeling a bit guilty about teasing her, _"I'm sorry, Gwendy, I didn't have any mean intentions…I just-"_

Gwen flashed a weak smile and assured, "No, I'm not mad at you, MJ… I just, I'm a private person so I don't enjoy seeing myself like this, and if I want to let people know about my private life, I take my own time."

_"Of course. I just thought it was fun to see you two together like that," _MJ explained. She smiled genuinely, _"You two look great together. And what a cute snug little dress you had. You look beautiful."_

Gwen smiled, "Thank you. He liked the dress as well."

_"You know, you got this sexy New Yorker accent and I'm stuck with this generic dialect,"_ MJ mused._ "Maybe I should start faking an accent?"_

Gwen frowned, "Don't destroy our accent with your attempts at sounding like you come from down under."

MJ laughed jovial on the screen, _"We'll see."_

Gwen shook her head and looked at the time readout in the corner of the computer screen. "Well, I'd love to chat more, but I'm going to check in when Peter returns at night and shower and change clothes before he shows up."

_"That's alright. I'd like to sleep some more,"_ MJ explained.

Gwen smiled grateful, "Thank you so much for helping me at this hour."

_"Always, my gorgeous little Gwendy."_ MJ smiled.

* * *

"What did you find?" Peter asked as he threw the small rock across the river.

Harry bent down to grab another rock. "There's this nice convenience store, they are needing someone to work full time." He answered.

He added, "That's a good role, different from what I expected, but a decent job nonetheless."

"I know, right?" Harry smirked. "It's not that different from Oscorp, you still lose your head while keeping things clean." He joked and threw another rock, almost reaching Peter's last distance gap.

Peter nodded in agreement. "Good point." He questioned, "Didn't they ask for your name or something?"

"Nope, but they will if I want the job." Harry narrowed his eyes at the large touristic boat that passed by. "Now I'm more focused on winning this damn thing, I didn't invite you here for no reason."

"Well, I'm not going easy on you." Peter teased. Harry scoffed, playfully. He crouched and searched for another rock he felt was good enough. "Have you thought about a new name?"

Harry replied friendly, "Not really, but I like that Garfield something you told me."

"Don't even think about it." Peter frowned faux - annoyed at his friend.

He smiled. "Why not?"

Peter stood up after picking a new potential object to throw. "That whole stuff was _nutty_, I'd like to forget it."

Harry stretched his shoulders. "Fine, you will eventually tell me everything." He said, determined. "Do you have any other suggestions, Bugboy?"

Peter laughed happily. "You're stupid." Harry shrugged. "What about... Ben Reilly?" He threw the solid material over the water, not managing to surpass his previous mark. He cursed himself mentally.

Harry paused. He wondered where that name came from. It sounded very familiar. "I like it, but I'm curious how did you come up with that, Pete?"

"Ben's name along with May's middle name, I just like the sound of it - Ben Reilly, but you can still chose another one." He answered kindly and sat down to just observe the river in front of them.

Harry joined him. "It's such great name, believe me." He sighed contently, allowing them to embrace a comfortable silence. He still wanted to ask him something, to gain the closure he still needed. "Peter, may I ask you something?"

Peter smiled boyishly. "You just did."

Harry rolled his eyes. He began, "Did you hear... anything from Felicia? Anything at all?"

Peter was taken by surprise. He wasn't expecting that. He turned his head on his shoulder and met Harry's azure orbs. "Actually - yes, but that was such a long time ago."

"I'm all ears, man."

He exhaled deeply. "Well, I met her some shortly after Elizabeth was born - I think; she was working for Wilson Fisk in order to free her father who had been purposely framed by him, you know? She basically went undercover inside Wilson's corporate rivals, stealing all the data she could, and after I took him down, she was free, and so was her father." He explained. "I haven't seen her since then."

"Wow, I... you think... she had been spying on Oscorp?" Harry asked, reluctantly.

Petee shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not." He continued, "She seemed to care you about you, though." Harry nodded quietly. "You want to find her?"

"It's better this way, I guess." Harry yawned. "To be honest, after I've found your father's briefcase inside a hidden area in the manor, I began to think that maybe I could do something good, but I don't want to get her involved again."

Peter elbowed him on the shoulder. "Don't think like that." He affirmed. "Sure, we're not as young as we used to be, but I think we still have so much to live; I figure life's a gift, and I don't intend in wasting it, you never know what's going to happen next, you learn to take life as it comes at you, to make each day count, until the very last breath."

Harry was speechless as he peered into Peter's eyes, lost in words. He asked gently, "Start again...?"

"Yes, from the scratch, we all can do that, Hare." He replied, reassuringly.

Harry nodded to himself. "You were right, by the way, coming back with you, feels a lot better here than back there."

"Wait, say it that again - that part of me being right." Peter teased.

The Osborn chuckled. "That you are an idiot." Peter smiled to himself and gazed the second incoming boat. Harry sighed. "Peter... when I was with father, before the fight, he - um, he basically gave me a highlight heel of my biggest failures." Harry was aware of the fact that he had died, but his effects over him didn't quite easily vanish with him.

Peter quickly intervened, "Yes, he was _messing_ with you - that's what he always did."

"Please, wait." Harry said. Peter tilted his head to the side, curious. "I... I should have reached for you instead of instantly going after Max, I should have tried my best to make things right, but I didn't, I stopped, and I'll never forgive myself for that..."

Peter exhaled deeply. "Well, I have," He paused. "Hey, that's years old now man, what's done is done; all that matters now - all that ever mattered is that we're together, so... shut up and try to beat me on this."

Harry grinned, realizing how much of their banter he had been missing over the years.

Peter placed a his palm against his forehead, feeling the headaches due to the little one of sleep he had thorough the night. "You think you will be able to sleep tonight?"

Harry nodded. He felt much better. "Yeah, I think I will." He answered. "What about you?"

"I sill have some winging inside my head from past night's dawn, but nothing that relaxing with my family won't wash it out." He smirked.

"Fair enough," Harry rose and moved the dust off the back of his pants with his left hand. "I gotta say, though, you seemed a little distressed after we left your apartment."

"It was something Elizabeth told me," Peter began, "She sometimes and rarely wakes in the middle of the night after some bad nightmare, she describes them as being some quick and scary flashes, I know I had those when I got bitten, but she's just a innocent child; me and Gwen are worried."

"Maybe... her gifts are evolving as she grows? It looks a lot like that sixth sense of yours." Harry speculated as he looked down at Peter.

"Could be, but it's getting me, I don't want to see my daughter suffer." He confessed. "Add those dreams to the totally different skills she's getting such as the one were she can feel me when I'm not present, it's freaking us out."

"I see," Harry stood in silence for a short time, seeing Peter staring the horizon. He extended his hand at him and said soflty, "We will figure it out..." Peter looked up to him. "... like we always do."

Peter smiled thankfully, before holding Harry's hand as he pulled him into his feet and later patted his chest friendly.

* * *

After dropping Harry at some hotel, Peter had driven back to the apartment. He entered the cozy place, soft classical music was being played in the apartment's speakers.

"Daddy!" Aiden called from the ceiling. He smiled brightly.

Peter looked up to him. "What are you doing up there?" He raised his arms at his son's direction.

He giggled as he dropped himself just in time to get held by bis father. "Mummy wants to bath us."

Peter raised and eyebrow, "And you aren't listening to her?"

Gwen interjected from upstairs._ "Aiden...!" _They both looked at the furious woman. "Your tactics are pointless, your father won't protect you from that bath." She walked downstairs and approached the pair. "Hey, honey." She gave Peter a quick peck on the lips, before retrieving Aiden from his arms.

"Need help?" Peter licked his lips.

She walked away and shook her head. "No, thank you, the evil witch will take care of it."

He shrugged his shoulders and strolled onwards and glanced into the empty kitchen, then he cast an eye at the living room but saw no one once again. He lazily sat down in the couch and pulled his phone and began to read his messages.

_Samantha Williams : Peter, what am I supposed to do with all the data, it's actually from the government. X - Files stuff._

_PP : Why are you asking me that? _

_SW : Because you're freaking Spider-Man, you're a much more important person than me._

_PP : That's nonsense, I'm not better than you or anyone else._

_SW : You get my point._

Peter rolled his eyes.

_PP : You think the world should know about your kind?_

_SW : If that means people will probably stop chasing us, then yes._

Peter rubbed his chin, thinking.

_PP : Then you know what to do, Sam, leak it on Spider-Man's name. You don't need to get involved. _

_SW : Thank you, for everything you did since I threw you out my apartment._

_Peter chuckled. _

_PP : You're welcome :p_

_PoolDead : Who's this girl, 'Pidey?_

_SW : What?_

_PP : Wade... stop invading my messages._

_PD : Are you trying to steal my man, Ms freaky Inhuman? Isn't the blonde warrior enough?_

_SW : Come here and I will show who's freaky._

_PD : Yes, I like the way you talk dirty. Just because the author is reluctant regarding my fan - friggin - tastic humor due to the ridiculous rating - that doesn't mean I don't get to be involved in the story!_

_PP : Go home, Wade. You're drunk._

_PD : There's actually this guy's head besides me. Before you say anything, he used Lil' Joe as cover, my poor friend. He's dead now._

_PP : Who's Lil' Joe...?_

_PD : My teddy bear. I can show you when you're back into our bed._

Peter groaned in then heard steps coming around the corner from the hallway. Peter turned around and saw Gwen approach him with a strut and sway to her hips. She was a captivating woman to watch and had his attention.

_PD : Peter?! Where are you?! Don't let that Stacy woman abuse your sweet ass perfect body! I can persuade Vanessa into a foursome!_

"Hey," Peter blocked his phone and smiled. He stood up as she stopped near him and they shared a few soft kisses. He slipped his arms around her slim waist and could feel the soft smell of shampoo still linger from Gwen, she had recently showered. "Kids?"

"Bed." Gwen gave him a coy grin, "I've made something for you."

"Yeah?" Peter asked curiously.

Gwen stepped away and reached out for his hand, "I'll show you. But, close your eyes."

Peter looked at her with a curious frown but shrugged and did as told.

"And don't you dare open them until I say so."

"As you wish."

Gwen nodded satisfied and led the way to the kitchen and stopped at the cooking island and let go of his hand. She walked over to the counter at the wall and reached up to a cupboard and opened it. Inside she had hid the cake pan while she had been showering their children, before changing clothes and finally retired to the lounge, keeping herself occupied with 'The Count of Monte Cristo.' She enjoyed reading a real paperback book.

Peter, still with closed eyes, asked, "So… how long do I have to keep my eyes closed?" He had heard the noises coming from Gwen in the kitchen, but had no idea what she was up to.

Gwen glanced over her shoulder and was satisfied that Peter was indeed having his eyes closed. She took the cake pan and closed the cupboard and headed over to the corner of the cooking island next to Peter and held up the cake pan, one could easily smell it in the air.

"You can open your eyes, baby." Gwen said.

Peter did and saw Gwen, with a beaming smile, holding up the cake pan. She was definitely proud. And Peter was surprised, he hadn't expected that.

"You've made me a cake?" Peter asked and smiled at her. He breathed in the smell, it smelled delicious.

"Once in a decade, but I have," Gwen said. She placed it on the table end of the cooking island and explained softly, "I wanted to surprise you and do something nice for us after e everything." She kissed his lips, "Cuddle a bit in the couch," she gestured to the seating area, "and eat a cake."

Peter smiled and cradled her face lovingly and kissed her, nibbling softly on her lips which she reciprocated, the tip of their tongues grazed each other before Gwen's tongue eased into Peter's mouth and their tongues met in a sensual kiss.

Peter broke the kiss and smiled, "That's very thoughtful of you. Thank you, you're amazing." He released her face.

Gwen beamed, happy about his response. "Do you want something to drink?"

"I haven't eaten a sponge cake in years," Peter mused. He chuckled, "When I was a kid I usually drank milk to it."

Gwen smiled, glad to have learned something new about him. She gave him a nod and said, "Milk it is."

Gwen grabbed two glasses from a nearby cupboard and she poured up some milk from the fridge. Peter took the cake pan and she the glasses and a few napkins and they headed to the seating area. The items were placed on the coffee table and they took a seat in one of the couches. Gwen made herself comfortable in Peter's lap, snuggling close and felt a arm around her back.

Gwen reached out to the table and fetched the cake pan and placed it on her lap. This was the moment of truth, even if she had great help from her sister, she wasn't sure if it would be tasteful.

"It looks delicious, honey," Peter said.

"It does," Gwen beamed and took a slice – she had cut the cake in triangle pieces – and offered it to Peter who greedily took a bit which made Gwen giggled at his childishness. Some crumbs rained down on Gwen's leg which she collected and dropped on a napkin on the table.

Peter ate it and gushed,_ "Oh my god_, that was really good, Gwendy. What a baker you are, and you said you weren't good at it?" Peter took the last piece from her fork and ate it as well.

Gwen took a slice of the cake and a napkin under so she wouldn't spill more cake crumbs. She ate a portion of it, and indeed, Peter had been right; it was a very tasty plate she had made.

Gwen faintly smiled and said, "It was very good, but I have a confession to make. I had some help from MJ."

"MJ?"

"Yes, I…" Gwen cleared her throat sheepishly, "... ruined two cakes, and in my desperation called her. Internet guides hadn't helped me at all. It seems I don't have a PhD in baking." She took another bite from the piece of the cake.

Peter kissed her on the cheek, "It's the thought that counts and I really appreciate this. You're an exceptional woman, and I'm lucky to have you in my life. This is a great." Peter took another piece of the cake and took a bite.

"Thank you," Gwen smiled happily. She looked a bit annoyed and said, "MJ showed me a celebrity blog… they had photos of us from the restaurant from weeks ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry, honey," Peter said sympathetically and kissed her cheek. "It was inevitable, I guess."

"I know," Gwen sighed, "I just wished it would have happened later, rather than sooner."

"I understand."

Gwen changed subjects, "So what did you and Harry do?"

"We headed out with the car and to the river and skip rocks." Peter ate another bite from his cake.

"What?" Gwen said flabbergasted.

"Yeah, he wanted to see who the best one," Peter smiled reassuringly,

"So… who won?" Gwen prodded as she finished her piece of cake.

"I let Harry win. Felt wrong to shoot down his ego, once again."

"Really? Or is that just you talking because he won?" Gwen countered.

"Woman, you don't believe me?" Peter said hurt. He snorted and declared, "I could have won."

Gwen chuckled and kissed his lips, "I'm sure."

Peter rolled his eyes and at the rest of the cake slice, "After that we went to a snack bar, I didn't think he'd need to spend the rest of the day alone. So we found him a lady to chat up, and I was the wingman, and I eventually left... I don't know what happened."

"Wingman, huh?" Gwen asked evenly.

"Yeah," He said and took another cake slice to eat. "I only talked." He took a bit from his cake slice.

"I didn't say anything."

"No, you didn't," Peter reaffirmed. "I'm just thankful for getting my head back on place."

Gwen took a new slice of cake, the last one for her she decided. She placed the cake pan on the table. Both of them ate their cake pieces, and drank some milk. Enjoying a companionable silence just being together. Gwen was very satisfied with what had transpired as she settled closer to her paramour, arms around his neck, both nibbled on each other's lips, kissing lightly while Peter hugged her close.

She suddenly stopped kissing him and asked, "Honey, what did you mean with getting your head back on place?"

Peter exhaled deeply, carefully picking the best words. "So, recently and as you know, I've been acting as this lonely guy, I pushed you guys away from the real problems, and I accepted my fate of eventually dying fighting, I am okay with that, but you weren't, and Harry also wasn't."

She quickly said, "But you changed your mind after you heard me kicking that head of yours?"

Peter smiled, weakly. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Gwen exhaled deeply. "How did this become my life, uh?" She asked gently, caressing his cheek with the tip of her fingers. "Taking care of the most heroic figure out there, someone who people think is flawless; I never expectated any of this, sure, my father was somewhat the same thing, but the things you put yourself against, is much worse. In the end, I'm just happy to be alive and next to you, whatever your silly decisions might be. We're together."

He chuckled lightly. "You know, right after, um... I stopped Avenging, I thought - one last suit up, you know? One more time." He paused. "And then when Sam called, I again told myself, one more time, and then I was going back to you guys, to planning our dream house - and to my parent life, but there's always that one more time."

Gwen didn't move her green eyes away from her husband's. She stroked the back of his hair.

Peter continued, "I guess I really understand now that... this is my life. I **love** it, but I can't do without my family, I don't want to do it without you guys, or else I'm gonna go crazy with everything." He explained. "This is who I am, I need to get my reputation back, and every King needs a Queen at his side."

Gwen smiled slowly nodded. "I'm so glad to have you back, honey." She kissed his lips shortly. "What's next to our lives?"

"Well, those three litlle ones will need some guidance, what do you say?" He leaned against her neck.

"Sounds like a great plan." He bypassed her black collar and slowly kissed her collarbone, trailing more kisses against the smooth skin.

Gwen bated Peter as she murmured aroused closing her eyes, "Don't kiss me there..."

"Why?" Peter asked but didn't stop.

"Because I'll get…" Gwen sighed.

Peter stopped and removed himself. He bumped nose with Gwen and she opened her eyes and both looked at each other. There was a sparkle of passiom in her eyes. "Lady Stacy, will you give me the honour...of eating the rest of that lovely cake?"

"Oh... you!"

* * *

**A/N : I guess we can officially close another storyline and move on into more simple stuff. I am actually proud of how it turned out, and I'm sure some people aren't, at least regarding Harry. It's the story I want to tell, in the way people can at least understand the characters and their motivations, Harry is no different, and this chapter was written around him as well.**

**Interesting enough, the basic concept of this chapter was how I envisioned the fic's initial ending, I think it was meant to happen during the late 20 mark. Everyone in contact with me knows that I had this goal of reaching 30 chapters. **

**Well, due to the reception, I changed basically - everything. I know how it ends, and as hard as it might be to let this story go when the times comes, I feel like I should try something else, and believe me, I am **_**really**_** attached to these characters. I also don't want to disappoint you guys by suddenly stop writing the story or posting poor content. **

**We will begin to see Elizabeth &amp; The Twins grown more often from now on. I can't just get the story stuck with them as kids. I'm really excited for that. **

**Oh, Ezekiel is an actual character from the comics. Here, I heavily changed him, but the whole "tutor" concept of his original character can still be seen. **

**Remarkable Quotes from Titanic, The Walking Dead, Supernatural, and The Witcher 3.**

**Special shout-out to okay - christa. She was actually the first person to read my awful drafts for the story back in early 2014. She also gave me some useful tips and insights for character building. Thank you, for all of that and for the kind review. **

**Also special thanks to my man Sebas F. He sometimes makes me realize how much silly my ideas can be. And trust me, you guys could have seen some crazy stuff here if not for him.**

**For now, we have yet a road to take. I am taking a very small break to focus on a less demanding story I am finishing the last details. College is actually taking a awful lot of my time, and from the story's Beta as well, it's hard for us to synchronize ourselves to meet our free times, so I've decided to publish without her revision, but it may be updated next.**

**That's it for now, folks. Any suggestions, questions or requests, just contact me. Thank you all for the support. By the way, Deadpool is on the theaters, if you're old enough, go see it!**

**What's next? Well, what happens when Peter gets scared of basically everything when he and his loyal friend - Robin Hood, goes to protect his daughter's Hallowen Festival when a mysterious villain makes a return? Also, Peter and Gwen's ten years of marriage special follow it quickly. See you guys there!**


	55. The Parker Luck Strikes Back

**October 31th - 2028**

**Manhattan **

"How do you like it here, Liz?" Peter snaked an arm around her back. They were both sat at the end of a high building's rooftop where they could actually see the whole city.

Elizabeth smiled contently as she swung her legs in the empty air, holding her father's mask with both hands. The view was breathtaking. "It's beautiful, dad."

Peter nodded, feeling the refreshing wind brushing against the skin-tight spandex. "I used to bring your mommy here when we're much younger, I would swing us here, lie down over some blanket and watch the sunset together."

"Why did you stop?" She asked, curious.

Peter stood in silence, briefly. He began, "Well, our lives began to get a lot more complicated as we grew older, more responsibilities, and a bit less time to ourselves."

"I see," Elizabeth said lowly. "I wish I could change that."

"What makes you say that?" Peter wondered.

She answered tenderly, "It's just that I appear to be taking your time lately, you always have many things to do, dad. You're Spider-Man."

"Elizabeth, you're my _daughter_, and my responsibility." He replied. "You taught me I was selfish before you were born, everything I do now is for you and your brothers, don't ever think you're not important to me, because I put you guys above all the rest, always."

She cleared her throat. "I'm... I feel different." She paused. "I don't know what's happening to me."

He looked down to Elizabeth, seeing the guilty over her face. "I know, but it will pass." He gently made her rest her back against his ribcage. "Did you know... that your mom helped me defeat some baddies back then?"

"Really?" Her green eyes beamed in surprise.

"Yup, she kinda saved me... she didn't have any powers, anything at all, and we still succeeded, her help served a great deal both times." Peter continued, "We went through some challenges together, and we naturally vercame them, we had the time of our lives, we did what we mostly wanted."

Elizabeth remained in silence, just paying attention to the words coming from her father's lips.

He finished, "Turns out... you're stronger than anyone I have ever met, you're smart and resilient. You're going through a phase where you're slowly growing into a special type of woman, you will have abilities just like I do, maybe even better ones, but... you're already winning without them, because there's nothing that can stop you, honey, what you're going through right now, you're discovering and dominating it, all by yourself..."

Elizabeth affirmed somber, "I don't want to do this by myself..."

"And you won't, not as long as we're here." He countered softly, before gently moving a blonde fringe off her left eye. "But... there will be a time, where some people in our lives won't be present anymore, **I** won't be with you anymore, your **mom** as well, all you will have is your brothers, they will need you... and I know how that feels."

She moved her glance towards the sky.

Peter proceeded carefully, "I wish I could come up with something better to say, my uncle was good at that... but one thing I'm certain, I will protect you for as long as I can." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"You promise?" She looked up to him and offered her smallest finger.

He chuckled. "I do." _This one I can fulfil_. They wrapped fingers. "I love you, my daughter." He embraced her, reassuringly.

Elizabeth smiled and sighed on his arms, still holding her father's mask on her right hand as they both watched the sunset together. " I was going to ask you if Uncle Harry was coming with us tonight."

Peter cleared his throat. "Oh - yeah, I think so, we should check on him." He still was trying figure what just happened, it wasn't because of some possible hostile situation, it was different - special. "Well, I bought him his costume anyways."

"What is it?!"

Peter grinned. "It's incredibly silly, I'll give you that for now."

* * *

**Conrad's Grocery Store - Manhattan**

Harry pulled the small yellow ticket printed by the machine over the counter and handed it to the lady. "Have a goodnight, ma'am." He smiled happily and gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up. "And good luck!"

She hesitated at first but eventually smiled thankfully, before walking away and revealing Peter Parker who was standing behind her during the whole time.

"A pack of mentals, please." He smirked cheekily as he rested his hands over the counter.

Elizabeth suddenly raised from the ground and next to Peter as she stood on the tip of her toes to look at her father's friend. "Hello, Uncle Harry!"

"Hey, there." Harry nodded friendly to Elizabeth. He moved his glance to Peter. "What are you doing here at this hour?"

Peter chuckled. "Gee, nice to see you too, Hare."

Harry brought a finger to his red shirt and pointed at the small name written on it. "It's Ben Reilly, remember?"

"Oh, forgot about that."

He analyzed the rest of the store to see if there was anyone else there except for them. "You surprised me."

"I know you have to lay low due to all this government crap, but wow... this is indeed a unexpected cover." Peter shrugged.

"I told you." Harry grabbed a delivery contract placed next to the register to sign it. He placed the papers inside a drawer and continued, "I'm responsible for the inventory, sales, costume service and etcetera."

Elizabeth interjected, "Can I have a sweetie?"

Harry smiled. "Of course." He picked a portion from one of the bowls and handed them to the girl. Her eyes were glowing in excitement.

"Thank you!" She sat in one of the seats next to the main entrance.

Peter joked, "Hey, I want one too." He went to pick more from the bowl, but Harry quickly swatted his hand away.

"You have to pay for them." He frowned.

Peter deadpanned. He opened his mouth to protest but simply ceased from doing so. "I won't forget this, Hare."

He laughed. "Well, like I was saying - I basically run this place."

"Right," Peter stretched his shoulders. "Back to business, you are going tonight's event, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

He rolled his eyes. "Hallowen, man!"

"But... I don't have anything with me."

Peter picked a sack from the ground and placed it over the counter. "No problem, me and Liz figured that out for ya."

Harry stealthily tried to peek inside. "I'm not sure..."

He checked his phone. "We still have fours to prepare, you do that, and then we all come here to pick you up, Liz's school at eight on clock.

"Don't forget!" Elizabeth added while opening a new sweetie.

"You heard the lady," Peter grinned, smugly. "Oh, you should practice your and bow and arrow skills before we go, after all, you will be stealing from the rich to help the poor."

* * *

**Parker's Apartment**

_"Authorities around the world have began to officially recognize the recently discovered extra gene on the human body due to Spider-Man's effort to expose the oppressed persons who shelter such gene within them, the scientific field has taken a major turn on its beliefs, and while extremists and protestors have been spreading across the world, these special human beings are being observed by the world with careful eyes, it's no different on the US with the Xavier Mansion."_

Peter snored lightly on his bed, failing to hear the screen placed on the opposite wall that faced the mattress he shared with his wife. She was currently showering to get prepared for their appointment in a few hours.

He felt a wet cloth suddenly land over his face, interrupting his nap as he slowly opened his eyes and yawned in exhaustion.

"Stop drooling on my pillow, honey!" Gwen took peek inside through the half-open door of their bathroom. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail while she hid part of her bare body behind the door.

Peter took the towel off his face and pushed it to his side of the bed, realizing he was previously sleeping over Gwen's reserved section, although all of that playful territory concept seemed to cease whenever they went to sleep.

He spotted the upper part of the suit lying across the floor. "I was just taking a little nap..." He stretched his shoulders and sat on the edge of the mattress.

"You still have a to take a shower, _bro_." Gwen turned around and disappeared inside the bathroom, only leaving the door halfway open as usual.

"Why? I am ready." Peter looked to his right shoulder and adjusted the small bandage ontop of his skin, a token he had earned hours before picking Elizabeth from school. He grunted lighty as he pressed the bandage against his shoulder just to make sure it was stuck.

"_You spent all day inside the suit, you're probably sweaty, and stinky." _She argued back.

"Now you hurt my feelings, baby." Peter grabbed the suit from the ground, tossed it over the bed and stood up. He grabbed the remote controller from the bedstand and turned the TV off.

Gwen giggled. _"I need you to help me with something here." _

"With pleasure." He smirked.

"It's not what you think, though." She teased.

He fully opened the bathroom's door and spotted Gwen standing in front of the mirror, wearing a dress he got to know it's existence through his daughter's favorite movie. She wore a blue dress that followed her arms with a long sheer sleeves, the sweetheart bodice was decorated with rows of blue sequins along with the transparent gown.

"Oh,_ hello there_, Ms Elsa." Peter noticed her creamy back was exposed to him since Gwen apparently didn't manage to pull the ziper all the way up. He approached his wife from behind and placed both hands on her hips as he began to plant soft kisses on the exposed skin.

Gwen chuckled. "What do you think of it? It's pretty well made, despite being super tight." She said calmly.

"Are you sure you don't want to save it for some other... occasion?" He looked up to her eyes through the mirror and gently pulled the ziper up to close the dress.

"I can't, Elizabeth explicitly ordered us to form a pair of Spider-Man and Elsa." She answered, removing the ponytail and loosening her blonde hair as they fell down to her shoulders.

"That will be something to see." He muttered.

"I know, right?" Gwen nodded to herself. "By the way, have you chosen which suit?"

Peter replied, "Since you did kidnap the first one, the current suit shall do the job, it will bring some attention, but... well, what wouldn't I do for my daughter?" He shrugged his shoulders.

Gwen chuckled. "Good point." She continued, "You should get yourself under that shower now, trust me, you will feel better." She turned around, gave him a tiny peck on the lips before winking and walking past him.

Peter followed her with his eyes. She looked _fabulous_. "Always playing the playful wife card." He began pulling his boots off and dropping them into the floor.

_"Someone has to make you get things done." _Gwen opened the wardrobe and searched for her makeup kit. _"I only give you the idea that doing the things I want will get you somewhere, it works."_

"And that's why marriage is a trap." Peter joked as he began to spread shaving cream over his chin and cheeks, carefully watching the whole process through the circular mirror.

_"Too late for second thoughts, hon." _Gwen grabbed a pair of blue heels from the closet._ "You're stuck with me and my desires now."_

Peter smiled. He moved the razor down the skin of his cheek, forming a trail of bare skin amidst the cream. "Lucky me, honey."

* * *

"I look... ridiculous!" Harry complained as he sat down on his chair next to one of the many circular tables placed inside the busy school's stadium. He couldn't get over the Robin Hood outfit Peter had given him hours ago.

Peter chewed his pudding and spoke, "It's not that bad."

Gwen interjected from besides him, "Manners, Peter, manners." She crossed her legs and observed the many kids running around and avoiding the occupied tables on their way. The place was overly decorated with confetti, pumpkins, and balloons.

He swallowed. "It's delicious."

"Did they even open the buffet?" She inquired, suspicious.

Peter shook his head. "The mayor received the first plate, he saw me looking for food and also recognized me as Spider-Man's photographer, turns out he really likes me, and since he's not really into pudding, he gave the plate." Peter smiled boyishly, proud of himself.

"Are you actually serious...?" Harry deadpanned.

Peter nodded. "Yeah - I can officially say I have won... the pudding of the city!" He said happily.

Gwen tried to contain a smile and quickly succeed at doing so when her husband caught her. She began unamused, "You're silly."

Harry shook his head. "At least he has a nice outfit."

Peter cleaned his lips with a napkin. He started playfully, "You need to be more sociable, Hare, you lack that energy, you know? People are counting with you, this Halloween, is your first test, you gotta represent man."

Harry chuckled.

"Excuse me, sir?" Some young boy called from behind Peter. He turned on his seat. "Are you Elizabeth's parents?" The boy looked at both Peter and Gwen.

Gwen replied, "Yes, we are."

Peter tilted his head to the side. "I am her father." He frowned.

"Do you know where she might be?"

Gwen smiled. She said friendly, "She's with her friends, her brothers shouldn't also be far away."

Peter interjected, "Hang on, what's your name, buddy?"

"Nathan."

He continued, "Oh, the Nathan I've heard so much about it..." Gwen kicked his right foot underneath the table and gave him an exasperated stare. He ignored her while Harry grinned from his seat. "I need to say, sometimes she won't stop talking about you, it's making me jealous."

The boy blushed.

"How old are you?"

"Eight." He replied.

"Right," Peter inquired, "So, what do you want with my daughter?"

Gwen chuckled nervously after she noticed the tone hidden within his question. "She's probably at the outside playground, see if you can find her there, honey."

"Thank you, Mrs Parker." He began to walk backwards.

"Hey," Peter called. He gestured to his own eyes. _"Four spider eyes." _

The kid gulped and turned on his back as he headed deeper into the stadium.

Gwen slapped his hand off his face. "Are you nuts?"

"What?" Peter didn't understand what she meant with that.

Harry affirmed, "That was something."

"Why did you have to treat him like that?"

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "We're just having a man-to-man kind of talk."

"He was a boy, not a man." She argued back.

"Not when he is after my girl." Peter crossed his arms.

Gwen exhaled deeply. "Poor Elizabeth."

Peter smiled and moved his hand to the suit's collar, trying to loosen the area around his neck since it was becoming a little too much uncomfortable. "Did this place become warmer all in the sudden?" He drank the water from his transparent glass.

Harry looked around. "Well, it's fall, it's supposed to be warmer inside, thankfully.

"That's what she said."

Gwen's cheeks flushed. "Honey...!"

Peter raised his hands in defense. "Sorry, it's just a joke, I'm done."

"God, I swear it's like living with a bunch of children." She sighed.

Peter snaked his right arm around his wife's back and brought her closer. He nuzzled her blonde hair and kissed the spot behind her ear. "Do you still love me, Princess Elsa?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Gwen teased. "Now, let's go catch that fresh air of yours."

* * *

"Traitors!" Spider-Man exclaimed once he spotted the mini Iron-Man and Captain America standing in front of him at the convoluted outside playground.

"Daddy!" Aiden raised his plastic shield and threw it on his own very way at Peter.

It landed on his shoulders as he faked a painful gasp. He shook his head and closed both fists. "You two Avengers can't beat us!"

"It seems we have a little mexican stand-off!" Harry walked next to Peter and prepared his fake elastic bow at the twins.

David also aimed both hands at Peter and Harry's direction. He looked at his mother who stood off the fighting zone to watch the situation unfold, not really minding the fact that they're all doing their piece despite all the movement around them. "Mommy, help us!"

She smirked and placed her hands down on her hips. "I'm just a princess tonight, sweetheart."

Spider-Man moved his two middle fingers down to his gloved palm, not touching the spandex by inches as he gestured to his sons. "You guys are on your own, there's no mommy to help this time."

David sighed heavily. "What do we do, A?"

"Fake deaths!" Aiden suddenly lied himself down into the floor, followed by his brother after the three seconds delay.

"What...?" Peter began to laugh at the sight. "What kind of strategy is this?" He approached the twins and kneeled next to them.

They both stood back on their feet and removed their masks.

"I'm still not over the fact you guys made us buy those costumes instead of a Spider-Man one." Peter admitted. "I'm way cooler." They grinned and shrugged in response. He stroked their hairs happily.

An unknown male voice said from behind him, "Now, that's a well made Spider-Man suit."

"Thank you," Peter replied without looking at the visitor. He stood up and turned on his shoulder just to immediately get paralyzed at the sight. His eyes widened from within the mask.

"Did you make this by yourself?" The man wearing a clownish purple and black suit asked. His face was covered by white makeup, and his hair was painted by a lighter tone of green.

Peter's breath became slower. He gulped. "M-My wife helped me..." He gestured to Gwen who couldn't help but crack a playful smile. She nodded in response, feeling his insecurity. Her boys joined a small group of kids of their same age as they hurried to the sweets barrack.

"Dang..." He continued to examine the suit, impressed by its authenticity. "Well, nice suit you there, better take care of it, mate." He patted him on the shoulder and walked past him.

Peter almost jumped at the touch. He squealed lightly and cleared his throat. "I... I will."

"What was that...?" Harry cocked his head at him. "Don't tell me that you fear of clowns still is a thing."

He took off his Spider-Man mask and exhaled deeply, before quickly clearing his sweaty forehead with his hand. "I fear nothing." He said firmly.

Gwen instantly assumed a more serious stand once she saw his pale expression. She approached her husband and placed the palm of her against his cheek. "Are you feeling well, baby?"

"Of course," Peter took her hand on his as they intertwined fingers. She knew her husband very well, something was wrong, even if he couldn't see it. "It's just the suit's keeping my heat to myself, there's nothing to -" He was cut short when a bolt triggered inside his brain, instantly making him turn his head to a window located in the school's second floor.

He could see a tall silhouette looking at them.

Harry and Gwen both followed his gaze, but failed to see what had gotten his attention all in the sudden.

"Danger?" She questioned.

"I'm not sure." Peter didn't took his eyes from the now empty window. "You guys didn't see that?"

Harry asked back, "See what?"

"That creepy shadow up there." He replied. It had vanished in a blink of an eye.

"Nothing at all, honey." Gwen looked back at him.

"Hmm, maybe it was nothing then."

She continued, "You know that rarely happens with us, you didn't simply react like that for nothing, maybe it's worth checking it out." She said softly, "There's a lot of people, it's better to guarantee everything will be fine throughout the night."

"She has a point, Pete." Harry agreed.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Erm..."

"You two go there, and I will look for Liz meanwhile, okay?" Harry nodded while Peter shook his head. She leaned closer, cupped her husband's cheeks and planted a kiss on his lips. "See you in a bit." She moved away from them.

Harry gestured him a passage. "Can we go now?" Peter didn't reply. He seemed anxious. "Dude, what's going on?"

"It's just that..." Peter moved his hand over his head. "Second floor..."

"So...?"

"High, it's too _high_." Peter replied, having second thoughts. "You don't think it's high as well?" He questioned, innocently.

Harry deadpanned. "You're messing with me."

Peter shook his head in negation. "Maybe we just wait here, let's sat in that bench. Gwen will sort things out. She's smart."

"Did you drink something?"

"Nope." Peter answered.

"What did you eat in the last hours?"

"Nothing except..." He cleared his throat in realization.

"The pudding," Harry finished his sentence. "Damn it, there's definitely something going on, let's go." He grabbed his friend's arm and walked him towards indoors.

Peter protested, "Be gentle!"

* * *

Harry approached one of the many classrooms' doors. He tried to see anything through the transparent window but the whole ambient was rather dark for his eyes' capacity.

"This is the place, right?" He asked and got no immediate response, instead - he felt a hand gently gripping his own very left hand. He turned around and saw Spider-Man standing next to him while gazing the door. "Dude...!" He swatted Peter's hand off his.

Peter quickly shook his head. "I-I don't know about this."

Harry rested his right hand on Peter's shoulder, reassuringly. "Look, we need to deal with whatever that is going with you, this is the first step; was this the classroom you talked about?"

Peter nodded, reluctantly. "I think so, yes." Harry turned back to the door and went to spin the knob. "You first!" Peter warned.

Harry sighed. He said uninspired, "Yes, Peter... I know." He slowly pushed the door to his direction and saw what looked to be a chemistry room with many rectangular tables and equipments set over them. He took a few steps inside.

Peter followed him closely from behind.

The atmosphere was cold. Aside from the sound of the festival happening outdoors, they could only hear that and the sound of their lungs doing its job.

As they adventured inside, something had been moved and instantly caught Peter in surprise. "Did you hear that...? Was that you?' He whispered.

"Yeah, I kicked a chair." Harry answered, eyeing something in the floor which had gotten his attention. He kneeled and found a grey outfit spread next to his feet. He read the informative name knotted on the cloth. "Bad janitor, eh?" He said sarcastically.

_"Where...?!"_ Peter instantly leaned his torso down and began to search their surroundings.

"Not here!" Harry whispered aghast. Peter exhaled deeply, relieved. "There's a outfit that wasn't supposed to be here, someone not authorized probably sneaked inside the school." He followed a trail of the green and shiny substance that came from the outfit and headed towards the locker at the far end of the room.

"Can we go now?" Peter slightly pushed Harry's Robin Hood shirt to him while watching their backs.

"We need to check on that locker." Harry carefully moved forward and stopped in front of his goal, expecting anything. "I'm going to open this, stay alert."

Peter gulped and nodded, not approving the plan. "Fine..."

"On three; one, two, three...!" Harry opened the locker and saw a fake plastic skeleton placed inside of it. He chuckled, before moving his gaze down to the skeleton's feet and seeing three rounded vials that contained a mysterious green substance.

"What do we have here...?" He tilted his head to the side. "I will need your glove, Pete." He offered his open hand - without looking at Peter and waited for the glove that never came. "Pete...?" He turned on his shoulder and saw nothing but the classroom's door slowly being closed.

_He ran away._

"For god's sake..."

* * *

"You're fine..." Peter splashed some cold water into his face and stared himself in the empty bathroom's mirror. He wore the usual shiny spandex minus the mask. "You need to calm down... you fear nothing." He sighed heavily and quickly patted his cheek with his left hand.

When feeling good enough, Peter closed the faucet and shook his head. Before he could even turn around, he heard some toilet's flush and instantly stood alert at the sound coming from one of the closets.

He stared them through the horizontal mirror. One of the doors was open and caused his brown eyes to rise in shock once they fully scanned the visitor. He squealed lowly in fear.

The horrifying clown with painted green hair and white covered face walked out of the closet and calmly approached Peter, standing exactly next to him as he began to wash his own hands. There were many bruises across his cheeks, a trace of red liquid slid down his lips.

Peter gulped, paralyzed. He fixed his eyes at the clown's. He could feel a tiny trace of sweat sliding down the side of his head. There wasn't much he could do besides slowly walking away, but before he could actually proceeded with such decision, the person turned his head to the side so that he could look at him.

He greeted, "Why so serious?"

Peter squealed as his eyes expanded in horror.

* * *

Gwen walked through the deserted hallway. She had been looking for both Peter and Harry for almost twenty minutes by now. They simply vanished into the nowhere after they parted. She was actually enjoying the fraternization the school had organized, but she also thought something was definitely off about the whole thing.

"Guys?" She called, searching all sides and spots. A smile was brought to her lips despite everything, all the old memories from school began to flourish. All of those events now felt centuries old after everything she had been through.

Gwen brought herself back to reality once she heard fast footsteps coming at her direction. She narrowed her eyes at the incoming colored figure hurrying from the far end of the corridor. "Peter...?"

_"Honey...!"_ Peter sprinted towards her. "Run, save yourself!"

She raised an eyebrow. "What..." She was about to catch his hand if he hadn't walked past and stopped besides her. He wrapped both arms across her wait and used her as shield.

"He's coming!" Peter saw the clown at where he had come from. He gasped and released her, before running to the nowhere.

Gwen turned to his direction and saw him accidentally stumble against some cleaning cart stationed on his way. She let out a confused breath and quickly moved her glance to where he claimed to have seen someone coming, but she found nothing except for more corridor to walk through.

She frowned and walked to her husband who leaned his back against the wall and tried to make all the stars flying over his head to disappear. She kneeled next to him and a placed her right hand against his cheek, feeling intense heat being given to her body.

"You're febrile." She affirmed tenderly.

Harry walked around the corridor and saw him from some distance._ "Peter!"_ He didn't waste any time to get closer to the pair. "I've been looking for him for ages."

"Same here," Gwen pressed the palm of her hand against his forehead. "What did you guys find?"

Harry began, "So, here's what I think, someone wants to mess things up, as usual; there's hidden caches of some sort of toxin in some areas of the school, I'm afraid Peter accidentally got some of that when he ate that pudding, because we are not showing the symptoms, the highlight being... you know... absolute fear."

"That's why he's acting like this?" Gwen speculated.

Peter grinned. "Oh, honey, did you come from sun...? Cause you're hot."

"Snap out of it." Gwen repeatedly patted his cheek.

He blinked tiresomely and shook his head. "Okay - I am fine."

Harry continued, "Yeah, I think so, we need to find who's causing this." He paused. "Have you ever encountered someone that is related to what we've discovered, Pete?"

"I can write you a book if you really want..." Peter naturally blinked his eyes and saw a goblin-turned Harry Osborn. His heart rose but calmed itself when he blinked once again and noticed his friend back to his true self.

"Ha, funny; I'm serious." Harry insisted.

Peter sighed. "I don't know... who could possibly be is dead." He gasped and pushed the suit's collar to the side in hope of gaining some fresh air into his warm body.

Gwen spotted something unusual at his skin. "Wait," She held part of the collar and lowered it so that she could see part of his neck. "Oh my god..."

Peter eyes shot up. "What is it?" He fixed his gaze at her green eyes. He began to panic while she remained in shock. He tried to look down to his neck but she kept him from doing so.

"Stay still, Peter." Gwen touched the dark mark on his neck, it was very slowly beginning to expand towards his cheek. "This isn't any ordinary infection..."

_"Infection?!"_ Peter tried to rise but his wife pressed his shoulder back to the wall.

Harry added, "The responsible for this must have the cure, we can't just leave and risk his life." He paused. "We need to deal with this, fast and without alarming everyone out there."

"You sure, Harry?" Gwen turned her head on her shoulder to look at the Osborn. He could see the fear on her eyes.

Harry nodded. "I will help, Peter stays with me, you keep an eye on your children, and we will track this person out meanwhile; anything happens, call me."

Gwen hesitated. She kept looking between Peter and Harry. "Promise you will take care of my husband."

"You have my word, Gwen." Harry replied sympathetically.

"Okay," She kissed Peter's forehead and stood up and reluctantly headed towards the main exit.

Harry grabbed his friend's hand helped him rise from the ground. "This is yours." He handed him the mask he had dropped during the marathon.

Peter took a deep breath and pulled the mask down his face.

"Alright, we should pick a direction then."

"I don't this will be a good decision, but... we could follow this calling." He suggested.

Harry cocked his head to the side. "Calling...? What are you saying?"

"Are you not hearing this creepy sound?" Harry shook his head. "Oh god, this will be when die... I can't do this, man, it's too much, I still have to beat Elizabeth's score on Piano Tiles."

"Nobody's dying, not on my watch." Harry affirmed seriously. "We can't waste anymore time, tell me where this calling is coming from."

* * *

Peter and Harry walked down the stairs of the theater reserved section of the school. Peter revealed that what was calling him was coming from the current area. They could see the stage at the far end of the room.

Harry didn't let his guard down as he observed every corner while Peter just followed him closely from behind as ever. They both got alarmed once spotlights aimed at the stage were suddenly lighten at the red curtains as everything else got dark.

Random claps could now be heard from inside the curtains. Someone pushed the left one to the side and calmly took a few steps towards the stage. Due to the slim body structure, Harry assumed the person wearing black tie and an obscure small helmet was a man.

The unknown person began unamused, _"And once again... a Spider-Man has to ruin everything I've put in motion."_ His distorted voice stated.

Harry stopped on his tracks and used his right arm to block Peter's way in case if he tried to walk past him. "Who are you? What do you want?!"

_"A man who only wants to settle an old debt." _He replied._ "That's not too much to ask for, is it?"_

Harry continued coldy, "And who's supposed to pay the debt, may I ask?"

He folded hands behind his back_. "The same person who was supposed to eat the damn pudding, were not for the individual who's hiding behind your body." _

"The mayor...?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

_"How smart, yes - the one."_ He replied, impressed.

Harry inquired roughly, "Why?"

_"Once I were a simple man, before he took everything from me, and I mean... everything, for a stupid war your heroes had caused."_ The man answered. _"Financial cuts, one of the things that is wrong with the society, only the favored wins."_

Peter slightly moved his head up Harry's shoulder and gazed the stage, his eyes hidden by the lenses widened in terror once he saw the whole Sinister Six aligned behind the mysterious person. He quickly retreated back to his original crouched position.

The man noticed the sudden movement. _"It seems that your fake Spider-Man friend already is suffering from what was not meant to him, tell me - what are you seeing?"_

Peter stood quiet.

"What is even your goal here?" Harry asked aghast. "To stop a little kid's night?"

_"Fool, that's were you are mistaken, this was going to be the show of that stupid mayor's life, all of this was for him, I was going to succeed at what Master Quentin had set up with as his legacy... and now, I guess I do have to find someone else, don't you think so?"_

Peter suddenly interjected, "Enough! Daniel Beckhart, you're the fool here - you asshat!" He pointed his finger at him. "I arrested you before, and I would do it again if I had the guts, but I am done with this crap!" He turned on his back and strolled outside the theater and into the hallway.

"How did he... Spider-Man...?" Daniel was lost on his words.

Harry was taken back for a brief time. He stated, "Stay here! Don't go anywhere, I still need the cure!" He ordered and went to catch up with his friend.

"Um..."

* * *

"Wow - dude, where are you going?" Harry made Peter stop in the hallway by grabbing his shoulder.

Peter exhaled quickly and turned back to him. He took off his mask and held it firmly on his right hand. "Come on, Harry, what are we doing...?" He asked breathless.

Harry replied politely, "We're trying to arrest a criminal..."

"A criminal - exactly! Who does that?!" He questioned exasperated.

"You... now us." Harry said as if that was the simplest thing ever.

Peter began sarcastically, "Us! Right..." He took deep breath and licked his lips. "And that, Hare, is why our life can _suck_ , I mean - come on, we are after highly deadly and fugly criminals...! What the hell?!"

Harry sighed, paying attention to the words of his fearless friend.

"When normal people see one criminal, they run and call the police, but not us - no, no, no...!" Peter smiled in disbelief. "We search out for people who want to hurt us, eh? Uh?" He widened his eyes and said angrily,"... or kill us!"

"Peter..."

"You know who does that? Crazy people!" He exclaimed. "_We_... are insane...!" Harry didn't know what to say. He thought that allowing this Peter to vent out would be the best option. Peter began to pace around. "And then there's the lost sleep nights, and the fast food service so that I can get back to patrolling, or the quick makeup sections... I mean who wants this life, _seriously_, Hare?"

Harry just shrugged his shoulders.

"Would you actually like being stuck with a person like me _every single day?_ I don't think so!" Harry frowned and tilted his head to the side. "I eat a lot, I am always listening to the same rock over and over again, and I-I joke too much... I'm annoying I know that, and you..." He looked up to Harry. "... you are gassy, you get a chimichanga and you get toxic! I mean - you know what...?" He threw his mask at Harry's hand. "You can be Spider-Man from now on, you can forget it."

Peter began to walk away.

"Wait - wait, where are you going, Peter?" He took a step forward but Peter quickly turned around and pointed his finger at him.

"Stay away from me, Harry, cause I'm done with it." His dark eyes expressed his fatigue. "I-I'm done with the bad guys, the empty web-fluids, stinky suit, and end of the world..." He resumed his tracks. "I'm out, I'm done - call Captain Freaking America, I quit."

* * *

**Refectory**

Peter sighed as he supported his head with his left hand while he drew each name in the Parker's family over the steel table by using his thumb.

To say he was tired would be a monumental understatement. He and his family couldn't ever catch a breath, there's always someone to stop their simple plans. He was beginning to accept the fate the toxin inside his veins would soon create.

Hearing a disturbance, he looked up and saw the Lizard carrying a plate next to the serving section. The monster seemed annoyed at the lack of meaningful food.

Peter cleared his throat and resumed his task of doing something to kill time instead of realizing how much messed up his mind was at the moment. He suddenly felt some weight being added to the bench where he was currently sat over it. He very slowly turned his head on his shoulder, expecting anything, and saw Elizabeth wearing her red hood outfit and smiling happily next to him.

He gasped lightly, and immediately shut his eyes forcedly. _"No...! No..."_

"Yes!" Elizabeth grinned. "Hi daddy, I've missed you." She leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck as she hugged him.

Peter almost jumped into the ceiling. His face became redder in agony. "You... are... not my real daughter..." He whispered.

"What? Why are you being so mean to me, daddy?" Elizabeth pulled back.

Another familiar voice interjected, "Because that's your real _father_, sweetheart."

Peter looked up and spotted Gwen sat in the opposite side of the table, she wore the same clothes she used before going to catch the missed flight to London. There were a few purple bruises in her delicate cheeks. "Gwen...?"

"So, honey - hurting me isn't enough? You have to make _our_ daughter suffer too?"

"What? I... I don't understand."

Gwen continued coldly, "Think about it, since we met, what have you done to me? You took my father, you left more than once, you almost made me die also more than once, and now... you are dying."

"I'm sorry, daddy."

"Don't be sorry, honey - maybe it's for the best." She affirmed gently, before settling her eyes back to Peter's. "With your father gone, we can finally live a peaceful life, don't you think?"

Peter shook his head, refusing to accept what she was saying. "You're both not real." He moved his gaze away.

"It doesn't matter, the truth is : you locked me into a life I didn't want to be part of, if you just allowed me to go years ago, I'd be happy, but no - you were selfish, and now your curse even passed to children who never asked for that." Gwen paused. "Why? Don't you realize maybe it's time for you to let things go for good? Stop struggling."

"You're not my Gwen." He stated heartbroken as he avoided eye contact.

She slowly moved herself over the table and stood kneeled on top of it, before placing both hands on Peter's cheeks and gently making him look at her. "Honey... don't you want to be done with all this fight and be happy somewhere else." As she cupped his cheeks, dark traces began to come from his neck and to the spots where the tip of her fingers touched it.

Peter cleared his throat, feeling weaker by each second.

"Maybe I'll even be with you there; just one final kiss baby..." She leaned in, brushing her lips against his, before fully capturing his lower lip and kissing it lingering.

Peter went to reciprocate kiss, but quickly thought otherwise. "No...!" He moved her hands off his face and clumsily fell into floor. He gasped in pain after landing on his back, but he could see Gwen and Elizabeth weren't there anymore, and for the first time ever - he sighed relieved at the empty view.

After calming himself despite the feeling of being near hell's edge, Peter opened his eyes and didn't close them ever again.

_"Fancy meeting you here, Spider-Man."_ Ultron greeted as it looked down to the man lying in the ground and against its metallic feet. _"Disgusting, I let you live, and now this?"_

Peter laughed nervously. "Ha-ah, Hello there... Mr Ultron." He gulped. "How's heaven?"

* * *

Harry closed the bathroom's door, frustrated. He was now back at the hallway, and he was having a rough time finding any clues or signals that revealed where his unique friend was.

"So much for that_ Amazing Spider-Man,"_ Harry looked around and waited for anything to happen on its own, but as ever, that didn't come to happen.

He took a couple of steps forward and as he circled the wall's corner, he bumped into Peter who squealed lightly in surprise.

"I've been looking you for ten minutes!" Harry ranted, annoyed.

Peter both hands over his knees as he leaned down and breathed deeply. "Dude, bear with me - I-I figured I don't want to die, maybe later, but not now like - definitely not now."

"Thank goodness!" Harry sassed. "Can we get Daniel behind bars and get the solution for the disease growing on your neck? Because trust me, you do not want to be with that for any longer."

"Do we have... t-to fight him? M-Maybe we could... talk, or... decide who wins in a chess match, I'm good at that." He suggested.

Harry spoke through monotone tone, "I guarantee you we won't defeat the man in chess match, Peter." He clenched his fists. "Now, we should hurry back to the stage, and I give him a hell of a show."

Later once the pair were back to the theater's door, Harry bursted the door open and gazed the empty stage. "Oh - _great...!"_ He carefully and quickly sprinted downstairs.

"Did he leave? That's... awesome." Peter tried to smile underneath the mask.

"The bastard could be anywhere," Harry checked the set behind the curtains. He slowly turned on his back. "We need to-" His speech was cut short when the main doors were fastly closed without any kind of force being applied to them.

_"You thought this was over?"_ Daniel's voice echoed through the many speakers. Harry spotted him up in the control room way over the firm ground. He was standing in front of the glass and had his arms crossed_. "This is just beginning."_

"He actually waited here the whole time..." Harry tried to suppress a smile.

Daniel heard him clearly. _"I waited because I wanted to!"_ He approached the controls. _"Enough of your annoyance! Now you meet your worst nightmares!" _He pulled a lever.

"It surely ain't you!" Harry exclaimed furiously. Some kind of green gas now started to come off the air holes which were used for others purposes - like light smoke and steam, basically anything non-lethal. Harry softened his tone once he got aware that their chances of survival were slim. "Just... hear me for a sec, give us a cure; you want blood? Take it from me, man."

_"I hear you just alright, but the gas isn't as friendly as I am, so I suggest you two to make the most of your available time before this room is filled and later, the rest of the school..."_

Harry moved his left hand above his eyes as he tried to see through the now dense gas. He turned around. "Peter, how are we going to-" Peter was paralyzed. He was literally standing still, not showing any kind of awareness of what was going on.

_Elizabeth...!_

Harry placed a hand on his shoulder and stirred him lightly.

_N-No, please - please just don't leave me here... dad...!_

"Peter?" Harry coughed lightly.

_Come after me all you want, I won't let you take her you hear me?!_

He tried to move Peter but his friend had all his muscles tightened. "I need you, man!"

_Dad, are you there? I miss you... you were the only one ever... you were my only hope..._

"I think... Peter would miss you." Peter finally said something. He turned his head to Harry who sighed relieved. He suddenly took a deep exhale as if he hadn't been breathing for considerable time and almost fell to his knees hadn't Harry grabbed his arm and supported him first.

Peter looked down at both hands once he eventually managed to stand up on his own.

Harry noticed something different on him, even if he couldn't see his expression due to the mask. He slowly began to approach his hand at Peter's shoulder. "Okay, okay... it's gonna be okay, buddy, alright?"

Peter slightly turned his head at him. Harry could see his distorted reflection through the mask's lenses. He quickly grabbed Harry's green shirt with both hands and threw him further into the stage. Daniel clapped and affirmed in the speakers, _"So the toxin really works... marvelous!"_

Spider-Man strolled towards Harry who very slowly recomposed himself and shook his head in pain before standing on his knees, supporting himself with both hands over the ground. Peter was much stronger than him, his strength was off the charts for him to handle.

Peter held Harry's arm and forced him to face him. His left hand grabbed his shirt and kept him in check while his right fist violently landed across his face, just before retreating it and punching him over, over and over again. Harry didn't struggle, there was no time for that.

Inside the control room, Daniel watched the situation unfold down in the stage. Spider-Man was giving the random man a painful treatment that only prolonged the show's runtime.

He folded arms. "And finally, I win, and Spider-Man lose; I even surpassed Master Quentin, nothing can stop me from-" He was cut short when a pipe swung from behind and on his left side, colliding against the side of his helmet. He fell unconscious into the floor.

"Oh my god..." Gwen gasped as she dropped the pipe and covered her mouth with her left hand. She took a worried glance over the mysterious person. "I... I hope you're not dead..." She had sneaked inside after trying to open the main doors.

She carefully moved her left foot over and pass the unconscious body and into the other side, doing the same with her right foot before she was now facing the control panels. She noticed one of the levers was pulled down unlike the others, meaning that wasn't its original standby position.

Gwen couldn't see straight through the dense smoke that touched the glass which kept her safe from the other side. There were two black silhouettes at the stage, but she couldn't see what was happening.

_I hope I'm not too late, were not for Elizabeth..._

While calming her fast paced heart, Gwen saw a small bag lying over the left side of the panel. She frowned and retrieved the bag to her backs, undoing the locks and finding a book and another vial, the difference this time is that the vial's contents was a blue liquid instead of green.

After grabbing what seemed to be the solution to Peter's condition, she turned on her back and slightly kicked Daniel's hip. "If this makes it even worse, _I'll be back."_

_"What... I..."_ He mumbled.

Back at the stage, Peter landed another powerful punch across Harry's face. A tiny bleeding cut could be now seen over his right eyebrow. Harry gasped heavily and looked up to his friend whose expressions were hidden by a spandex-made mask.

"Peter... wait, if you are there..." He cleared his throat and raised his free hand towards him. "W-We need you... I need you, w-we are family..."

Peter stopped and remained in silence for a brief time. He began to slowly open his right hand - which was previously hitting his oldest friend, while the other released Harry's shirt. He fell into his knees and was now on Harry's level, facing him before eventually leaning his torso down to the side and lying against the floor.

"P-Peter..." Harry wiped a trace of blood from his lips and gently removed his mask, finding the skin of his friend getting filled by the same dark lines coming from his neck. "No..." He heard the doors opening as Gwen took off her heels to quickly walk downstairs barefoot. "Gwen, tell me you have something..."

* * *

**A few hours later...**

"Stay still, Peter!" Gwen chided him as she worked on cleaning out his now slightly open wound on his shoulder.

"That tickles!" A shirtless Peter complained.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

Peter peered over to the other side of the apartment and saw his real red hood daughter combining a puzzle with her brothers in front of the couch. He found it quite amusing that they were completely oblivious of the situation they had been in. He looked back at Gwen as she continued to work diligently.

"Great thinking with that pipe though, I mean it," Peter hissed lightly as Gwen pressed some antiseptic into the wound before it cooled back down. "Though why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Because I thought you would think it's over the top. There wasn't much time to think after Elizabeth warned you were in danger, Harry also contacted me and told me about you were simply walking away."

"I wasn't thinking straight." He sighed.

"Yes, I know that now." Gwen reached for her needle and stitches, beginning to work on binding the wound. "I didn't mean for it to happen like that, sorry."

"You did a great job Gwendy risky, but good; don't worry, we got through it," Peter moved a hand onto her thigh, rubbing reassuringly.

Gwen stopped, dropping her head. "If anything had of happened to you, I would never have forgiven myself."

"And if I had of lost all of you..." Peter mused, being silenced by a finger on his lips.

"Don't, I know where you're going with this Pete, " She gave him a reassuring kiss. "We just had to sort things out."

Peter looked into Gwen's emerald eyes, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Again, Spider-Gwen saves the day."

"Definitely," She grinned kindly. "Now let me sort your shoulder out."

He gazed their children. "At least the kids still got quite the evening, everything continued as planned, I owe them that much."

"I know, it amazes me how everyone didn't know a thing about what was going on." She said impressed.

"That was the goal."

A few minutes past as Gwen worked carefully, and she was soon finished. She cleaned her hands with a towel.

Now wearing jeans and a leather jacket, Harry stepped out of the balcony, carrying his phone, and later approached them. His face had two bandages applied to it, one over his eyebrow and the other on his cheek.

He spoke, "That Matt friend of yours already delivered Daniel to a department after making sure the school was clean of those vials.

Peter sighed. He still felt heavily guilty for doing what he did to Harry, he had lost all control.

Harry continued, "Also, he knew about that vial, it's basically what we saw, makes you lose control over your senses, until you are, you know... dead; as to why the guy had an antidote with him, he himself told it's for precaution, so you dodged quite the bullet there."

Gwen asked, "And the book?"

"Well... he couldn't read, you know." Harry smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh - yes, I forgot about that."

"Anyways, that's it... he's behind bars."

Peter mumbled, "I hope it stays that way now, I had enough of mystery for a lifetime."

Harry continued, "I think your wish will be granted, Matt will visit the guy's place and try to get rid of all the dangerous stuff he may have come up with."

"That's good to hear." Gwen interjected. They stood in silence a considerable time. She knew they had to talk alone about what happened. She sighed tiredly. "Well, I am going upstairs, you two try to not wreck the apartment up."

"Yes ma'am." Peter chuckled. He looked up to Harry and began soflty, "I need to apologize for-"

"Don't, that wasn't your fault, there's nothing you could've done, and besides... I probably deserved that."

Peter silenced without taking his eyes away from Harry's. He nodded slowly in understanding, before speaking tenderly, "You being back with us here - now, that's everything... "

Harry slightly looked away from him and towards the floor. He didn't know what to say.

Peter continued, "... you're my brother."

Harry was taken in surprise at first, but eventually proceeded his kind words and nodded thankfully. He still had to ask him about something he couldn't figure it out. "Peter, back there... you said something out of context when you were out, what happened?"

"Oh," Peter gritted his teeth. "Yeah, um... it wasn't real, that's what matters."

Harry noticed his hesitation. What he might have seen seemed to deeply affect him. "I understand."

"What about you? See anything?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Too worried about you... maybe that's enough of fear."

"Good point."

Afterwards they spent some time playing with the kids and Ren, enjoying the fact that they were all safe. Peter and Gwen both served dinner, a special kind of spaghetti which the recipe had come from Helen. Harry eventually left the apartment after a much good time spent with the Parkers, the closest thing to being part of a family he would say.

Later in the night, Peter silently closed the twin's door after he made sure they were sleeping peacefully. Accomplishing that wasn't easy since they had a _lot_ of energy yet to be spent, and Peter decided to take Gwen's turn for the night, and he wouldn't complain, spending time with his family was something he could never get enough of.

Carefully taking a peek inside Elizabeth's bedroom, he could see her curled in the covers and snuggling with the teddy bear Harry had given her months ago. That was only one object when compared to her whole collection of plushies that were set in the wall stand.

Peter smiled and whispered gently, "_Sleep well, baby girl, I will always be with you... I can promise you that."_ He sighed calmly and closed the door gently.

After making sure their children were one hundred percent in the realm of dreams, the Parker with Irish heritage opened the half open door of the bedroom he shared with his older blonde girl. He stepped inside to find only a soft lighten lamp over Gwen's bedstand as some source of light. She was lying on her stomach, her naked back fully exposed to him while the sheets covered her whole lower body till her waistline.

He exhaled deeply at the sight, his brown eyes never moving off his wife's beautiful figure. He shook his head of lustful thoughts and lazily leaned in over his side of the bed and lied down, adjusting positions so that he was now lying on his back to gaze the ceiling.

_Once again, you get uncomfortably near do death, Dear Peter Parker... _He rolled his eyes. _Thank goodness I'm not running out of the old Parker's luck, ha._

In the darkness, Peter spotted a tiny spider crawling its way high in the ceiling, probably going somewhere the apartment made harder to reach. He mumbled something and slightly turned to Gwen's side. He moved his left arm across her waistline and leaned in to kiss the smooth skin of her cheek.

Gwen instantly smiled at the gesture. She kept her eyes closed and spoke curiously without turning around. "What was that for, spidey?"

"For being the girl of my dreams."

* * *

**A/N : I hope you guys had a good read - I'm honestly expecting every kind of a reaction to this, but I wanted to try something different here. Initially, I didn't think this chapter would get this long and complex, I think I just can't write something shorter than the usual, oh well. I only know I pretty much enjoyed played around with this one, it was very fun. Nothing too serious, that was the goal, hence the conclusion which turned out slightly different to what I had in mind. **

**Taking the occasion to flesh out Harry's character a little bit more was also the goal, and what occurred here with Peter may be a pivotal point later in the story.**

**Next chapter will be pure fluff, you guys have been warned...**

**Special thanks to Sebas F for suggestions, and Legionary Prime for the kind insights.**

**Remarkable Quotes : BioShock Infinite, The Walking Dead, Supernatural, The Blacklist and Amazing Spider-Man comics.**


	56. Time

**Fluff, romance and suggestive themes. "Then" &amp; "Now" parallels between each scene. Chapter named after the song "Time". Enjoy.**

* * *

**April 23th - 2014**

**Queens - New York**

"I can come later then." Gwen suggested.

May shook her head. "Of course not, he's been dying to see you, and I'm sure he won't mind, besides... you can probably make him get off bed."

Gwen eventually nodded. "Okay, I'll try." May smiled and entered the kitchen, leaving the Stacy alone and besides the stairwell.

She began to slowly walk upstairs, taking her time to analyze the many family photos placed against the wall. They told a lot of history which she didn't know, especially regarding her boyfriend's parents since that was a topic she wasn't sure he wanted to talk about to begin with.

Now facing the door of Peter's bedroom, she turned the knob and scanned the room with her eyes, seeing the mess of discarded clothes and books welcoming her into the place. She knew Peter wasn't very organized, but that was too much.

Not far away, she spotted Peter lying on his shoulder and over the bed. He was shirtless, but that didn't mean what she initially thought when she saw his Spider-Man socks slipping under the covers and into the thin air.

He definitely had spent the night out.

Feeling guilty for possibly waking him up from a peaceful nap, Gwen changed her attention to Peter's desk and the countless pictures stuck against the wall, maybe a habit between the Parkers. Not that she minded, well - except for the pictures of herself in which she disliked to a great extent, like the one where she just had gotten out of a tiresome exam and seemed exhausted. His excuse was that she looked cuter when mad.

Gwen giggled silently. She picked an old camera from his desk and prepared to frame his current position. The photo instantly was printed as she carefully took it in her right hand and shook it in the air, before looking at her work and smiling at the sight.

_Look at my big bugboy..._ Gwen thought, proudly. She carefully placed the camera back to the desk and stashed the picture inside her purse which she later placed it down onto the floor. She also unzipped and took the black jacket off her torso and lowered the delicate clothing over his Spider-Man's chest set in the computer's chair.

She sat down in the bed's edge. She now couldn't resist the temptation of gaining his attention after a whole month of traveling with her family._ "Hey..."_ She caressed his messy hair.

Peter mumbled. _"No... Gwen... I am...virile."_

She chuckled. "Well, that's highly inappropriate."

He slowly opened his eyes and saw a blonde woman very close to him. "Who..." He was now fully wide awake once he recognized the beautiful visitor. _"Gwen?"_

"Good afternoon."

"Wait..." Peter quickly shook his head. He rose his chest. "Is it your birthday yet?!"

"No, tomorrow." Gwen affirmed, finding his urgency amusing.

Peter dropped himself back to bed. "Oh - thank god..." He placed the palm of his hand over his forehead, before looking at his girl. "Hey, _girlfriend."_

"Hey, _boyfriend."_ She played along, thankful for their firm relationship since her father passed away.

Peter sat in the bed and cupped her cheeks and kissed her inviting lips, smelling one of Gwen's favorite perfumes, lilac arome. She reciprocated the kiss as her eyes immediately closed and she allowed him to continue to kiss her passionately - a kiss that evoked so many emotions from they both.

She had missed his gentle touch, and he craved her closer presence once again. They're both having the butterflies at the reunion, well - at least the Stacy since her lover always neglected such concept, probably wanting to appear tough.

Peter wrapped both arms around her back while never ceasing the make out as he very slowly began to push Gwen down into bed and next to him.

She smiled against his lips, her head touching his two puffy pillows. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Peter pillowed his head on her chest and snaked his arms around her. "Just wanted to embrace you and hold you for some more time."

Gwen smiled lovely. She later faux complained with a heavy huff, "You're so heavy."

"I'm not," Peter said faux hurt with a pout. He looked up at her, "And you shouldn't complain, you're stronger than you look."

"Oh?"

"Yup, not anyone can take on a giant monster."

Gwen nodded and removed an arm and grinned as she flexed her bicep in front of him.

"So pretty." Peter murmured and leaned in and kissed her bicep several times.

Gwen smiled and reached around his neck with her arm to caress his perfect and messy hair. She couldn't get enough of his hair, it was so soft, but that could be lost since he had been thinking about using gel for a new hairstyle.

_Rest in peace..._

Gwen, as surprising as it was to her, loved cuddling. It had never been something she had engaged in before she met Peter. She also never had gotten into a serious relationship with anyone else besides him, at the time her independent mind wasn't terribly interested in cuddling with someone.

But she loved the feeling of being held in Peter's arms, and when she finally gave into cuddling after their relationship started it had been an eye opener for her how much she actually enjoyed it with him. They began to be very physical with each other. Cuddling, caressing and kissing was a huge part of affirming their love for each other, after all, they went to sleep cuddling whenever they had the chance.

She wasn't used to sleeping with somebody close to her besides her parents and brothers, she felt happy with Peter nearby. Plus Gwen got easily cold during night in her bedroom so when Peter had the opportunity to visit her late at night, his body heat warmed her up and it made it easier for Gwen to sleep.

Although it did get hot later in the night and he usually rolled away from her, but by then her 'cheap heat source' had warmed her up sufficiently. But they always returned to cuddling when they woke up in the morning.

She loved him.

_Love...?_

Three simple words. A word they both still hadn't expressed to each other. Truth is, whenever they're together, Gwen could forget about everything else and have an unique time with the boy and hero from a small neighborhood called Queens.

Gwen sighed silently to herself as she stroked his hair. She looked down and saw his eyes closed just like when she first entered the room. He had fallen asleep to her heart's rhythm. She smiled contently and kissed the top of his hair, before leaning in towards his head and letting all thoughts be put to rest for awhile.

* * *

**May 26th - 2028**

**Tarifa - Spain**

"Oh, man." Peter smiled to himself as he combed his hair, standing in front of the sink and watching the entire process in the mirror. He placed the comb aside and hurried inside the hotel's bedroom and grabbed his phone from the mattress.

_PP : What are you doing, hon?"_

_GS : Slow elevator. There's this urgent reunion I told you about in Spain. I can't believe we're going to spend our anniversary apart._

He almost jumped at the ceiling in anxiety.

_PP : It's not that bad._

Peter threw his phone back to the bed and quickly approached the single door present in the fancy bedroom. He gently pressed the side of his head against the door and heard calm footsteps alongside some bag's wheels getting closer by each second that went by.

Placing his right hand around the knob when the person stopped to face the door, Peter slowly opened it and saw Gwen Stacy on the other side, holding the bedroom's keys on her hand while her chin almost fell onto the floor in surprise.

"Oh my god." Peter said lovingly while Gwen stepped inside and placed her bag against the wall and her purse down in the ground.

She turned to his side and immediately snaked both arms around his neck. Peter wrapped his own arms across her back and lifted her closer to him as she tightly locked her jeans covered legs around his waistline, losing herself to a firm and passionate hug.

He kissed her neck repeatedly, before whispering, _"Missed you," _He began walking towards the bed, carrying his wife along.

Peter dropped them both into the comfy bed, never getting separated from one another throughout the short fall. He stood between her legs that were wrapped across his waist while she pressed him to her torso.

_"I thought I wouldn't see you," _Gwen whispered amorously. She stroked the back of his hair and kissed the side of his lips.

He leaned his face in and nuzzled her neck. _"Hmm..."_ He looked up to her eyes and brushed the side of his hand against her cheek, before gently passing a single thumb over her welcoming lower lip and smiling contently. "You looked so beautiful the last time I saw you, that I forgot my pickup line."

Gwen giggled, unwrapping her arms and lazily bringing them over her head and enjoying the sensation of being pinned down by her husband. "You always have a been a hit and miss kind of romantic guy."

"I try my best." He quipped. "You have high standards, don't you?" He moved his left hand over hers and intertwined fingers, causing his torso to slightly lean downer.

"I only settle for the best." She winked.

He chuckled. "I'll take that as compliment." He kissed her ear and later the sensitive spot behind it.

Gwen sighed contently, feeling a hand adventure under her blouse, causing her to release a soft moan. She sighed and asked calmly, "Now - wait a minute, how did you pull all this stuff out?"

"Persuasion, lots of persuasion." He replied, drawing soft circles over her belly and causing Gwen to release short fits of giggles. "Your superiors are quite friendly, they helped fake this meeting of yours."

"Really? Wow, what a golden tongue of yours, _Mr Parker."_ She licked her lips.

He teased, "You would know that more than anyone else." She smacked him on the back. "And... Tomorrow we will have a whole day of activities, little Gwendy."

"I wonder what those might be."

Peter lied down to her side, inches from her face and planted a kiss on her nose. She smiled, instantly. "Just the best, hopefully... after all, it's our tenth wedding anniversary, feeling old yet?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "Mid-thirties is the new young."

He laughed. She smiled. "Well, I hope your baggage is a diverse one, baby." He placed two fingers on her chin. "Because there's dinner, movie premiere, a secret thing and then some quality time at the beach, what do you say?"

"Sounds like foreplay." Gwen held a smile back and winked.

"My God..." Peter bit his lip. He energetically hovered over her and landed on the ground after the stunt. Before Gwen could even react, she was already at his arms and being carried to the bathroom. "Time for that couple shower."

Gwen snaked both arms around his neck. "Ten years and some things never changes!"

* * *

**April 23th - 2014**

It was freezing cold at the Parker's background. Peter had convinced Gwen to go outside. They had mostly done nothing all day. They were too cold to do anything so they sat, all day long. Gwen was perfectly comfortable with this because earlier she was half asleep, and besides, at least she was warm.

"Come on, Gwendy." Peter offered her his hand. She was standing still at the last portion of the short stair that led off the house and into the grass which was covered by some dense snow.

Gwen gritted her teeth and crossed her arms underneath her breasts. Thankfully, the thick blue jacket and beanie were helping in the task of keeping her heat safe. "I don't know, Pete..."

He smiled reassuringly. "Trust me." He flicked his fingers at her. "It will be alright."

Gwen exhaled deeply and eventually took his hand on hers as he helped her step down into the snow. She released a short yelp once her boots touched solid ground once again. "I-I think the couch is cozier."

Peter turned on his back and took a few steps away from her, quietly checking some spots, like the one behind a single tree and close to the high fence that separated the house from the others. He began inspired, "Well... there's a tradition among the Parkers, a very old one, it grants you a status among the family, since you're with me, that extends to you, so I need you to-"

His speech was interrupted after he felt a cold object collide against his back and reaching his head. His hair was filled by snow flakes. He turned around and saw Gwen giggling madly from a distance. She delicately covered her mouth with her hand, trying to recompose herself, but the beautiful smile was impossible to wipe away.

Peter raised both hands into the air in defeat.

Gwen giggled once again. "Sorry, baby - you just talk too much sometimes."

He smiled, playfully. "Right... as I were saying, you need to get through the ritual, it actually starts right-" He suddenly rolled down in the snow, gathered some quantity of it, and fastly threw the short amount towards Gwen._ "...now!"_

Her chest was now decorated by snow. She let out a surprised breath as she stood mouth open, shocked at what her boyfriend had done. He smirked victorious from his location.

Gwen narrowed her eyes at him. "You will regret that!" She grinned.

They ran around the backyard throwing any amount of snow they could get their hands on. While Aunt May prepared dinner, she spotted the couple goofing in the background through one of the windows in the kitchen. They're laughing and running the entire time. They seemed to be having a war. She smiled happily and walked away to the other side of the kitchen.

Later on, Peter fell into the snow with Gwen straddling him firmly. She was happy to be doing something other than sitting on the bed and going deeper on books.

"Hey - hey, Bugboy." Gwen tilted her head to the side. She continued cocky, "I think you just lost to a mere lady like me." She placed both hands over his chest and dropped some weight into him.

Peter's own hands gripped her waist. "It seems that way; by the Parker rules, you can now claim a prize."

She playfully raised an eyebrow, before slowly leaning her torso and head down towards him, their faces were inches from touching themselves. Peter could even feel her hot breath brushing against the skin of his cheek. He closed his eyes and touched foreheads.

Gwen said soflty,_ "Oh, do I now... mmm?"_ She bit his upper lip gently and teased a potential kiss by going forward with her lips but retreating at the contact with his, constantly repeating the process much to Peter's disapproval.

He groaned. _"Gwen..."_

"You lost, you don't get to complain about anything." Gwen smirked and brushed her nose against his. She was about to lean in when she suddenly found herself carefully spun around towards the ground and later brought up to his arms after he stood up. "You didn't!" She cursed.

Peter slowly headed towards the door that led inside the house. "I just did." He chuckled. "You failed the ceremony, Ms Stacy."

Gwen hugged his neck and looked up to his eyes. "You're just making that up."

"Which part? The one where I said to trust me, or the whole ceremony thing?" He asked rather seriously.

Gwen noticed how he expected a serious answer. "There won't be a time when I won't trust you - despite you never quitting goofing around." She kissed his clean jawline.

He smiled. "Thank you." He paused. "... you gotta admit though, the whole ritual thing was quite believable."

"Only in your dreams, Mr Parker... only there."

* * *

**May 26th - 2028**

_**The next day...**_

_Knock, Knock!_

_"Housekeeping, may I come in?!"_

Peter grunted lazily under the soft sheets that reached his abdomen. He brushed his whole face with a single hand and yawned. "House kee..." He sat on the bed and brought the sheets along to cover his chest. "... _oh please, not the human branding iron again... _No - go away!" .

_"I will be quick!_

He insisted, "Come back later, I'm undressed!"

The door was half opened. "Oh, _really?" _A slender, bare and toned leg was sensually curled against the door.

Peter almost stumbled into the floor as he panicked and searched out for his clothes. He saw the inappropriate sight at the door. "Argh, what are you crazy?! I'm a married man!"

"And a faithful one no less. I'm still not impressed." Gwen fullly opened the door and gave him a sensual pose which the effect was only increased by the pink bikini that also accentuated her golden hair. Not mentioning the straw hat. "Guess that's why I couldn't resist your invitation." She gazed his perfectly shaped chest.

"Gwen...?" He breathed relieved. "I am glad to see you're - _mmmm_..." He was cut short by a passionate kiss after Gwen sat near him and leaned in.

"Kisses first, bugboy." Gwen said between the gaps. Peter didn't protest, he had made peace with her insatiable hunger he experienced in the last night, something good from being apart from more than a week actually happened.

She released his lips and placed her left hand on his chest and gently gripped his hardened muscles. "Now you can explain how you get to sleep until one after noon, I'm curious."

Peter tried to take his gaze off her body. He gulped. "Um..."

Gwen chuckled. He loved the sound of that. "Silly, you're such a dork." She continued, "As every woman knows, there are ways to make sure nobody pays attention to your face, I see you're no exception."

He finally met her deep eyes. "I can pretty well confirm that, but..."

"The show is for you," She gave him a quick peck on the lips and stood up excitedly, almost dancing as she made her way to the wardrobe to get sun protection.

Peter smiled. "You're happy today."

She looked over her shoulder. "Why wouldn't I be? The day is beautiful, I have you here - you being naked is also a bonus, and we're celebrating our anniversary together!" She smirked and turned back to the wardrobe. "This is perfect, having the kids around would be even better, but I guess we deserve some time to ourselves."

_This can't be real... this life, there's nothing else more important than this._ Peter thought to himself.

"I love you, Gwen."

Gwen smiled happily. She said softly, "And I..._ love you too_..." She grabbed a blue short and threw at her husband's direction. "Dress up, the sun isn't waiting for us - also, no shirts allowed."

* * *

**April 24th - 2014**

**Gwen Stacy's 18th birthday...**

It was almost seven. He had finished dressing a while ago. Now, he stood at the door of Gwen's bedroom after Helen welcomed him into the house and left with her brothers. He sighed, holding a bunch of balloons and a rose with his free hand, giving himself one more once-over, he nodded slightly to himself when he was satisfied with his formal appearance. While they may have been in a serious relationship for quite awhile now, this was technically his first true date with Gwen… during her birthday.

The 'Amazing' Spider-Man was nervous. He couldn't remember ever feeling this nervous, not even when bloodthirsty thugs were charging at him. He felt like-

_Get a grip, man! You're a vigilante, not some moony-eyed teenager on his first date... well, kinda of. Damn it. I am that._

But there was good reason for his nervousness. While there had been other women in his life like his mother and Aunt, Gwen Maxine Stacy could potentially be the most special to him, and that was something hardly for one to achieve.

There were times that he would think that she deserved someone better than him, and then he would realize that it was she who had chosen him, just as he had chosen her. He knew now that he never felt as strongly for the other women in his life as he felt for her. He sighed. She deserved better than this— he only hoped what he had planned was special on her eyes.

She deserved nothing less than perfection.

_Guess we'll just have to make the most of it. Maybe we can even make this first date memorable_.

Little did he know that it would be a date both of them would never forget.

Taking a deep breath, he reached the doors to her room.

_"Don't come in here yet!"_ He heard the amusement in her voice. _"I'm still getting ready."_ He was confused.

_How did she know I was already down- never mind. This is Gwen we're talking about._

_"You can come in now."_

Peter opened the doors and was greeted by a breathtaking sight. Gwen Stacy, the talented and smart woman in front of him, was wearing a low-cut blue dress that had a slit on one thigh—a perfect mix between modest and sexy. The dress not only hugged her curves but also brought out the color of her eyes.

He gulped.

"I take it you approve?" Gwen asked saucily. She immediately stood surprised at what he held on his hands, and as her emerald eyes went up, she spotted an disappearing purple stain under his right eye. "Peter... how did you get that?" She approached and placed both hands on his shoulders.

"Don't worry about it, Gwendy." He kissed her tiny nose. "This is your day, and this is for you." He gestured to his hand which held the rose.

Gwen reluctantly took her eyes off the bruise and lowered them to the gifts. She smiled thankfully, before slowly picking the delicate rose from his hand and bringing it up in front of her eyes.

"Thank you, spider-boy... I love it." She gave him a peck on the lips, grabbing the balloons that announced 'Happy Birthday' to her and placing them over her desk and the rose inside a glass filled with fresh water.

She walked back to him and moved her hand between his left arm and his ribcage, holding his bicep so that he could guide him. "Now, shall we go to our first stop?"

Peter smirked. "To the theater then, my lady."

She giggled.

* * *

**Playa de Bolonia**

Bubbles began to form in the particular zone of the sea which wasn't far away from the shore. It didn't take too long for Peter Benjamin Parker to quickly emerge from the ocean's bottom. He was exposed from his abdomen and above.

"Not too bad for a spider." Peter adjusted his hair by moving his hand backwards ontop of his head. He began to swim towards the shore, until he could feel his feet touching against the sand underneath the water. He eventually arrived back to the beach.

There weren't many people as he expected, and for those who were present, there was a considerable distance between each group, giving them some space for themselves. After all, the location was a very isolated one.

Peter left wet footsteps in the sand as he peacefully made his own way towards the spot he had chosen to establish themselves. He could see a woman lying on her stomach and over a colored towel between her sweaty body and the ground. Her top was untied so that her back didn't get tanted by the sun.

He silently crouched besides his wife who didn't seemed to be aware of her surroundings. To say that he was having a very - very welcoming view would be a monumental understatement. His right hand slowly flew right over Gwen's waistline, before eventually lowering and touching her warm body and going all the way up over her back.

Gwen stirred a bit once she felt the touch. She wasn't expecting that, especially the cold and wet hand. She groaned in disapproval and turned her head to his side, forcing her eyes to be half closed due to the sun. "Peter... you're freezing _cold."_

"And you're burning _hot,_ opposites attract." He smiled boyishly, drawing circles in the delicate skin. "See what I did there, eh?"

Gwen smiled. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm married to Spider-Man or Peter Parker." She teased.

"Isn't that the question of the day?" Peter trailed soft kisses from her neck and down her back, feeling her warmth at each peck. She sighed contently. He stopped inches from her bottom and returned back to her ear. "Wanna go for a walk?"

She mumbled, _"I'm good here..."_

"Oh my god - Gwen, you also didn't want to dive in, I'm feeling unappreciated here." Peter mocked.

"Aww, my poor handsome baby." She sighed. "Fine, fold the bikini for me then."

Peter nodded. He grabbed each part of the top and brought then back to her back, wrapping them around each other firmly. "There you go, mommy." He stood up as Gwen turned on her shoulder and was now lying on her back, giving her husband a suggestive view.

"What has gotten your attention?" She questioned with a smirk. "Is it the towel?"

"Everything, come on." He offered her his hand. She took it and rose from the ground, wearing her sunglasses before they packed things up inside a small bag Peter placed over his shoulder.

They wrapped hands and began to calmly stroll inches from the water's reach and through the beach. Gwen retrieved Peter's own sunglasses from the bag once she noticed him struggling with the sun's light and gently placed them on his eyes for him.

Minutes later, she broke the comfortable silence, "This place makes you forget about everything else besides our family." She confessed passionately.

Peter nodded and replied without looking at her, "I know. It's almost if we're living another life."

"Well, we worked hard to be here - I think we deserve this." She tightened her grip over his hand. "The tranquility, view, and the time we're spending together."

"This wouldn't be the same thing if you weren't here with me." He turned his head to her side. "Don't get me wrong, Spider-Man is who I need to be, but that would eventually drive me nuts if I hadn't people like you picking me up when I stumbled."

"That applies to us both." She spoke.

"I'm not sure about that, you're not as problematic as I was." He chuckled.

"What do you mean? Don't you recall that time when I accidentally broke that basketball board?" Gwen smirked. "I gotta admit I learned that after you."

"Yeah - with my help, I lifted you up."

"And I scored." Gwen continued proudly, "We're quite a team, hero-man."

"I'm probably the muscle then, you add the beauty and brains." He played along.

Gwen laughed. "You not always were this modest, you're pretty smart yourself - of course, not as much as I am, but close enough."

"I can live with that," Peter released her hand and wrapped his left arm around her neck, gently bringing her body and face closer to his. Gwen hugged his bare chest. They smiled against each other's lips.

"Nine years, already, uh?"

Gwen immediately corrected him, "Ten...!" She frowned. "Are you serious right know?" She started to pull herself out of his arms but Peter kept her on check.

"No - I'm not, of course I wouldn't forget that."

"Ugh! You - _mmmm..."_ She was cut short by an unexpected kiss. She initially protested, but that didn't last long once her resistance gave space to satisfied moans.

Eventually, they broke off the kiss to fill their lungs once again. He smiled and winked at her. Gwen just shook her head in return and placed her right arm around his back while he did the same to hers. They resumed their pacing.

"Did you know that Dave found out where we hide the peanut and jelly?" She asked.

Peter exhaled deeply. "It was meant to happen, eventually. He's addicted to that."

"Yeah, I was taking a bath and when I went downstairs, I saw him sat in the floor, holding a spoon full of jelly. His whole mouth was covered in that. Funny thing, Aiden was over the counter trying to open a can of corn." She grinned.

"My god, one would think they're not being fed well by their parents, uh?" He chuckled.

"I know. They certainly didn't get such hunger from me by any means. Girls are more complicated to handle - yes, but young boys? These are a rollercoaster, ten minutes alone and they're already attacking the fridge." Gwen looked over the ocean, holding his hand on hers. "Did you used to be like that?"

"Um... kinda of, I guess...?" He shrugged. She smiled contently, she loved the fact of having living breathing memories of her husband, the twins were that, their kids who carried the best traits of them. "Gwen, I need your opinion on something."

She nodded. "Yes?"

"I've been thinking about... training Elizabeth in a few years. " Gwen looked up to him. "Not only because her gifts need to be mastered by her, even if I don't want my footsteps to be followed, but due to what's probably going to happen in the next years - the same will apply to the boys."

Gwen asked softly, "What do you mean by that, honey?"

"I'm not sure... you have seen the news, the world is changing, everything we used to believe is being threatened since the day aliens visited New York through a wormhole, and now... a new population among us." He replied carefully. "Who's to say what will happen in the future? To my kind of people? Now, we're heroes, what about later?"

Gwen took a few seconds to process what he was trying to say. "I see..."

"Whatever happens, our children need to be prepared to anything, because like me - they could be part of something bigger later on. Believe me - honey, I just want them to be themselves, but... I'm considering every option. I don't know if this is the best one, still..."

She sighed in understanding. "Do you... do you remember what I said when I first told you about us building a family? Before Elizabeth. How things could work out?"

"Um... no?"

Gwen rolled her eyes in disapproval. "I said that we would face any decisions together, as to what our precious children want to do with the gift passed into them, it's their choice. But, it's our responsibility to guide them into choosing what they want, so yes... maybe you do need to train them. You're the only one capable for such task."

"So you approve of it?"

"I think... they might not have the everything we want them to, and knowing that they're ready to take on any obstacle out of a normal people's reach, that gives me some kind comfort."

Peter looked at her delicate expression. He exhaled deeply and leaned in to kiss the top of her head for a brief time, before touching forehead and closing eyes. "This is not about me - or us, anymore. Thank you, for the road so far."

They hugged each other to the sound of the waves arriving in the shore and staying inches from their barefoots.

Gwen looked at him with a contemplative expression. She couldn't help wondering what things might have turned out if she'd never fallen for him. Or rather; what would have happened if she had indeed left without him.

After a few moments she felt Peter's hand on her cheek that turned her head slightly to look into those green huge eyes. "Something wrong, Gwen? You look like you have a lot on your mind."

Gwen was about to reply if a commotion of people didn't start to form not far away from them in the shore. They all were gazing something in the ocean. Peter quickly turned his head at the disturbance, not taking too long to spot a lonely young boy struggling at the water.

Someone was already on his way towards her, but not as fast as it was required.

"Peter." She simply said, causing her husband to quickly change his glance to her. He nodded, handed her the sunglasses and began to sprint towards the ocean, before taking a considerable jump meters forward in the water and diving in.

She hugged herself as she waited for the resolution. There it is - again, her best friend and lover being the hero he is without even wearing a certain red and blue spandex. It was as natural as it could get, and maybe it was meant to be like that, his descendants might be destinated to the greater good. In some way, he was predestined to become hope, and she couldn't by any more prouder.

It didn't take too long for Peter to get off the water while carrying the child on his arms. He was slowly surrounded by the group of people who were in shock due to what they had just seen. Some carefully touched his torso to check if he was indeed real. He observed the reaction, speechless, and giving some of his heat to the boy settled on his arms. A chattering could be heard through the Spanish dialect.

Peter looked up to Gwen, she was standing at some distance from them. She smiled kindly. He sighed and eventually handed the girl to her parents who somehow managed to pass through the entire group of people. They thanked him, and Peter just nodded in return.

For him, it was nothing than less his _duty_.

He later went back to his wife, and they proceeded back to the hotel without letting go of one another, as it always have been.

* * *

After a quick trip to the bathroom, Peter stepped out of male-reserved room and into the busy closed playground filled with gaming machines and tables that served all types of competitive games. He thought the area close to the theater was a good idea after the god-awful movie was over.

He searched for his girlfriend through amidst dark lightening and electronic music, and found her standing next to a girl and in front of a rectangular equipment which its purpose was to use the available hand and grab one of the many prizes, the infamous claw machine.

"What are you guys up?" Peter approached them and smiled to the girl once she looked up to him to recognize the visitor. "Hey." He greeted.

"Hello, you're Gwendolyn's boyfriend, right?"

Peter cocked his at her, before setting his gaze at Gwen's. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. He nodded. "Yes...? Unless she changed her mind, I think so." Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Well, then you're good a person; do you know how to win this?"

Gwen interjected. "That's what we were trying to do while you're out." She once again handled the single analog and tried to reach the blue teddy bear the girl had been craving for half an hour, eventually failing at the task. She groaned. "Damnit. This must be rigged."

"It obviously is, Gwen." Peter stood in front of the machine and between the two girls. "Alright, let me give it a try." He grabbed the analogic and went forward with his tentative.

Gwen watched the claw slowly move to the side. "You're not going to make it this."

"Just you wait."

She shook her head. "No, not like that."

"I'm getting there!" He frowned, focused.

The claw was lowered towards the teddy bear, but it was going to pass inches from the toy if it stood like that. "Peter!"

Peter quickly moved his left hand to the side of the machine and gave it a small - yet precise bump against the metal, taking advantage of his considerate strength as the claw was slightly moved to the side and finally grabbed the award they're all trying to won.

"Yes...! I'm the best!" Peter raised his arms in excitement, making the two girls next to him almost jump at his reaction. He turned around and quickly kissed Gwen on the lips, before letting her go and smiling widely to the child besides them.

Gwen brushed her finger over her lips and chuckled. "Okay, King Of The Boy Scouts."

"How did you do that?" The girl asked, not believing what had just occurred.

Peter grabbed the teddy bear from the hole and crouched so that he could be on her level. Gwen did the same next to him. "With persistence, and dedication; this is yours." He gave her the toy. She took it on her hands as her eyes glowed in adoration. She suddenly hugged his neck, tightly.

"Thank you." She released Peter and now approached the Stacy and hugged her as well. Gwen patted her back, gently. She pulled back and saw her father entering the area and gesturing for her to come closer. "My daddy is here. I have to go now." She smiled.

Gwen said softly, "That's alright, it was nice to know you, little one." She rose alongside her boyfriend.

She nodded. "You two together will be awesome parents one day!" She hurried back to her father.

Peter chuckled nervously, before clearing his throat.

Gwen felt her cheeks flush and looked away so that Peter couldn't see her status.

"Um..." He loosened his shirt's collar. "That was something," He gazed her over his shoulder.

Gwen put a subject into motion by teasing her boyfriend, "Persistence and dedication?"

"Well... yeah." He grinned.

"You do know that you technically cheated, right?"

Peter shook his shoulders and held her hand, intertwining fingers. "It's the thought that counts, besides... that thing is a cheating machine anyways."

"Hmm... I'll let that slide for now." Gwen smiled. Her eyes found another game they could kill some time off. "Are you good at basketball?"

He shrugged. "Well, my highest moment in my basketball carrier almost got me in detention."

"Oh, right! I remember." Gwen continued, "I guess that's too risky then."

"Fair point." He chuckled. "So, you mentioned some dancing?"

* * *

Peter stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel from a towel rack and dried himself with it and wrapped it around his waist. He had been barred from the master bedroom as Gwen wanted to prepare herself alone to surprise him, she had never shown him the dresses she brought. So he had taken his personal bathroom kit, a pair of fresh boxers and socks and headed to the guest room instead. The suit had been washed and dried during the day and was on the bed. He didn't need to spend many minutes in front of the mirror after drying himself, he shaved like he does daily, and applied some cologne to his body giving him a slight musky scent and then he was off to the bedroom and got dressed in the black suit.

Peter took a minute to admire his form on a wall mirror near the closet, he looked really sharp and all thanks to Gwen's taste in clothes. With no pressing matters Peter felt at ease, he was content to have a night out with Gwen and show her how much he appreciated her and just enjoying each other like a couple with no obligations.

With that done, Peter folded his towel, collected his shower items, the used boxers and socks and cologne and left the room and walked past the seating area to the master bedroom and stopped at the closed door.

"Gwen?"

_"Just a minute,"_ Gwen's voice was heard inside.

"Sure," Peter replied and walked over to the corner of the wall opposite the door and leaned his back on it and waited patiently. He held his phone and opened a text.

_HO : I hope you and Gwen are having a great time, Pete. Just don't forget to wear protection, little man. New York still is standing without Spider-Man, the buildings even look prettier without all that webbing. Have fun. _

_Stupid..._ Peter grinned.

Less than a minute later the door slid open and Gwen stood in the doorway with a bright, dazzling smile. She was more vibrant then Peter had seen her in a long time, he was simply transfixed by her. Her body was accentuated by a strapless black mini dress that fitted like a second skin and ended half way to her knees. It was tight and snug and showed all her curves. On her feet she had black high-heeled shoes. Gwen did a model spin for him, her hair was set in a elegant chignon bun with two hair sticks in an x, simple yet sensual.

"Stunning... as always," Peter said taken by the sight of her. "You're beautiful."

"Well, thank you, my pretty hero," Gwen beamed, admiring Peter in his suit.

Peter straightened himself from the wall and walked over to Gwen and they shared a soft kiss.

"I'm just going to get rid of this," Peter said and indicated the items he carried with a tilt of his head.

"Okay," Gwen said and stepped aside and let Peter through.

He headed to the bathroom and hung the towel on a towel rack, threw away his used undergarments in the laundry basket and placed his bathroom kit in the bathroom cabinet. Peter headed back out into the master bedroom and approached Gwen waiting in the doorway.

Peter wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her close. He smiled amused when she hugged him back around his neck, "You can't help it can you? You are irresistible."

"How true," Gwen smiled. She would now play the playful card.

Peter smirked mischievously looking at her dress and more specifically her cleavage, "Easy access too."

Gwen chided playfully and swatted his shoulder, "You're impossible."

Peter could smell a floral scent from Gwen and he buried his face in the nape of her shoulder and mumbled taken by her, "You smell lovely, Gwendy."

"Cytherean perfume, local love potion, said to be potent enough to lure in your unsuspecting lover," Gwen purred wrapping herself around Peter. She giggled, "And it seems to be working! Which is good, the perfume costs three thousand per bottle."

Peter recoiled back from her neck and looked flabbergasted into her eyes, still holding her, "Three thousand?! My god, woman…"

"Yes," Gwen reaffirmed and kissed his lips several times over. "And you should also be so lucky that I kiss you with my one hundred credit lipstick all over your face."

Peter shook his head with an amused smile, "My little diva."

"Now, that's also true," Gwen smirked. She asked, "How about a glass of wine before we leave?"

"Okay," Peter smiled.

Gwen took his hand in hers and led them away from the bedroom, through the hallway and down the stairs.

Gwen stopped and turned to Peter, "Get two glasses and a wine opener from the bar and I'll get the wine."

Peter nodded and disappeared to the bar and Gwen headed to the kitchen and the fridge where she had placed her wine. It was a red wine from the Barossa Valley in Australia, and also one of the more expensive wines from her home country. Gwen left the kitchen and saw Peter leave the bar with the wine glasses and the bottle opener, she gestured to the seating area and both headed over. Gwen sat down in the couch facing the fireplace and Peter placed the glasses on the table.

Gwen smiled and held out the bottle to him and cooed theatrically, "Be a strong man and open it, will you?"

Peter chuckled, "As you wish, ma'am." He quipped, "An opportune moment to flex my muscles."

"Yes," Gwen giggled theatrically again, flicking her fingernails on her front teeth. She crossed a leg over the other.

The cork opened and Peter did away with the opener and the cork on the table and began pouring up the red wine in the glasses. He was finished and placed the bottle on the table and took a seat close to Gwen while she took a glass and slowly swirled around the wine and smelt its delicious smell.

"This is expensive." Gwen looked at Peter and said softly as he took his glass, "But I want to share this with you. It'll only waste away otherwise."

Peter slid an arm behind her back and Gwen placed her free hand on his lap and caressed lovingly.

Peter smiled, "Well, a toast to my beautiful wife then." The glasses clinked and they sipped on the wine slowly, savoring the taste. "It tastes great, Gwen, you sure know how to pick 'em."

Peter leaned forward and kissed her wine moistened lips, careful not knock out either wine glass. Her lips willingly parted and Peter's tongue slipped into her mouth and Gwen's tongue slid around his and she sucked his tongue into her mouth.

They parted and smiled happily at each other's lips.

Peter planted a soft kiss and leaned back a bit and murmured, "And that didn't taste bad either."

He was correct, it tasted very good kissing. Gwen squeezed his lap and shook her head with a smile, "You say these sweet things, enough to give a girl diabetes."

"Ha!" Peter uttered with a smile and sipped on his wine.

"So where are you taking me?"

"The local hamburger bar," Peter deadpanned.

"Hmph, if that was the case you wouldn't get any 'access' at all tonight," Gwen pointed out uninspired and sipped on her wine.

Peter grinned and squeezed her body as he sipped some wine. "No, I'm taking you to a restaurant called The Venetian – Spanish cuisine – located in the Dionysus Casino. It was not that difficult to get a private booth actually, they were more than willing to accommodate once they learned who I was."

"That sounds lovely, Pete," Gwen kissed his cheek. "And a private booth as well, I approve." She took another sip of her wine.

"I thought you would, and I want to be alone with you. We have the booth the entire evening so no rush once we get there."

"Walking distance?"

"No, we've to take the car. A few minutes ride." And driving home wouldn't be a problem if they were intoxicated because they would just have the private driver get them home.

"I'll drive," Gwen said snarky, "I'm even amazed you managed to get a driver's license."

"I'm not too bad."

She asserted, "If I can, I'm not going in a car with you driving. Nothing that moves!"

Peter quipped childish, "Darling, what could possibly go wrong, eh?"

Gwen narrowed her eyes and said, "That you haven't killed anyone in traffic is a miracle." She drank the rest of her wine slowly.

Peter chuckled and kissed her cheek, "Ready to leave?"

She put away the glass as Peter drank the last from his. She turned to Peter and nodded with a smile, "I am."

* * *

Gwen turned around and wrapped her arms around Peter's neck and he held her close around her waist. The couple started to dance slowly to the music and looked into each other's eyes, their rhythm was perfectly matched.

Gwen was a woman who could amaze Peter by simply smiling. The woman he wanted a lifetime with. As they danced everything else was blocked out by her mere presence, and it was only them in the room.

Peter whispered, "I'm sorry if I'm not being a present boyfriend to have around recently."

She knew what he was talking about. "I know what you need to do, I understand."

"Still, I just feel bad for being around more often."

"You're here now." She leaned in slowly for a kiss, their breaths mingled as their lips were mere millimeters away while their eyes never left each other.

Gwen was content at that moment, being held tenderly in his strong arms. Her fingers caressed and trailed soft circles on his neck. She could feel Peter's hands move to the small of her back, running his hands and fingers tenderly which sent shivers down her spine. His touch was tantalizing. She needed and wanted only him, their connection had always been deep.

"Is there an hour for me to get you home?" He whispered.

Gwen chuckled. "Well, mom doesn't want me too arrive to late, despite me being old enough."

He smiled. "And what does that 'too late' translates to in hours? I don't want to lose the trust the Mommy Stacy has given me."

"I'm not sure, probably before midnight, I guess." Gwen rested her head over his shoulder.

Peter's heart rose. He almost let slip those three words. "You really look amazing, Gwen. You look like a doll." He whispered passionately. "And you're officially older than me."

"Does that make me bad for having an underage boyfriend?" She teased.

He pondered, "Spider-Man is ageless, and since he can be anyone - no exceptions, I guess you're safe."

"I'm not dating Spider-Man, though." Gwen looked up to him. "I'm dating Peter Parker."

"I don't know if that will serve in front of the jury." He joked.

She insisted, "I'm serious, Pete."

Peter paused as he peered into her deep green eyes. "I know," He leaned in and kissed her lips tenderly. He said as they parted, "That means a lot."

She felt his hand roam her back. "It better, after the new suit I helped you make, you should be happy for a lifetime." She grinned. "It's beautiful, really represents what you stand for."

He kissed her tiny nose. "And thank you again for that, those Russians really got the better of me."

"Have you gotten any leads since then?"

"Sytsevich brothers." Peter replied, frustrated. "But hey, that's a problem for the other guy to handle, today is only about you, and that's matters."

"You're so cute sometimes." Gwen cupped his cheek.

He frowned. "Ms Stacy, that name - like I do not."

Gwen laughed. "You're not Yoda!"

Peter chuckled. "Offended, I feel."

Her smile widened. "You're so silly."

"Now, I agree to that." Peter nodded. "He checked the watch on his hand. "We still got a few time left, a few.

"Hmm, time to unleash some Amazing dance moves then." Gwen winked.

Peter cleared his throat. He didn't consider himself a talented dancer. "I don't know if I'm up to the task - Gwen...!"

* * *

Gwen and Peter had hooked arms and stepped through the big sliding glass doors into the foyer of the massive Dionysus Casino where they passed by other guests coming and going. Once the check-up was done the couple finally entered the casino itself through another set of glass doors which led into the massive and crowded casino floor. The couple stopped and took in the sight of guests and employees. The buzz of people, the brisk whir of shuffled cards, and the sounds of slot machines filled the area.

The Dionysus Casino was a large sprawling casino in a 5 floor building. The first floor was the main floor, soft fluorescent lights lit up the casino which had a very Mediterranean like-vibe in the aesthetics and ambience, there was a mismatched mix of ancient greek and roman influences. Busts and statues of Greco-Roman figures dotted the area with the occasional exotic plant boxes and couch groups in the lounges.

The second floor offered a more relaxed atmosphere with 5 or so restaurants, with The Venetian being the main attraction. The rest of the casino delivered various entertainment venues, a hotel and the ultimate nightlife experience for anyone.

He gently tugged her arm and led them onwards deeper into the casino towards some roulette tables, "Tonight, Gwen, we're going to have a good time. Let me show you how much I appreciate you."

Gwen smirked and taunted, "That sounds like a tall order, you really think you can do that?"

"Of course," Peter said with childish certainty, "if our adventure yesterday was any indication, yes. But I also have a winning personality."

"Dolt," Gwen chided teasingly. "I indulge you too often. You're just so likeable."

"I'll work on that, I promise Gwendy," Peter quipped.

Gwen kissed his cheek, "See, there you're doing it again." She whispered amorously in his ear, "My perfect man."

They arrived at a roulette table that wasn't as crowded as most others; there was only three persons gambling. Some tables had dealers, those tables designed for physical markers and chips.

"I'm not really good at this," Gwen said to Peter and studied the table, a game was running.

The object of roulette was to pick the winning number that would appear on the roulette wheel, or combinations of numbers or choose the color or whether it was odd or even.

"I'll show you." Peter whispered in her ear, "I can be your good luck charm."

"Okay," Gwen smiled.

Peter hugged her from behind and pressed their bodies together, resting his chin on her bare shoulder. He was aware of the hair sticks so he was careful not to hurt himself, it would be unnecessary to poke out an eye, but the sticks weren't very long and far from his face as long as he didn't nuzzle the back of her head.

Gwen leaned into Peter, enjoying the closeness and his warm breath on her cheek, she rested an arm on Peter's arms going around her waist and caressed one of his hands with her thumb.

A woman cheered while she raked in her winnings.

"It's been a great downtime, just you and me," Peter said.

The white ball began spinning.

"Yes… I'm not just used to it, last time we went on a personal date was months ago, before you left, quite some time," Gwen mulled, she talked in a low voice meant only for Peter. She had looked forward to this evening, she really had, but... she was a little lost now. Despite those glum thoughts she flashed a smile while watching the wheel spin, "But a break like this I really want to enjoy."

Peter glanced at her a little curiously, she had been so flirty and carefree moments earlier. Peter wanted to ease her a bit and planted a kiss on her jawline near her ear and said softly, "And we will enjoy each other tonight."

"Sorry," She said sheepishly, "I know I can be a little… workaholic at times." She chuckled humorlessly and watched the wheel spinning down, "It's kind of sad, really."

"We've been very focused these past months." Peter said sympathetically. "Those days are for us."

Nobody of the gamblers actually won and the others mumbled disappointed.

Gwen frowned annoyed at her loss, she did not like losing, "Damn." She sighed softly, "I'm not very good at being normal it seems." She chuckled nervously, "A bit of a disaster, really."

Peter quipped, "Well, what about me? I'm a walking, talking disaster zone." He continued, "We both need a little practice," Peter said friendly. "And tonight is a very good start."

"Any ideas?" Gwen asked, her voice was a little more upbeat, Peter's demeanor was rubbing off.

A few more people approached the table and made bets alongside the other gamblers. They duly ignored the couple, focusing in the table. The wheel started to spin again once the bets were done.

Peter smiled victoriously as he was getting her out of her glum state. He squeezed her body lovingly and said softly, "Yes, I have ideas, Gwen. I got you here. You look absolutely beautiful and I have you for myself. Just what I want."

Gwen's smile got wider at his words in her ear, "Flatterer." She caressed his hands resting on her.

"Oh, I've only just begun," Peter teased in her ear. "I'm just a regular Yorker taking my gorgeous girl out in the town." Peter's hand found Gwen's and he intertwined their fingers and he squeezed her hand.

Gwen's heart surged. She was still smiling wide and asked, "No heroes or... supervillains?"

"Oh no. Some games. Some drinks. Dinner." He said playfully, "And then I'll charm you out of that sexy looking dress."

Gwen said snarky, "Oh please, I'm not susceptible to your old cheap moves on me. It's different now."

Peter grinned, his Gwen was back. He deadpanned, "I promise, I have all new cheap moves."

"I'm going to need more wine," Gwen said faux exasperated.

Peter looked around and saw a human male waiter rounding the table holding up a tray of wine glasses. Peter called out commanding, "My wife needs more wine. The best you have. Two glasses."

"Yes sir," the waiter said a bit startled being flagged down like that.

Gwen glanced at Peter and giggled playfully, "You're pretty sexy when you're pushy, bugboy."

The waiter approached the couple, and as luck would have it he had some pretty expensive wine in the glasses. He placed two glasses with sparkling wine on the table near Gwen and Peter.

"That will be 50 per glass, sir," the waiter said cordial.

Peter almost choked but played it cool and recovered his credit card and transferred the money to the waiter. He overcame his issues with the price pretty quickly, he was far from a poor man but he was not used to such prices, but Gwen was more than worth it.

The waiter quietly slipped away with a cordial nod.

Gwen took the glasses and turned around in his embrace and offered him a glass which he took. Gwen leaned her butt on the table and crossed one arm under her chest to frame her breasts, pushing them up a bit, giving him a view of her body.

Peter smiled appreciatively as he sipped on his glass while one of his hands rested on her hip, his thumb was rubbing her soft skin through the dress. She looked at him enticingly over the glass as she sipped on the wine. Then she seductively licked her lips.

"What now?" Gwen murmured.

"Let's spin the wheel," Peter offered with a smile.

The previous game had just ended with a few winnings and the gamblers made new bets.

"But as a good luck charm you weren't very good," Gwen teased and cocked her head.

"Bet on 7," Peter said sure of himself.

"Lucky number?"

"No, I just picked one randomly. Let's see what happens."

Gwen went along with the spontaneous choice and turned around as Peter hugged her with one arm, his hand rested on her side and caressed her body. She leaned into Peter and punched in her last credits on 7. Gwen's bet was the last one and she sipped on her drink as the couple watched the wheel spin. Peter sipped on his wine as well.

Gwen mused softly, "There's a high chance this won't end well, you know." .

"Maybe, but I've got a good feeling about this," Peter said.

Of course he does, he could be very positive, Gwen thought. One of many traits which she loved about him. Gwen couldn't help but smile again by just being with him.

_Seven._

Gwen's eyes widened in disbelief and she whooped excitedly, "I won!" She almost knocked out the wine in their glasses. She ignored her inhibitions; she was dead-set on having a good time with her paramour.

The other gamblers, who had lost their bets, looked flabbergasted at the dark haired beauty.

One of the gamblers, a male high roller in an expensive suit on the other end, mumbled incredulous, _"No way…"_

Peter chuckled happily for her in her ear and kissed her cheek, holding his wine glass away from her just in case, "Congratulations honey."

Gwen glanced at him and smiled, "No, we're doing this together." She leaned away to her left a bit so she could kiss him on the cheek, "We're a team."

Peter turned his head to Gwen and they shared a soft kiss on the lips and she turned around to being held from behind in his embrace. "Let's get some dinner, honey."

* * *

"I just wish this rain would stop!" Peter complained with an arm around his girlfriend while the other kept the umbrella over their figures. They walked through the calm sidewalk that eventually reached Gwen's apartment.

"It's not so bad!" Gwen laughed, keeping him closely besides her as well.

"You're right, it sucks." Peter walked slightly to their side once he heard a car approaching their position and almost throwing some considerable amount of water at them.

"Ha, so bugboy's greatest weakness is water?!" Gwen teased. "Figures."

He rolled his eyes. "I would say it would be my Aunt's meatballs, but it's your sense of humour has changed that!"

She quickly took the umbrella from his hands and took a few steps away from him, making a pose next to the lightpole to complete her move. "Aw, why let a little rain spoil our evening, bugboy? It never bothered Gene Kelly before...!"

"Gwen Stacy, what are you going?!" Peter watched her hold herself in the pole while happily walking around it.

Gwen began a melody, _"I'm siiinnnngin' in the rain! Just siiinnnngin in the rain!" _She looked up to him with an energetic smile. "Join in, Pete! Show 'em how you Parkers can cut a rug!"

Peter eventually smiled. He observed her with kind eyes.

_This what I'm fighting to protect. _He thought to himself. _It's her birthday._

He joined her in the pole and also used it as support. "This woman is certifiable! I'm dating a lunatic!"

Gwen giggled out loudly. "Ah, you love it!"

"You betcha I do!" He answered, happily.

In the other side of the street a pair of college students stopped to watch the unusual sight they just had stumbled themselves into. One of them muttered in disbelief, "Lucky guy."

The young couple didn't waste any seconds with their down to earth time, just enjoying each other's company while goofing around in the rain and without worrying about how they were appearing. Nothing mattered anymore, it was just that moment.

After they ran out of stamina, they were both sat in front of her building's entrance, soaked from toe to head, and effortlessly smiling towards each other. She looked at his lips, and then at his big brown doe eyes.

The closeness only helped in creating a very welcoming mood, despite the now lighter rain dropping from the skies. Peter was the first to break the comfortable silence, "I hope you had fun." He said lowly, resisting the urgency to lean in.

Gwen smiled amorously. "The best." She licked her lips.

Peter could see the tiny puddles collide against her smooth and skin as one single puddle slid down her cheeks and into her right arm. He carefully moved the tip of his finger against her arm and over the puddle, feeling her shiver at delicate touch. His breathing took a major drop and got heavier instead. He could feel the tension. "I'm just going to kiss you now." He cupped her left cheek and leaned in.

"Okay," Gwen said breathless and reciprocated the affection he was giving her. Besides the reciprocate, she didn't exactly know what to do with her hands as the kiss deepened and Peter leaned even more forward.

It became a passionate battle for leverage. She was losing her priorities. Peter even managed to block his sixth sense, not focusing on the sires firing away from them.

_"...come up..."_ Gwen whispered huskily once a space of air between their lips was formed. She slowly capture his lips again while he snaked his arms around her._ "... it's just us..."_

Peter went back to reality when he opened his eyes only by a few inches as they touched foreheads. Gwen still was struggling to open her own eyes, she didn't want the moment to end. He said gently so that only her could hear him, _"I would love to..."_

Gwen slightly moved her head away from his and sighed in contentment, before looking at him. He smiled happily. _"... but you won't." _She smiled back.

_"Not tonight..."_

Gwen herself felt a little disappointed, but she was happy for what they're sharing. "It's okay-"

He leaned in again, but not to kiss her lips. He asked lowly, _"Can I tell you why?"_

Gwen exhaled deeply with a nod. They rested foreheads once again.

Peter began, _"I have this... incredibly ability of attracting disasters to my life and to the best parts of it, and this night... was perfect..."_ She watched him_. "Don't you think?" _

"Yes." She grinned briefly.

Peter continued tenderly, _"And if I have the chance of keeping this one perfect night as it is, I'm taking it." _She chuckled as their lips brushed against one another. He kissed her soflty,. _"We can continue this tomorrow..."_ She gave him another peck._ "...and the day after."_ He smiled.

Gwen leaned her head on his shoulder. He planted a kiss on her forehead. "Before you leave, I want to show you this." His left hand reached the pocket inside his suit, retrieving a tiny plastic object.

"What's that?" She eyed it curiously. "A ring..?"

Peter smiled, also gazing the plastic ring. "This is one of the prizes I got from those machines; it's quite I silly I know." He paused. "It has a meaning."

"What is it?" She took it from his hand, gently.

He explained softly, "That's going to remind us, someday in the future, of happy times... of this special moment, and then ask our future selves if they're still sharing the same happiness we started months ago."

Gwen whispered lovingly,_ "That's... not silly, it's perfect."_ She handed him back the ring and looked up to her boyfriend. "I can't wait for that."

_"Neither do I."_ Peter put the object safely back to the spot next to his heart.

She took her time to mesmerize his expression. "Then I guess this goodnight, Mister Parker."

Peter laughed shortly. "Happy birthday, Ms Stacy." She smiled lovingly, before slowly standing up and walking the small stairwell to the reception. She tapped the password as the door unlocked. She turned on her shoulder and gave him one last look before entering the building.

Peter observed her until she couldn't be seen anymore. He looked up to the sky and smiled to himself, his face being covered by tiny puddles once again. There is no such thing compared to what his girlfriend can proportionate him. She could make his heart bump faster. She made him feel..._ alive._

He sighed happily, and later calmly walked in the sidewalk, with no real sense of direction, instead - he focused in recapitulating every single second of their date.

* * *

"I had reserved a table for two in the name Parker."

"One moment," the hostess replied and punched in a few buttons on her terminal to check her reservations. When finished she looked up, "Yes, a private booth, Peter Benjamin Parker." She gestured towards the mouth of the lobby leading into the large exquisite restaurant, "Just wait there and someone will be with you shortly."

"Thank you," Peter replied cordially.

The couple walked away from the reception and glanced out over the lively restaurant while waiting. The restaurant floor was a large sprawling space dotted with a near hundred tables with white table cloth and a lit candle in the center, and almost all occupied with people eating, drinking and chatting.

Waiters and waitresses slipped by the tables effortlessly and delivered orders. In the far end were over a dozen or so spacious alcoves walled from each other. They had a comfy leather couch in a half-circular shape around a table, and for added extra privacy a curtain could be closed. At the opposite end of the restaurant floor was a large bar and lounge.

Gwen noted some of the looks they got from men and women who undoubtedly recognized Peter and wondered who she was. She was private by nature and didn't like the attention but blocked it out, this was something she would have to get used to.

A waitress showed up and courteously showed them the way to their reservation. The couple took a seat inside the booth which had a very tasteful dim lighting. The waitress left the menus on the table and she closed the curtain and left the couple. They sat at the table facing each other but Gwen slid over gracefully next to him with a smile.

"I rather sit here," Gwen said and her dainty hand slid over his lap and she squeezed it affectionately.

"As you wish," Peter said. He certainly didn't mind the closeness, after all it was a very intimate setting, the main reason he had chosen a private booth. He snaked his arm around her shoulder.

Gwen took the menus and gave Peter one of them and she began looking over the menu.

He daydreamed with a glance at his girl. Despite the many conflicts, their one year apart and Peter's promises and indecisiveness; the sixteen year old relationship was certainly very enjoyable, it kept him together. He genuinely loved Gwen, and enjoyed her company, they were now part of a big family they built.

"So what do you want?" Gwen's soft voice broke Peter's daydreaming.

Peter was a bit startled, "Uh…I…don't know…"

Gwen glanced at Peter with an enticing smile, she had seen his looks, "Am I that captivating?"

Peter smiled, "Yeah, you are."

Gwen smirked, there was an amused glimmer in her expressive eyes, "As long as we don't order anything with garlic, I don't want that stench oozing from my skin the coming days…" She didn't want any garlic breath to come in their way of kissing either.

"Awww, to bad, I like garlic," Peter pouted theatrically.

She huffed aloof, "If you want my lipstick kisses all over you later, you will not order garlic."

"So what does the lady desire?" Peter asked flirting with her in a husky voice. He looked at her lips, they always looked like they needed to be kissed.

"Besides you?" Gwen purred, with arousing intent, her hand found its way to his lap again, squeezing and caressing.

"Now, Mr Parker, be careful or your date might get the wrong impression," Peter faux warned.

"That's not my problem, gorgeous," Gwen said slyly.

"You tease, you're obviously good at that."

"You're very gifted yourself," Gwen said and leaned in and planted lingering kisses. It had been far too long since the last time they kissed, she needed to mend that.

"Do you suggest anything from the menu?" Peter smiled after they parted.

"Well," She removed her hand from his lap and looked over her menu, "I was thinking Scallop and Prawn Risotto for me, but I know how you feel about seafood."

"Not enthused. Also, we're going Italian?"

She rolled her eyes uninspired, "Something from the child's menu then."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter complained. "I just don't like fish that much." He began looking at his menu.

Gwen grinned at his response. "That's why you're struggling with the branzino."

He shrugged. Moments later Peter replied, "I think… Spaghetti alla Chitarra." He liked his pasta.

"Good," She beamed. "Then some wine." They ordered their food.

Peter and Gwen enjoyed a comfortable moment together with some small talk while they waited for their order.

Brisk footsteps approached their alcove and the curtain was slid away. A young waitress had arrived with the food – while another waitress placed silverware and glasses on the table and poured up wine from a wine bottle which she left. Peter and Gwen thanked them and they left, closing the curtain and the couple began eating the excellent food in an amicable atmosphere, both enjoyed their time with each other even if they didn't talk much, but they stole glances now and then.

"What a place you found, Peter." Gwen said glad. "Really fast service to." She poked her risotto and ate some of it and sipped on the wine.

"I suspected this place would suit you," Peter smiled satisfied that the evening was going so well. He took a sip of the wine, which unsurprisingly was very good as well. Peter wasn't really accustomed to expensive places like this, but he knew it would be something Peter would like.

"So what's next after dinner?"

"Don't you want to be surprised?"

She narrowed her eyes, "Eh..."

Peter chuckled, "A few drinks here before we leave for elsewhere, but that's all I'm saying."

Gwen purred, "I should warn you, I'm an expert in extracting information."

"Sounds intriguing, but you can't be quiet during that so people will notice and we'll be thrown out," Peter laughed jovial.

"Shut up," She frowned flustered but soon burst out laughing at the thought of them ravishing each other in the booth, it had some appeal to her.

Peter smiled wide, her laughter was infectious and very charming. "I love your laughter, honey."

Gwen ate the last of her food and nodded happily. He always made her feel great. She blushed a bit, before asking, "Dessert?" She placed her utensils on the plate and pushed it away a bit from her.

"Sure," Peter said and finished up his food and left his utensils on the plate.

Peter poured up some more wine for him and sipped on it.

It didn't take more than a minute before one of the waitresses slid away the curtain with a smile and left an ice cream glass cup filled with grape sorbet and duly left the couple and closed the curtain.

Peter looked at the sorbet and then at Gwen and grimaced curiously, "One cup only?"

Gwen smiled mysteriously and took the glass and a small spoon and stood up and gracefully moved to straddle Peter. He smiled at his beautiful paramour and instinctively placed his hands on her sides and caressed her skin through the dress.

"Well, I thought we could share," Gwen said seductively. She poked the sorbet with the spoon and presented the spoon to Peter and he greedily ate it.

"That was really good," Peter savored the sorbet.

Gwen smiled and took a spoon of sorbet for herself and as she put it in her mouth she seductively and slowly licked the sorbet of the spoon with a sultry smile. She licked her glistening lips and gave Peter a hot, insolent grin.

"Gosh…" Peter sighed heavily. "You're the sexiest woman in this booth, you know."

"I am the only woman here, silly," Gwen asserted. She poked the sorbet and collected some more with a playful smile, "And it makes you the most handsome man here."

She offered the spoonful of sorbet to Peter who gladly ate it.

"You're the best," Peter smiled. He leaned up for a kiss and Gwen parted her lips. Their kiss tasted much better with sorbet taste lingering than with wine. They parted and smiled amorously at each other as Peter leaned back into the couch.

They finished the sorbet and paid for the dinner and left a little extra for the waitresses who had served them. The couple left the booth and passed through the restaurant floor to the lounge and bar which was sparsely occupied by patrons.

Gwen glanced at the drink list on a screen at the bar, "What do you want?"

"Surprise me," Peter said, "I'm just going to the toilet. Hold a bar stool for me."

"Okay," Gwen smiled and they parted ways with a soft kiss.

Gwen walked over to the corner of the bar where there was two empty stools. The blonde took a seat and was approached by the female bartender.

"What can I get you, ma'am?"

She ordered her wish and waited for her husband.

Peter eventually strolled over and came up behind Gwen and slid his arms around her from behind and buried his face in her neck, taking a deep breath of her scent and planted gentle kisses.

Peter murmured in her ear, "Hello there, pretty. What are you doing here with two glasses all alone? Have we met somewhere, Ms Stacy?

"In your wildest fantasies... _I hope_." She flirted. "And it's Mr Parker."

"Indeed." Peter sat next to her. His phone began to vibrate on his pants. "Oh, phone call."

"I hope it's not your girly Spider-Man fanclub."

He chuckled and as he watched the screen. "Well, kind of." He answered the video call. "Hey, guys."

_"You look beautiful, mommy!"_ Elizabeth said, perplexed. Her expression appeared over Aiden and David heads as the trio smiled at the screen.

"Thank you, sweetie." Gwen grinned happily.

"Hey, don't I look handsome as well?" Peter interjected.

Elizabeth laughed followed by her brothers. "You too, daddy!" She continued, "What are you doing?"

"Dinner," Gwen answered friendly. "But what is my little miss and her companions doing awake at this hour?" It wasn't that late, for adult standards.

"Well, granny fell asleep in the couch while we watched the movie." Aiden replied.

"Oh, and you guys are taking advantage of my poor mom so that there's more TV time, uh?" Gwen teased. "Wake her up, honey, it's bed time already."

Elizabeth sighed uninspired. "Fine..." She asked, "When are you going to get be back to us?"

"Two days," Peter answered. "Missing me?"

"Yes!" She smiled.

He smiled back. "Well, then you better get to bed so that the time can go quicker."

After the call end, they sat together and enjoyed a few drinks, small talking or just enjoying each other's company quietly, they were comfortable enough to socialize without constant conversation. By the fourth round she felt light headed from the alcohol he had consumed during the evening, even with his DNA he was no super something but his body could process the alcohol quicker than others. The fifth round was a glass of water for both, and He decided they should move on.

He looked at his wife and asked tipsy, "Are you alright?" He was concerned how it all would end in her high heels, even if he was a bit light headed he had flat shoes after all.

"Yes." Gwen said tipsy. She continued aloof, " I don't get any drunker than this."

"Uh-huh," Peter uttered skeptically.

"So, Peter..." She smiled to herself.

"What have I done?"

"No, nothing. I just wanted to talk to you about something, without cluing the others what we're up to."

"And what we're up to?"

"Going back to our hotel to make _love."_

"Wow... you don't exactly mince words."

"I'm not as young anymore to play the blushing bride... _unless_ you ask nicely." Peter chuckled, amused. She continued, "Shall we go now? If you like this bar so much, you can get back here in a hour, or two."

"..._ or three."_

Gwen smiled proudly. "I'll hold you on that."

* * *

**July 29th - 2014**

_**Days later after Spider-Man saved the city from an energy catastrophic...**_

Gwen was in one of the beds with her back to the head of the bed which was inclined so she could sit up properly with a bed sheet over her body and she wore generic hospital clothes. Her head and ribs still ached the days after the Clocktower, she was experiencing slight dizziness. She had been told by Maria, her personal doctor, that she had a mild concussion and bruised ribs.

The door to the room opened and Gwen was surprised believing Maria was back already, she just left a moment earlier. Gwen turned her head slowly and was pleasantly surprised when she saw Peter entering with a tray.

"Morning," Peter said with a smile and approached her bed and dropped his backpack on the floor. He placed a portrait over the counter. It that showed them running from each other during a snow fight months ago, it had been framed by May while they're distracted.

"Hey you," Gwen replied with a wide smile as possible that she could muster despite her fatigue. Her morning felt increasingly better. Gwen continued enthusiastic, "Breakfast! What a sweetheart you-" But Gwen's delighted demeanor changed as Peter got closer and put down the breakfast tray over her abdomen so she could actually see what she was being served.

Gwen glanced at the bowl with the nutrient paste and she frowned, "That's not what I usually eat."

Peter chuckled and turned to Maria' table and retrieved one of the chairs.

Gwen picked up the spoon and slowly poked the paste disgusted. Peter returned and placed the chair near the bed and kissed her cheek before sitting down.

Gwen looked at Peter with a grimace and asserted, "I won't eat this."

Peter grinned, "I've been in medical care situations enough times with similar injures to know that it's all Maria will allow you to eat for at least a day with all the substances in your system. And frankly, I'm a bit more afraid of her than you."

Gwen huffed, "Then you clearly don't know Gwen Stacy."

Peter picked up the bar, "Well, this tastes like chocolate."

She eyed it with suspicion, "I've eaten enough of those in my days at Oscorp to know that's not going to taste like chocolate."

Peter returned the bar and feigned being heartbroken, "Won't I at least get an extra point for the flower?"

Gwen noticed the twisted plastic flower and picked it up with a faint giggle and examined it. She turned to Peter, "Aww, you're too cute sometimes." She smiled widened and she said softly, "Come here."

Peter leaned in and Gwen rewarded Peter with a few soft kisses. He returned to the chair with a happy smile.

Gwen smiled back, "You are forgiven."

Peter nodded satisfied, "Good. He leaned closer to the bed and took a spoonful of paste and said with a teasing smirk, "I can always feed you if you won't eat."

"I'm a little too old to be spoon fed, Peter," Gwen protested.

Peter lifted the spoon with some nutrient paste and played with it, "And _Spider-Man_ goes _zoom, zoom. _Now open wide so that he can deliver the_ yum yum_ to your tummy, Gwendy."

Gwen glared, "If I wasn't on painkillers I'd contemplate whether or not to kill you and find a new plushy."

Peter stopped playing with the spoon and snickered, "Aww. But little Miss Gwendy accepts nothing but the best plushies. Yes she does." Peter continued mock-contemplative, "And then you've to consider how long you've to evaluate a new one to see if it's perfect for your stand. It's a very long process to find the right one. You should just keep the old one. Not as time consuming."

"You are not forgiven anymore," Gwen huffed and crossed her arms under her breasts.

Peter chuckled and put down the spoon in the bowl.

Gwen sighed, "You'll milk this situation for all it's worth, won't you?"

Peter raised an eyebrow, "Like you wouldn't?"

Gwen conceded with a grin, "You're right. I'd mock and tease you until you were in tears."

Peter nodded with a smirk, "See? Besides, you're decommissioned from any romantic activity for a while and I have to get my kicks somehow."

"Oh? Am I just an object to you now?" Gwen countered with a grin. Gwen reached out with an arm towards Peter and they intertwined their fingers.

Peter nodded, "The tables have turned, about is fair play."

Gwen laughed despite the pain in her chest, "Damn it. Don't make me laugh. And that's not how that goes, it's 'turnabout'."

"It's Peternese," Peter shrugged nonchalant.

"Well, in Peternese, 'I'm not sure'. The picture, that was a nice touch."

"The flower wasn't?" Peter asked curiously.

Gwen nodded with a smile, "Yes it was. But I'm more of an inquisitive tipe of girl."

"I knew there was a reason I loved you," Peter smiled. He now felt such word was as natural as it could get to say.

Gwen smiled, "Hmm… enough to make me breakfast in bed when Maria releases me from imprisonment."

Peter contemplated, "I dunno… will this be before or after you've returned to makeup duty?"

Gwen said faux annoyed, "After. I do have to get my priorities straight."

"Understood, Ms Stacy." Peter reached down to the backpack and pulled up a book. "I also brought Robinson Crusoe with me for you to read when and if you feel you are up to it."

He put it down on the bed next to Gwen's leg.

"Very thoughtful of you," Gwen said happy.

"So how are you?"

"I'm getting there, it'll take a few days before I'm well, and I will likely be released within some hours. Mom even brought a bag with clothes. She will pick me up, and I'll probably hear a lot for falling of a stairwell." The excuse she had come up with.

Peter chuckled. "That's good to hear."

"What about you? How are you holding up?" Gwen questioned.

Peter hesitated. He paused and moved his gaze to the half open window. "I know where you are trying to get, Gwen."

"It's been a week, Peter." She said softly.

"And it may be forever."

Gwen squeezed his hand. "I know you don't mean that."

"I wouldn't be so sure, it might be for the best." He affirmed. "I almost failed you once, I can't take the risk of doing so again with anyone else."

The door to the room opened and Maria strolled through with a small plate of her own with a sandwich and a cup of coffee on a small plate.

Peter looked up at the contents Maria was carrying and turned to Gwen and grinned, "See, she's even more evil than I am, coming her and teasing you with actual food."

Maria heard Peter when she stopped at her table. She explained flustered. "Oh no, I just thought Ms. Stacy could use the extra company when you eventually leave, Peter. And I have some work to do. But if you want me to leave Ms Stacy…?"

Gwen smiled friendly, "No, that's alright. I know I have food restrictions imposed on me. I'll make do with this paste."

Maria sat down on the chair next to her laptop and placed her tray near her, "Of course."

Peter smiled and rose from the chair and leaned in and shared a soft kiss with Gwen.

Gwen smiled back, happy at the attention and care she received. He began, "I'll come to your house later then, I have to eat some breakfast myself and I also have a boatload of work to do," Peter explained.

Gwen taunted, "Oh? You actually have to work now when I'm confined here?"

Peter chuckled, "Indeed. I've to do some coding the Bugle. Talk to you later." He smiled kindly and walked away and out of the bedroom, leaving Gwen to her previous condition of total boredom.

Gwen sighed, and looked up to the TV. She began to change the channels after grabbing the remote controller. _No, no... definitely a no, double no - ugh._ She frowned in shock once she saw a mech walking at the Fifth Avenue. All news channels were broadcasting the same event. She could see Jorge, the same kid Peter protected from bullies, walking into the crossfire.

_Peter._

Gwen looked to the doctor. "Maria, I feel good enough for a walk. Can I?"

She ceased to write her report in the desk and replied, "I guess so, just be careful. I don't want to infuriate your mother."

"Okay, thank you." Gwen jumped out of bed and towards the bag.

Outside and at the hospital's rooftop, Peter stood at the very edge, looking down at the busy and daily traffic of cars and pedestrians in the convoluted streets of New York City. His backpack was around his left shoulder, and he wore normal clothes.

He still wasn't feeling like diving in like he usually did after getting bitten by a genetically altered spider. He couldn't risk someone's life, not again. His skills almost cost the life of the second woman on his life. He wasn't as strong as he thought he was.

"Peter...?" A familiar feminine voice called from behind.

He turned on his shoulder and saw Gwen coming from the rooftop's door. "What are you doing here, Gwen?" He asked, surprised.

"I found the emergency door open, and I also noticed you are wearing the suit underneath it." She hugged herself and walked over to him. "Which means you haven't fully decided what to do next."

_"Gwen..."_

"Wait, would you let me give my thoughts on this?" Peter hesitated, but eventually nodded in response. "I think.. you're blaming yourself for something I have caused myself, it wasn't your decision and nor what you wanted. In some way, I realize maybe I shouldn't have went there for my own sake, I put myself in danger in order to help you, you didn't."

He continued, "Were not for you I wouldn't get pass through Max, he would probably kill me."

"I don't know about that." Gwen took his hand. "We're both humans, we're not perfect, and we make mistakes. That's a natural thing. You're not a god." She slowly pulled his shirt up, revealing his suit. She placed her hand over the emblem on his covered pectorals. "To a lot of people, this means _something_. Just like to that kid you walked home months ago. You're extraordinary, Peter." She took the backpack from his shoulder and retrieved his mask, before dropping the bag into the floor. "_You_ _are __**Spider-Man**__."_

Peter gazed the mask he offered him. He took it on his hands and moved it down his face. Seconds later he had fully changed into his alter-ego.

Gwen looked at the curvy senses, seeing her reflection. She moved her gaze off him and into the city. "There."

Spider-Man followed her eyes and turned slightly on his shoulder. He felt something from Fifth Avenue._ "Jorge..."_

"You can save him, Pete." He instantly returned to her direction. "You can save... _all of them."_

Spider-Man exhaled deeply as the lenses observed her expression. He took a step backwards into the edge and opened his arms as he leaned his torso towards the whole distance into firm ground, falling like that for a brief time before finally firing a single biocable and fastly swinging his way to where he was needed the most.

Gwen took a deep breath. She was not used to the sight of his recklessly dropping himself into thin air, just like he did on their first kiss. "I... I hope I'm not in big trouble anymore."

* * *

_I can bench press a car._

Peter Parker supported himself with his left elbow while he watched the love of his life peacefully lying on her chest and with her face prompted towards him and over her pillow.

Her blonde hair fell over her bare shoulders and slid down her back. The single sheet that covered them stopped at the curvature of spine, and both her hands were hiding underneath the pillow.

_I can clim up the side of a wall. Fight twenty guys to a standstill. Swing across chasms thirty stories deep. Feel a bullet coming my way and move fast enough to get clear. _

He gently placed his thumb against her cheek and very slowly drew soft circles over the delicate skin, being careful to not wake her up. Now that the dreams, bad ones, ceased, he could sleep better, but sometimes he'd rather watch his wife. She was always so serene.

_But something in her makes me gentle. Makes me shy. Makes me strong. Makes me happy to believe. And maybe that's it. Maybe that's what really comes down to. _

He carefully brushed a golden fringe to the side.

_She makes me. Makes me a whole. She completes me._

Peter moved his hand down to her naked back and brought himself closer to his wife, without taking his gaze away from her closed eyes.

_So here's the thing, God... I know I complain a lot, and I know that you and me, we've got issues, but right now, just for tonight... Thank you for her. Thank you for everything she was allowed to give me._

Ke kissed her forehead.

_Thank you_.

_Xxx_

It had been hours after Spider-Man went to fight the mech.

The room was dark and emerged in a silence which allowed anyone to hear the soft breathing coming from the young woman's lungs; next to the matress a clock over the bedstand marked two hours after midnight.

A view of the city and the empty sky was possible to see through the closed window in the left side of the bed. Such view was later obstructed by a someone wearing red and blue spandex who swung his way towards the window.

_He always tries to make me feel better by downplaying just how dangerous it was that night, just how close he came to dying._

Peter precisely landed on the fire escape and quietly rose the window and jumped to the new found space. Without taking the mask, he watched the asleep woman, before touching the ground with his feet and finally taking the mask off, then the skintight suit.

_And I always try to make him feel better by pretending to not wait up for him... pretending not to worry._

She opened her eyes while he changed.

Peter grabbed part of the blanket and slowly crawled into bed.

"Hi." Gwen greeted without turning to his side.

Peter was startled at first. "Hi. Didn't mean to wake you." He kissed the spot behind her ear.

"Rough day?" She simply inquired.

"Oh. You know, just another day at the office. You?" He wrapped a single lock of her hair around his finger and played with it.

Gwen began unamused, "Let's see... after wasting an entire day of my life answering questions before I could be freed from my confine, I listened to how my boyfriend knocked the Rhino's butt."

"And what a butt it is." He smiled boyishly.

Gwen continued, "Not to mention saving a bus full of children."

"They weren't really in danger. The news are always being melodramatic."

Peter was about to lie down besides her when she spoke, "I saw the footage." She rose her chest, revealing her pink camisole and leaving Peter more surprised and lost on words than the day when Uncle Ben first spoke about girls and the whole stuff that comes with it.

"Oh. You... You okay?"

Gwen sighed heavily. She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder lovingly. "I just feel like an idiot when I think about how different our lives are. I get treated like royalty for doing simple stuff while you get the third degree for being an actual hero."

"It comes with the job." Peter affirmed softly.

"I just feel so useless. I mean, you run around making the world a better place. And me? What good do I do?"

He planted a kiss on her shoulder. "For starters, you keep me going."

"Come on. You would do this whether I was around or not. We both know that."

Peter gently hold her chin with two fingers. She dropped some weight into it and closed her to eyes. He replied, "Yes, but for how long? I don't like to worry you but sometimes... more often than I would like to admit, I come close to losing in the biggest way possible." He gently turned her head towards him so that he could he meet her green eyes. "Out there, if I ever give up, even for a second, it would be all over. But it's hard. I get tired. I get worn. Do you know what keeps me going?"

She fixed her gaze at him.

"I know that I have to get home, or yours, I have to walk through your apartment's door."

"Or window." Gwen addeed.

Peter brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek. "Right. I have to because it's a promise I made you and this one I intend to keep it. If it weren't for experiencing life with you or through you - like we will do in England, there would be no reason to do what I do. If you believe that I'm making this world a better place, then you must know that you're the one I'm trying to make it better for."

Gwen smiled sensually as she fully turned to face him. "And here I was thinking it was because of how sexy you looked in those tights."

"I could put them back if you want..." She cupped his cheeks.

"I've got a better idea." Gwen used her left hand to pull a a single shoulder strap of the camisole to the side. He gulped. She leaned herself over him and pressed him down as they both fell into bed amidst the darkness of the bedroom.

* * *

Gwen awoke early in the morning, way earlier then she would've liked, but that wasn't going to interfere with her heavenly-like mood. She brought her hands up to rub her eyes as she yawned, the sheets never leaving her cleavage. She then stretched, throwing her arms above her head.

The balcony that gave her a view of the beach was slightly open and then sun managed to pass through the curtains, also being accompanied by the refreshing wind that created a peaceful ambient in the bedroom.

Gwen turned to the other side of the bed and found her husband sleeping on his shoulder and with his back facing her direction. She sighed lazily and moved her figure next to him, before slipping her left arm between the space of his arm and cagerib and hugging his bare chest as she nuzzled his hair.

She felt tiny and fragile when she embraced him, her lover was so much more stronger than her, and while she enjoyed the fact that sometimes he was the one who would sleep over her chest, despite his weight making her sleep a tad bit less comfortable, she wouldn't trade that for anything else regardless.

She kissed his earlobe and whispered, "_All I want to do is lay here in your arms and listen to your heart beat, honey. Every time I wrap my arms around you, it's like coming home to where I belong. You're everything I've ever asked for." _

Gwen unfolded her arms and turned to her side, before touching the cold floor with her feet and standing up. She wrapped her body around one of the sheets and walked over to a rack next to the balcony's entrance. She opened the memory book she had given Peter during the last night. His reaction was priceless, he couldn't believe how many small moments of their lives were there since they met each other.

One of the many pictures compiled together was the one she had taken herself, Peter slept on his old bedroom after she arrived, just like the present time. He was surprised at first, he wasn't expecting such old photo to last that long. Another picture showed them evading each other during a snowball fight in Aunt May's background. They made a mess of the whole place.

Gwen smiled contently to herself. Her eyes began to get wet as she repeatedly closed and opened them for a few seconds, trying to contain the tears. The next one was set during her birthday, Peter and the claw machine. She snapped him from behind and with her phone.

She then arrived to her wedding with him - exactly ten years ago. They posed together for Helen. Peter had embraced her from behind while he brushed his cheeks against hers, both smiling happily to the camera. A single tear now slid down her left eye. She continued with her trip to old times, landing to a picture taken in their original apartment's bedroom, hours later after Elizabeth was born. She was laid over the bed and held her small daughter in her arms while Peter kissed his wife's forehead and his free hand captured them together.

She sniffed silently and gulped.

The one last picture that emotionally got her was a quite recent one. They were various frames taken exactly one after the another, showing David and Aiden's marathon to reach their father in the camp. He was using his strength to plant a new tree in the courtyard of the Stacy's isolated house, at England, two years ago. The whole set of photos began from the moment the twins left her position and until they're both being held by Peter.

She remembered that day like if it was yesterday. Peter had craved all all of their initials in that new tree. It still stands up, and maybe one day, they would have the time to visit the place again.

Gwen wiped the tears with her hand. She exhaled deeply. She closed the book delicately and walked inside the balcony, resting her free hand over the handrail as the sun slowly rose in the horizon far away away in the ocean. The early morning rays found their way to Gwen's figure.

If it all ended for her, if today was her last day alive, she would leave thankful for what she and the man of her life went and built together. Nothing could wipe away such adventure. Their tale was a good one. They left their legacy, and such legacy is waiting for them back at home.

They had the time of their lives.

Gwen sighed. She then felt his left arm around her waist. He rested his chin over her shoulder. He brought his right closed hand to her abdomen's level and opened it, revealing an old, tiny and red plastic ring. She looked down to the object and instantly smiled to the sight, before holding his hand on hers and smiling happily.

She nodded as in 'yes'.

* * *

**A/N : Last bit explains how I feel. Minimum dialogue. Thanks for everything, everyone.**


	57. Watch Out, Here I Grow

**A/N : Hey everyone. Small chapter. Mostly focused around a character that isn't Peter or Gwen. Had lots of fun with it, despite a few troublesome parts. Also, Civil War was great movie, definitely would recommend it. Spider-Man was done really well, thankfully. I honestly can't stop thinking about how it would be with an older Peter. Maybe we will find out.**

**Have a good read, hopefully! Feedback is always appreciated.**

* * *

**February 9th - 2031**

**New York - Hell's Kitchen**

"Control your breathing, focus on your surroundings. Take advantage of the awareness ability your father has passed to you." Matt Murdock said calmly. He had his legs crossed over the floor while his both hands were resting over his ankles.

Elizabeth took a deep exhale, sat in the same exact position as her trainer. She closed her eyes and stood in total silence for a few couple of minutes, not feeling any change at all.

She eventually opened her left eye which was slightly covered by her blonde fringe. Matt wasn't wearing any glasses. His eyes were also closed. She smiled, innocently.

_"Focus... _Elizabeth." He ordered, still concentrated.

She widened her eyes in surprise. "How did you know..."

"That's not important, child."

Elizabeth sighed with a bored groan. She proceeded with the training, quickly feeling like an eternity had passed by. She always thought those type of lessons were pointless, she preferred the action.

"Uncle Matty..."

He quickly intervened,_ "Shhh."_

Elizabeth frowned. She opened both eyes and smiled proudly once she came up with something to pass the time. She slowly waved her left small hand in front of his eyes, receiving no reaction in return.

_Ha! Not that much aware, eh?_

She then carefully approached his face and tried to gaze her nose with both eyes, before giving him a silly smile at the same time, holding her breath to not let a giggle slip.

Her mother was the one to actually teach her such silly expression.

Elizabeth moved the tip of her tongue out her mouth and pointed at him

Unexpectedly, Matt suddenly opened his eyes and said, _"Boo."_

She accidentally let a terrified yelp out as she fell backwards and laid down in the ground. "That's not funny...!"

Matt chuckled. "I kindly question your concept of funny. That seemed funny enough to me."

She blew away a hair bang that covered her nose, annoyed.

_**One hour later...**_

Spider-Man landed ontop of the Murdock's gym's rooftop and took off the backpack off his shoulders, changing to his 'daily' clothes and opening the one of the set of windows that led inside. He spotted a fastly sleep Matt Murdock sat in chair and behind a desk where it seemingly looked to the manager's office.

Many books were spread open over the desk. Also, many pictures from Matt's father were hanged against the wall, including his boxing gloves, dusty ones. He could hear the lawyer snore lightly.

Peter carefully dropped himself down onto the ground, getting surprised at the fact that Matt didn't notice his arrival due to his advanced hearing. "Hey, Murdock."

He groaned in exhaustion and slowly regained his consciousness. "What... Peter?" He yawned.

"Busy day, I see." Peter placed his backpack over the empty seat in the other side of the desk. He approached the blurred window of the office and saw a silhouette jumping from one skinny log to the other, while dodging the swinging pendulum in the middle of the ring. He teased, "Are the books so boring they made you fall asleep? No wonder why she took off."

"Dammit." Matt sighed quietly. "I was teaching her some basic fundamentals, theory, but important ones." He noticed the door of the office was closed. The girl apparently was careful enough to avoid waking him up.

Peter chuckled. "Thanks, Matt, you don't know how much this means to me." He turned on his shoulder.

"Anything for a fellow Parker." He rose from the chair and approached the window. "She's tackling the pendulum, isn't she?"

"It sure looks like it." Peter crossed his arms, hearing her many grunts of persistence.

Matt affirmed calmly. "How many times do I have to tell her... don't train alone it only reinforces your mistakes."

Peter smiled. "Don't get mad at her, Matt."

He shrugged. "I'm not mad. Little she-devil just refuses to do what she's told. She wanted the hardest training for today."

Peter knew his friend was one whose training was basically focused around discipline, his frustrations were more than understandable, and the fact that he was outsmarted by an eleven year-old girl made the whole situation more amusing to him. "Come on, you like that about Liz."

Matt chuckled kindly. "Fine, _I suppose I do. _Self defense is not something to be taken lightly, though. She has to understand that."

"I'll talk to her. You should splash some water into that tired face of yours." He patted him on the shoulder. "And Matt? Thank you again; you helping me out with this... is something I will always remember."

Matt nodded. He spoke tenderly, "I've failed many people on my life before... but I won't fail Elizabeth. Go. I see you guys in a minute." He left to the bathroom's door inside the office.

Peter knew exactly what he meant with that. Matt had lost a dear person to him a few years back. He was there for him, during the funeral, although there wasn't much he could do back at the time.

He opened the door and took slow steps towards the ring, Elizabeth didn't see him. She was wearing a blindfold while she jumped to one of the eight logs that formed a circle around the swinging pendulum hanged at the ceiling.

She wore a blue tanktop and black shorts. Her hair was tied up by a ponytail. She held an object similar to Matt's stick, a much - much simplified version of it. She swung it at the pendulum while constantly changing her positions over each log.

Peter folded his arms as he approached her.

Elizabeth sensed the pendulum coming towards her and acrobatically jumped to the side, her legs spinning towards the air while her head was aimed to the ground, doing a full spin as she landed over another log. Without catching her breath, she instantly repeated the same exact movement.

"That's not correct, Liz." Peter added. Most of her left foot successfully stopped over a single log while the back of it was almost slipping into the air, she briefly supported herself with the tip of her left foot, groaning as she tried to regain her balance. "Now I see why you're so eager to practice. Strike."

"Haaa!" Elizabeth took a defensive position with the stick. She spun it around her hands and finally attacked the target, before once again jumping and leaning her torso to the side, quickly supporting her figure with a hand over the log while she was upside-down and midway through the spin. She landed on her feet and attacked the pendulum.

Due to the amount of force she recklessly pressed against the pendulum, the stick slid off her hand and fell into the air. She quickly took it with her right foot and focused in keeping her balance with one leg. Elizabeth threw the stick with her foot to her hands, grabbed and quickly swung it around in exhibitionism.

Peter could see a bit of Daredevil from those movements. He sighed and smiled. "You're not in a circus, pirouette, Liz."

From the office's door, Matt watched Elizabeth and her father at the ring.

"Footwork, Liz. Careful." Peter warned. "Okay, that's enough."

"I'm not tired!" She ceased her movements, her back facing Peter's direction. "I can keep going!"

"Still, get down, please."

Elizabeth let out an annoyed breath. "With a flip?"

"If you feel like it." He replied with a grin. "Just don't tell your mom."

She exhaled deeply and flipped backwards, safely landing in front of Peter. She turned to his side and took off her blindfold.

"Your reflexes are still kinda slow." Peter unfolded his arms.

Elizabeth placed her hands on her waist and affirmed cockily, "Maybe for _an Avenger."_

Peter crouched. She grew. "You think anyone will ever go easy on you because you weren't an Avenger?" Elizabeth nodded, convinced. "Though, in your shoes, I would fear Matt, disobeying his lessons? Unwise. Remember we're only doing this because you agreed with it."

She looked down to the floor. "Oh _yes_... but that book was horribly dull!" She shrugged her shoulders.

"I know... and you know that isn't a good excuse, Lizzie."

Elizabeth sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

He smirked. "It better not, Matt said if it does, he will make you eat slugs covered in salt."

Elizabeth grinned and laughed, before squirming her body in disgust. "Ewww...!"

He chuckled. "Yup. So you better behave." He heard footsteps from behind.

"Where were you?"

"Dealing with a few bad persons." Peter answered.

"Why didn't you warn me?"

"You know why." Elizabeth frowned.

Matt strolled towards them, wearing his red-tinted glasses while trying to contain an involuntary smile. "Anything to say for yourself, young lady?" He asked calmly.

"I'm very sorry, Uncle Matty."

"Young blood craves action, I understand that. But when you need to defend yourself from a person stronger than you, knowledge counts as much as strength. At the very least, you'll want to know the difference between martial arts and self defense."

Elizabeth quickly quoted, "_While many martial arts did evolve as self-defense systems, they suited the needs of a people in a specific time and place, such as sword-fighting on horseback in 17th century Korea. They don't necessarily translate well to practical, modern-day needs. You're not, for example, going to do a flying kick to a bully or workplace harasser."_

Peter smiled, surprised.

Matt rose an eyebrow. "Hmm, you did read the chapter... still you should have ask if-"

She continued, "But you were _asleep_, uncle Matty..."

Peter found the way she replied incredibly cute. He kneeled and intervened, "You did do the reading, why not just say so?"

Elizabeth quoted a phrase from the book once again, "_Never pounce in an advantage as soon as it appears, wait until it stands for maximum effect."_ She looked up. "Uncle Matty's words."

Matt nodded, impressed. "Well, you're a quick study. Quick and mischievous." He took a deep exhale. "Fine, we talked enough. Peter you're with me, and Liz is with the dummy." Peter stood up.

Elizabeth was not amused. She groaned._ "Again...?!"_ She questioned, frustrated.

"Enough with groaning and grab another stick, little lady." Matt ordered.

* * *

Gwen moved her indicator finger next to her lower right eyelash and wiped away the incoming tear that was about to slid down her already wet cheeks. She sniffed. Her cheeks flushed. She was going through one of her hardest moments of her life.

"Oh god..." She cut another slice of onion over the kitchen's countertop, tearing even more. It was an eternal task, apparently. "The things I do for this family...!" She sobbed, releasing the knife for a second. "Honey...!" She called, desperately.

It took a few seconds for a shirtless Peter to quickly appear in front of the kitchen's entrance, carrying Aiden who was currently wrapped around a Sponge Bob bathrobe. He was already thinking she had gotten herself hurt. "What happened? Why are you crying?" He asked, urgently.

"You should do this." She begged.

He raised an eyebrow. "No - no, I'm busy already." He looked up. "Elizabeth, stop running in the ceiling!"

_"Fine...!"_

"We can trade tasks." Gwen suggested.

Peter shook his head, stubbornly. "I'm fine, me and Aiden are having fun in the bathtub."

"And why do I need to cut onions?!" Gwen forced shut her eyes, briefly. "I should be the one in the bathtub..."

"Because we all need to eat dinner later on; we can go to the bathtub once all its done." Peter blew some air towards Aiden's messy hair, receiving a giggle in return. "Can we go now, mommy?"

Gwen rolled her eyes in indignation. She bit her lower lip and later nodded. Peter smiled smugly and walked upstair, leaving her alone, or only accompanied by the onions. She began, "Peter is a better cooker, but no - no, I have to do this for some reason, I mean - it's not like he has super powers of some sort while I'm common mere human. Yet, he chooses to bath the kids that are direct product of me, and I have to deal with this mean evil task."

She exhaled deeply. "Okay, Gwen... you don't need him. You're better than the onion. Nothing is impossible." She told herself.

Later in the night, sat in the middle of the large living room with legs crossed and besides his wife, Peter frowned in concentration as he analyzed his set of uno cards on his hands, not letting Gwen see them, or their children.

He was currently holding five cards which was a lot when compared to his rivals, meaning he was losing._ "This game shucks."_ He complained.

"Maybe you just suck at it...?" Gwen smirked and teased. She turned to David at her side, helping him to pick the right card, before he energetically placed it over the deck in the center.

Elizabeth spoke, "Yeah, dad, I don't think you know how to play this." She gently threw the blue card over the deck and smiled happily.

Peter scoffed. "I thought we're bast buddies, Liz." He muttered aghast, "I cleaned a lot of diapers for you to betray me."

"That's not true." Gwen interjected. She raised an eyebrow, playfully. "Mommy was the one who cleaned the most, you two included." She winked for twins.

"Yep." Aiden nodded, not paying that much of attention to the topic, and more interested in learning how to properly play the game.

Peter chuckled. "I don't get good points for having to swing weekly through the city and get pizza for your guys?"

"Indeed-"

Elizabeth cut him off, "Uno!" She placed her last card on the pile and grinned happily.

"Ah, come on!" Peter sighed, frustrated. He was outsmarted by his own daughter.

David seemed confused. "Can I 'Uno' too, mummy?"

Gwen smiled kindly. "Nope. Your sister won this round. Maybe in the next one?" She saw her husband grab his phone from his shorts and glance the screen. Elizabeth distracted herself with Ren who crawled his way into her lap, receiving a close hug in return.

"Um..." Peter frowned.

"What's going on?" Gwen kissed the top of David's messy hair, without taking her eyes from Peter.

"Flint Marko is on the lose again. Flash texted me." He informed, reluctantly. "If I earned a penny for every time these guys escaped prison... I have to go, honey. Sorry."

Gwen nodded. "Be careful out there." He smiled.

"We're going after him?" Elizabeth inquired.

Peter rose. "You're staying here, Liz."

Her eyes followed his tracks towards the window. She insisted, "But..." He jumped off through the window and disappeared from everyone's sight.

"And that, kids... is something you should never practice at home." Gwen said, uninspired.

Elizabeth grunted in annoyance. "I could help him!" She stood up and approached the window.

"Liz..." Gwen noticed the sudden change in her behavior.

"It's not fair for me to just sit around while dad is out there getting himself hurt!" She crossed her arms, indignantly. "I've been training for months! I'm not a baby. I'm sick of doing nothing!"

Gwen released David from her arms. "Elizabeth, I know what you're thinking, because I did too, but this is your father we're talking about. He knows what he's doing... well - most of the time." She approached her daughter and placed her hands over her shoulders. "It's hard to admit, but yes - you're not a baby anymore, but you're also not someone like your father, and you don't need to become one."

Elizabeth sighed, slowly giving up at her previous gripe. She then felt a sudden pain from within her abdomen, as if her muscles were being pushed to all directions at once. "Mom..."

* * *

_"Well, you're asking to get in contact with Tony Stark." _ The secretary countered.

Spider-Man looked over his shoulder. Flint was getting closer to the phone booth. "If I die tonight, I swear I'll come to haunt you all for this."

_"You're just asking too much, whoever you might be." _

Spider-Man scoffed. "Do you have a freakin' TV close to your desk?"

_"Yes, why do you ask?"_

Someone quickly knocked in the booth's glass. "Do your job, freak!" The teen ran away from the stir.

He shouted angrily, "Have some respect, you punk!" _Just what I needed. Awkward._ "Then please take a look at any news channel."

_"In a minute."_ The line stood in absolute silence. Spider-Man tapped his foot in anticipation._ "Oh..."_

"Exactly!" He turned around in the booth and waved his hand at the helicopter high above in the sky. "That's me! Now, do you have your confirmation? Can you kindly ask Stark to bring the goddamn Avengers?!"

_"Um... I'm still not fully convinced that's you..."_

Spider-Man almost rocketed towards the moon. "What?! Really?! I'm about to become a meme by the Internet and you're worrying about whether I'm the real Spider-Man or not...?!"

"It's just that..."

He interjected once again, "Listen, get me the Defenders and I'll be happy! Or, get Stark out of his golden bathtub because I can't always do the dirty sandy work by myself, I didn't get bitten for this!"

_"I will-"_

The call was cut short after the booth was destroyed due to Marko's attacks. Thankfully, Spider-Man had managed to land against some building's wall. He still held the phone on his left right hand. He gazed the useless object, tightening his grip over it. "Mother Hubbard...!" He shouted, before throwing it at the giant criminal made of sand. An useless attack.

Marko looked up to him from the ground. "Why don't you come down here and fight like a man?!" He raised his hammer shaped hand at him.

Spider-Man pointed his indicative finger towards Marko in return. "I don't suppose I can convince you to come up here and fight like a spider...?!"

"What? Are you seven, Spider-Man?!"

He closed both fists. "Hey! I'm actually five!"

* * *

"Are you feeling better, sweetheart?" Gwen brushed Elizabeth's blonde locks after they both took a shower. She wore a comfy bathrobe while her daughter herself was already ready to lie down with her blue pajamas. She was sat over Gwen's lap.

"I guess..." She looked at herself through the circular mirror over Gwen's makeup counter.

"We talked about this, but you know you can ask me anything, right?" Gwen observed every tiny detail of Elizabeth's hair with a proud smile.

Elizabeth asked somberly, "Will this always happen?"

Gwen nodded and gazed her green eyes in the mirror, seeing their two reflections next to each other. "For a long time, honey." Elizabeth sighed heavily. She continued, "This means you're becoming a beautiful woman in a few years, and you can always count on me."

She smiled weakly. "I guess boys don't go through the same things."

"No, it's exclusive to us, women. Don't turn your head." Gwen moved her hand deep within Elizabeth's hair, checking for the softness she was aiming for.

"That's why they're stronger?"

Gwen giggled, surprised. "No, it's just that they naturally develop parts we don't, due to hormones. Why do you ask?"

"I think I'm not strong enough to do this flip, I always fail." Elizabeth exhaled deeply. "Maybe it's because I have small breasts..." She wondered.

"What?! Where did you get that?" Gwen was trying to not laugh nor cry at once.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "The girls in the gymnastics were saying that I can't make it because of that."

"That's not true. They're silly. It's probably just a matter of practice." Gwen once thought she had heard enough.

"Yeah, Miles said that."

"Who...?" Gwen asked, interested.

Elizabeth replied, "Miles Morales. He's my friend."

"Oh, okay. He's right, though." She smirked. "Is that your concern right now? A stunt?"

"It's just that it's not fair for boys to be stronger. What if I was one?"

Gwen chuckled again, amused. "You can do everything you normally would do — as long as you're comfortable." She explained gently, "This natural, and wonderful part of being a woman, Liz. After all, without them, women couldn't become mothers for starters."

"Hmm..." Elizabeth stood in silence, briefly. "Does dad know?"

"He expects it." Gwen replied.

"Should I talk to him?"

Gwen shook her head. "I don't think that will be much productive, he will probably call me instead." Elizabeth laughed. Gwen smiled at the sound.

She placed the brush over the counter and snaked both arms around Elizabeth's torso, before leaning her face in so that they're brushing each other's cheeks. She looked at her through the mirror. "You, your dad and brothers, are the most precious things in this world to me." She gave Elizabeth a peck on her chubby cheek. "You know you can always count with me, for anything."

Elizabeth smiled slightly and nodded. She asked lowly, "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"I wouldn't say no, but your dad will compete for space, you know."

"But the bed is huge!" Elizabeth gazed the mattress. She looked up to her mother. "Please?"

"I'm just kidding, if anything, we can kick him off the bed." Gwen winked. "Go warm the covers while I change." She unfolded her arms.

Once only a single lamp remained lighten and they were both cuddling under the many blankets, Elizabeth asked from within Gwen's arms, "Mum, tell me a story."

Gwen kissed the back of Lizzie's neck, smelling her sweet scent. "What would you like to hear?"

"Anything. Well, maybe a real story?"

Gwen looked up to the portrait standing over Peter's bedstand. It was a photo they took together in bed, he kissed the top of her hair while she rested her face under his chin, back to their highschool days. She began, "When me and your father were still teenagers... I invited him to dinner one day, with my family - your granny, grandpa and uncles."

"I... I wanted to meet him, George."

Gwen bit her lip, feeling her eyes getting wet. "I know, sweetie. And I also know he would have liked to meet you as well."

Elizabeth currently had the thousand mile gaze. "How was he like?"

"Not really distinct from your dad, they're both passionate, cute, brave and only want the best for their family. Your grandpa was a police officer, I don't think he initially approved of Peter." Gwen giggled.

"Why?" Elizabeth frowned.

"He didn't really like Spider-Man, and during the dinner, Peter was really defensive about him. So their ideas kinda clashed. It's funny when you think about it." She continued tenderly, "But my dad and yours teamed-up in the end. They helped save the city from something very bad."

"Awesome!" Elizabeth grinned.

Gwen laughed shortly. "Yeah. Well, going back a bit in the story, I brought Pete to our rooftop. He wanted to confess something to me, and _boy_ \- it took him some time."

"Don't stop, mom." Elizabeth yawned.

"Okay, okay. He wanted to tell me who embodied Spider-Man, 'wanted' being the key word, and so he eventually did, on his own very way, but he did. That was our first kiss, and the moment I fell in love with him." Gwen massaged Elizabeth's warm belly under her shirt. "So, technically, that's where it all began, and now we're here, with this blonde cutie lying besides me. You're our everything."

Elizabeth smiled to herself, closing her eyes and letting the sleep come in. She whispered,_ "I love you, mum..."_

Gwen kissed the top of her hair_. "And I love you too."_ Her left arm left Lizzie's waist to pull the lamp's cord over her bedstand. _"Dream with angels."_

* * *

"You guys arrived just in time, I mean - almost in time, two seconds late." Spider-Man quipped, hanging upside-down by a single web-line that went from both hands and towards the street's light pole.

Steve Rogers took his helmet off and held it between his waistline and hand. He watched the rest of the Avengers securing the perimeter while the tactical team made sure the large black container containing Flint Marko was fully locked and ready to be transported by a special truck that passed the formed barricade.

He smiled, "You should have called us before anything.

"I called Stark, you guys were probably somewhere else back then." Spider-Man yawned under the mask.

"And so is Tony, you know he's not wearing the armor since Sokovia and Paris." Steve breathed heavily, exhausted. "He was attending conventions, last time we talked."

He sighed. "Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking... I think I suffer of Alzheimer, to be honest." He joked.

Steve laughed. "I think you just suffer of sloppiness, Pete."

"Oh well, my Aunt always said I was special."

Steve looked up to the web-slinger. "And you are, that's why our doors will be always open to you."

"I think that ship has sailed, Cap." He replied gently, seeing Wanda and Vision chatting not far away in the street. "It was a great time working such amazing people, I won't lie. Good old times."

"There's a mission in the horizon, something we've been planning for a while, Nigeria." Steve began. "We could use you, you're agile, great tracker and recon."

Spider-Man cocked his head. "Nigeria?"

Steve nodded. "Your talents will be useful."

He mumbled in thought. "I don't know, it seems I will be out of my natural habitat."

Steve chuckled sincerely. "Like I said, you're capable of much more, I've seen you doing the impossible before, Pete. It's your choice, though. I wouldn't ask you if I didn't trust you and your skills."

Spider-Man dropped onto firm ground. He stretched his arms. "Well, I usually have to help my oldest with her homework, then file office reports, clean the house and pay my bills - which are way expansive, by the way. Not mentioning the long walks with my dog." He rubbed the back of his covered in spandex neck. "I'll give it a thought."

Steve nodded again. He was aware Peter had more normal issues to handle himself. "You know where to find me. Or just text me through that app I keep forgetting the name."

"I thought you already played catch up, old man." He teased, before taking a more serious tone. "Anything on Bucky?"

Steve hesitated, that was a hard subject. "Still looking." He paused. "What about your suit? Doesn't look good. Didn't Stark make you one?"

"He did, but it's not much necessary here. Besides, I like to wear my own handwork." Steve grinned. Peter never ceased to raise his spirits whenever they're together. He was someone Steve would trust his life with.

Spider-Man chuckled back. He checked his hands, they're exposed. No signs of his web-shooters. "Um... Hey, Steve. Could you lend me some cents for the train ride? I will pay you back in pizzas delivered straight to your HQ."

* * *

_**The next morning...**_

A covered in spandex head appeared in the window of Peter and Gwen's bedroom, gazing the area before slowly pulling the window up after he made sure its occupants were sleeping.

The mask itself was torn. Both lenses were cracked. And small tiny cuts could be seen everywhere. His gloves were non-existent, they're ripped off the suit for good.

Peter moved his left foot inside, then the other one, holding a Macdonald's sack under his left arm._ "Aw, crap..." _He whispered, seeing both Gwen and Elizabeth cuddling towards the other side of the bed.

If he now messed up, double the damage he would get.

He took one step at the time, walking besides the bed, aiming for the counter where he would deposit the warm sack.

Gwen muttered lowly, _"It better have been Loki again. That's all I'm telling you."_ Peter quickly stopped on his tracks, standing still with the breakfast being held by both hands. _"If it wasn't Loki, don't even bother telling me who it was."_ He gulped. She kissed the top of Elizabeth's hair, her daughter was still asleep. _"I swear if you tell me it was Vulture I will punch in the face." _She turned to his side.

"Want a big Mac?"

She eyed the sack in disgust. "No. When do I ever want a Big Mac? Have you ever seen me eat one during the whole time we've been together?

Peter moved his left hand to the front of his mask and pulled it off. "I'm sorry. I have had one hell of a night. I'm not thinking straight." He dropped the mask onto the ground while Gwen sat in the bed. "Cut me some slack, hon..."

"Oh, your poor baby." She took his exposed hands on hers. "Does it hurt?"

Peter shook his head in response. "Not really. I just feel like crap." He spotted Elizabeth wrapped around the blanket and where it was supposed to be his part of the bed. "Nightmares?"

Gwen planted a delicate kiss on his left hand. "She just wanted to sleep with me, probably to feel safer after what happened."

He gazed her eyes, concerned. "What happened...?"

"What we were both expecting to happen anytime soon." Gwen replied softly, letting his hands go.

Peter required a few seconds to understand her innuendo, the realization eventually arrived. He looked at his daughter and sighed heartbroken. "I should have been here. Dammit."

"Hey, it's fine. I handled it. And besides, I don't think you would be much helpful, it's a lady's thing. I also got to do what I love most as a mom - which is cuddling and hearing them say 'I love you' before falling into sleep." She smiled, kindly.

Peter feigned in defeat. He moved both hands to his waistline and pulled the suit's top over his torso, sliding off his arms as he kicked the shirt under the bed. He was about to crawl in when his wife placed her hand against his toned chest.

"Slow down, shower first." Gwen raised an eyebrow, playfully.

"It's freezing, Gwendy." He complained, hugging himself.

"Then hurry, I'm not sleeping next to a sweaty husband."

He countered, "That's not really accurate when you think-"

"Go." Gwen ordered, holding a smile back.

And so did Peter Parker walk away for a quick hot steam shower that made him a lot more comfortable and relaxed after a confrontation that lasted for a considerable amount of hours. He later approached his side of the bed, pulled the blankets up so that there was way for him to slid-him, and settled himself besides his daughter.

Elizabeth was positioned between her mother and father, trapped by their warm bodies. Her breath reached Peter's neckline as he stroked her cheek with his thumb. Gwen watched him doing so, hugging Elizabeth closely against her breasts while nuzzling her soft and delicate hair.

_"God, she looks so much like you."_ Peter whispered in adoration. His eyes never moving away from Elizabeth's serene expression. Gwen smiled and stood quiet, eyes closed, just listening to her heartbeat. He continued, _"I wish they could stay this way, forever."_

She finally answered without opening her eyes,_ "I think you are afraid of the future male competition."_

Peter chuckled softly._ "I won't lie, I am."_ He leaned in and planted a kiss against Elizabeth's forehead. Her right hand instinctively reached for Peter's arm which was positioned above her head in the pillow so that he could play with Gwen's hair. She held his bicep, making sure her father wasn't going anywhere while being embraced by her mother. _"If I ever did something right, this right here, is a product of that."_

_"Hey, ditto." _Gwen replied, looking at him. Peter slightly rose his chest so that he could lean down forward and kiss Gwen in the lips._ "Goodnight, baby."_

Gwen teased once they parted,_ "Good morning, technically."_

* * *

**Brooklyn Bridge Park - New York**

"Not fair, Parker!" Flash groaned after Peter threw the basketball all the way through the small open court in the park, scoring a perfect point.

"Just because you're not wearing a suit, doesn't mean I won't go hard on you." Peter countered with a grin. Flash just dismissively waved his arm at him in return. He turned to Harry who was standing besides him, wearing a tired expression. "See, Hare? Not so complicated."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, seems boring."

"Come on man, you need to gain some more weight. You look breakable." Peter patted him in the back.

Harry sighed.

The Parker walked past his friend and towards the court's entrance, seeing Gwen not far away in the park. She headed towards him, holding a little girl's hand. His wife wore a Giants' cap, long sleeved black shirt and tight jeans. As for the redhead child, she wore a simple jean dress. She was younger than his boys.

"Hey, you two." Peter greeted.

Gwen helped the blue eyed girl step into the court.

"Thank you, Auntie Gwendy." She smiled widely.

"You're welcome, Sarah." Gwen winked, holding a bottle of water on her free hand.

"Hello, Uncle Pete." Sarah looked up to Peter.

He caressed the top of her head. "How are you, little one?"

"I'm good! Thank you. Can I talk to my daddy?"

Peter laughed, exchanging a quick amused glance with his wife. "Of course you can. Would you tell him I said he sucks?" Gwen shot him a murderous stare. He was already teaching her vulgar vocabulary.

"I will!" She danced her way towards Flash.

Peter smirked and looked at Gwen. "You look supe_r adorable _with that cap." He wrapped both arms around her waist, bringing her closer despite she purposely and slightly leaning her back backwards on his grip.

"Don't say such words to Sarah, she's three, you know?" Gwen opened the bottle and took a sip. She saw Flash throw the ball at Harry's hands so that he could energetically raise his daughter from the ground and into his arms.

_"Daddy, Uncle Pete says you suck!" _

Gwen set a suspicious look at her husband.

Peter snickered. "That's the truth, though." He eyed the bottle, seeing its content disappearing.

Gwen moved the bottle's tip off her lips. "Thirsty?"

He exhaled deeply. "Yeah."

"It seems.. I hold the solution to your problem." She smiled, mischievously.

Her smile has to be the most precious thing in this world. Peter thought.

"That too." He agreed, impatient.

"What do I receive if I let you drink of my water bottle, uh?"

Peter's left hand teased to adventure down and below her waistline. "Something lovely, I hope." He leaned his head to the side and the distance between their lips was cut short. Gwen moved her free hand to the back of his neck and closed her eyes.

_"Hand..." _She said inches from his lips. He didn't move it.

He closed the gap between them and kissed her deeply.

For Gwen everything was blocked out, there was only them. Neither of them wanted to break the kiss. She moaned quietly for his ears only as their kissing deepened. Eventually Gwen reluctantly pulled away for a breath of air and smiled against his lips. "Convincing, very convincing - Mr Parker." She handed him the bottle, not letting go of his shoulder.

He smiled and took a sip, quickly drinking all of it.

Gwen deadpanned. "Really...?"

Peter cleared his throat and handed her the bottle back. "Thank you, baby. You are the prettiest and most helpful partner ever."

She laughed. That sound was music to his ears. "I better-"

"Mom?!"

The pair turned to Elizabeth who approached them from behind.

Peter unwrapped his hands from Gwen's waistline. "You okay, Lizzie?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah. It's just that Aiden almost entered the lake." She hugged her red hoodie.

Gwen widened her eyes. "What?! MJ isn't with them?"

"It's okay mom. Auntie didn't let him." Elizabeth smiled. "We managed to throw the frisbee there, so... Ren also wasn't willing to get it. I think we need to give him less food."

"Oh well, that's a goner..." Peter sighed.

Gwen moved her cap up, spotting the trio sat over a towel and eating sandwiches besides a tree. They're all laughing. "These boys will be the end of me."

Peter felt a bolt trigger inside his head as he quickly grabbed the incoming ball that was flying towards his right arm without even turning around. He looked up to Flash.

_"Yo, Parker! Did you catch your breath already?"_ He teased, holding his daughter with his free arm.

Elizabeth asked urgently, "Can I play too?!"

Peter gazed her emerald and huge eyes. He moved an arm around her shoulders and nodded. "Okay then. Team Parker versus Team Get Good. Harry - man, you with them."

Flash laughed. "Team Parker doesn't stand a chance. Gwendolyn won't math her way out of this."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Honey, you with me." Peter called Gwen. She shook her head and placed the bottle next to the entrance, before walking towards her husband.

"On you, Pete." Harry affirmed.

Peter bounced the ball and and shot it with a calculated power. It flew right over the opposite team, before unfortunately landing over the left edge of the basket and jumping high above again. Peter could see it wasn't going to enter the basket.

Before they could notice, a light-blue began to form slightly over the score, as Elizabeth popped out of the mist just in time to grab the ball and bury it inside the basket. She safely fell into the ground, her legs shaking in shock. She turned around, seeing everyone throwing a surprised glance towards her.

Peter cleared his throat and cocked his head at her. "Um... how did you... do that...?


End file.
